MTAS Mustard for week ended 2-22-19 and 3-1-19

 

Hi MTAS!

Another two weeks have come and gone. Please allow me a few minutes to tell you about them.

In the last Mustard, I encouraged you to sign up for two factor authentication. You listened; and I am so very pleased to report that MTAS achieved 100% participation. Way to go MTAS!

I also encouraged you to participate in the UT Family Campaign which began mid-February, and will continue until this Friday, March 8. This is the opportunity for staff to give back to the university. If you haven’t yet made a pledge through payroll deduction or a one-time donation, you have until Friday. Here is the link: https://alumni.tennessee.edu/s/1341/17/interior.aspx?sid=1341&gid=1&pgid=10805. My life is so positively impacted by the university; I just can’t imagine not sharing a bit back to the organization that got me here and keeps me here. Please don’t forget the new IPS giving opportunity presented by the 2018 class of the Leadership Academy, the Employee Assistance Fund. Any donation in any amount to any fund is graciously accepted. Please, help me to be able to shout out next week that we reached 100% participation on this endeavor too.

The MTAS Leadership team met on February 14, and set dates for the 2019 MTAS retreat. This will not be in conjunction with the IPS annual conference. We heard from many of you that you did not want to extend your time given the travel considerations, so instead we will gather September 12, starting at 1:00 and ending September 13 at noon. The plan is to meet in middle TN. The committee members are: Sarah, Dawn, Kay and Richard with Wes helping to facilitate. If you have strong feelings about what you’d like your retreat to include/exclude, please let one of these committee members know.

On February 18, the IPS Leadership team met in Nashville and we received an update on the progress of the strategy teams. Many of the teams have accomplished their work ahead of schedule. Excellent! There is still more work to be accomplished, and some teams have not yet begun due to other processes that needed to get underway first. Please stay tuned to learn more about these groups and their efforts. In the meantime, please join me in thanking your representatives on the various micro-goal committees for their dedication to these efforts (completed in some cases and ongoing in others):

• Utilize a learning management system that meets customer needs by 2017: Cyndy and Lisa
• Establish professional development guidelines for the institute by June 2017: Abb and Elisha
• Evaluate the APR process and report recommendations by 2020: Chris
• Develop a succession plan for all key positions by 2020: Richard and John G.
• By 2022, increase the number of diverse hires to better reflect the demographics of TN and create and sustain a climate within IPS where employees know that equity and inclusivity are valued: Angie, Steve W. and Elisha (Elisha is the team leader)
• Ensure long term financial viability by 7/10/20: Rick
• Increase non appropriation revenue by at least 5% annually by 7/1.20: Rick
• Consistent website look and feel across agencies: Lisa and Frances
• Establish an overall external and system-wide marketing strategy: Frances
• Each grand division will have state of the art education facilities by 2020: Abb (Abb is the team leader) and Cyndy

Last week I spent in Murfreesboro at the UT Leadership Institute. This is a program that the university has been offering since 1981. It has a strong history and is full of traditions. I met and worked with staff and faculty from all over the UT system. I learned so much and am excited to make changes in the way I do things to improve service to you and to our customers. As you know from previous communications, I am a fan of quotes. Two of the ones I wrote down last week are: “We judge ourselves by our best intentions, but we are judged by our last worst act.” and “Know your mission and stick to it; you can’t be all things to all people.”

Also last week, Ronnie was sworn in as the secretary of the West TN Mayor’s Association. Thanks to Pat for taking the picture (below), and congratulations to Ronnie on this honor and accomplishment.





Before I end the Mustard, I want to give a big shout out to those with milestones over the last two weeks. Last Friday (3/1) we had four work anniversaries: Al, Pat, Kay and Sarah. Sarah just finished her first year; and Al and Pat and Kay, well, they’ve had a few more than that… Congratulations to the four of you for a combined 75 years! Before that, on February 22, Dawn celebrated a work anniversary too. She will receive her first longevity check this month. I am so pleased that we have a community/culture where we can celebrate tenure and the fact that the average employee has been with MTAS almost 13 years. This is a fantastic number and I thank you all for your contributions.

We also had a couple of birthdays over the last two weeks: Stephanie celebrated on the 21^st of February, followed by Wes on the 25^th. I hope you both celebrated with lots of fanfare. Happy birthday!

Thank you for what you have done, and what you continue to do. Every day you help MTAS fulfill its mission of serving TN municipalities to improve the lives of those they serve. What we do really matters; and I am so honored to be able to work with you.
Margaret