Taco Bell® Team Wins AMA Innovation Award

A team of administrative professionals from Taco Bell® received AMA’s Innovation Award for Administrative Professionals at the 13th Annual Administrative Professionals Conference in San Diego in Sept. Patty Bauman, executive assistant to Taco Bell’s president and chief concept officer, accepted the prestigious AMA Award, which celebrates outstanding examples of creative problem solving and innovation in administrative support.

The Innovation Award honored Taco Bell’s “Team of Two” program, created by a team of administrative professionals to foster greater understanding between admin professionals and managers within the organization. “The success of the program reveals that managers come away with a better understanding and appreciation for the administrative role,” said Bauman. “Managers have enjoyed sharing ‘best practices,’ have committed to better communication and have seen the benefits of delegating work to the admin so as to increase their own focus and productivity.”

Ms. Bauman shared the award with two other Taco Bell employees, Tawanda Starms, Executive Assistant to the Chief People Officer, and Karen Walters, Executive Assistant to the Chief Legal Counsel. In her acceptance speech, Bauman emphasized the role of Taco Bell management in the initiative’s success: “The project was indeed a labor of love for the admins on the creation team and I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge Taco Bell’s leadership for partnering with us and endorsing our ideas in our quest to get better and better,” Bauman said.

The philosophy behind the AMA Innovation Award, now in its seventh year, is to serve as an inspiration to administrative professionals as they advance in their professional development and seek new knowledge and skills.

The application deadline for AMA’s 2006 Innovation Award is June 9, 2006. Entries will be judged on the basis of documented positive results related to at least one of the following: cost savings, efficiency, productivity, problem solving, problem prevention, employee morale, accuracy and integrity of operations, customer satisfaction, organizational effectiveness and organizational communication.

To be eligible for the award, the innovation must have been developed and implemented by administrative professionals and must provide tangible, sustainable and replicable examples of excellence that can assist others facing similar work and productivity issues. The innovation also must have been implemented for at least six months prior to the application deadline.