Joe Kornelsen was alarmed, until he realized he was witnessing employee innovation.

The West End Business Improvement Zone executive director expected to be the first one at the office when he arrived at 5:15 a.m. one day in July, only to find the non-profit’s truck running outside. Concerned, he entered the building cautiously and found Jose, the staff member in charge of the organization’s street cleaning team, already at work.

Unbeknownst to Kornelsen, Jose had implemented a 5 a.m. planter-watering shift to avoid daytime traffic — a move that on some days allowed Jose and his team to water 300 planters and 55 hanging baskets in half the time.

Kornelsen relayed the story to a crowd at the BIZ’s annual general meeting on Wednesday to illustrate all staff members at the organization are

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