12/29/2013

Fellow MTASers,

Very soon after returning from the Christmas break, we will begin the APR process. The schedule this year is condensed from previous years. All of the paperwork related to APRs has to be in IPS central office by close of business on Friday, February 28 ^th . Attached is a schedule for our use and to keep us apprised where we are (or should be) on the timeline. The dates listed are the beginning dates for that particular step in the process.

As you’ll see, the first two critical dates for everybody are January 10 ^th (access to the forms made available) and January 17 ^th (deadline for completed forms back to supervisors). Also, as indicated in the schedule, notice that a Performance Review Summary (PRS) form is available for your use should you care to use it. More about the PRS follows.

Also attached is an e-mail we each received earlier this month. In it is a summary of changes to UT’s performance review process that have been adopted and will be effective with the upcoming APR cycle. There is some very important information in it.

Looking ahead and considering our respective work goals for 2014, know that all IPS supervisory personnel have recently completed 2 parts of a three-part training program focusing on the University’s compensation policies and practices. That training has included significant discussion about APRs and employee compensation. It has provided guidance as to effectively developing work plan goals for the future and references the acronym SMART …goals listed in APRs should be S pecific… M easureable… A chievable… R elevant…and have a T imetable. Makes good sense to me and really is how the goals should be developed.

I know that I’m “preachin’ to the choir”, but I want to share a little bit of my philosophy about my APR and APRs in general. Early this year, Steve and I met and discussed what my work plan would be for 2013. That plan was crafted considering my PDQ-stated job responsibilities and the MTAS mission and strategic plan. Soon, I’ll look at what I’ve done and self-evaluate how close to “fully achieves expectations” I came and record my findings on my APR report. If I didn’t achieve the expectation, I’ll give my reasons as to why. If an opportunity to exceed those expectations came my way and I took advantage of it, I’ll also explain that.

Ultimately, as my supervisor, it’s Steve’s responsibility to evaluate my performance and translate it to a ranking in five different categories on the University’s Performance Review Summary form (PRS). My responsibility is to take the opportunity to give him (by my APR report) information to use as he considers and finally decides on those rankings.

Lastly and realistically, I know most of us see the relationship between the overall PRS score and access to any future pay increases. You and I and MTAS don’t have control over the availability of money to fund those increases. Those are mostly University and IPS decisions. What you and I can control is being active and reasonable partners in the APR process that would put us in good position if those pay increases are available to us. Let’s give ourselves the best chances we can to be in that position.

As always, I appreciate the attention you give this process and all the things you do for MTAS and its town and city customers.


Jim Thomas, Executive Director
Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS)
The University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service
Office (615) 532-4950 Cell (615) 972-9219

jim.thomas@tennessee.edu

www.mtas.tennessee.edu