Good Monday Afternoon MTAS,
 
I’m running a week behind, for those of you who missed the Mustard last week. I trust that you had a fantastic, long holiday weekend and that you really enjoyed the extra day off last Monday. Over the holiday weekend I visited a state park for a hike, savored barbeque a couple of times, and enjoyed some down time with games/puzzles – just as I had planned. I hope that your long weekend was as enjoyable and relaxing as mine was.
 
So, with this Mustard I’m covering two weeks; and I’ll start with the celebrations of employees who had birthdays and work anniversaries since August 29. We had more anniversaries, so let’s start there. Congratulations to Steve W., Gary, Chris and Nancy who celebrated work anniversaries on the first, first, third and fifth, respectively. These four individuals have served a combined 63 years. Way to go to the four of you! That is an amazing amount of knowledge and assistance to customers. On the birthday side, I’d like to celebrate Steve C. for his special day on the fifth. Happy birthday Steve! I hope you were able to celebrate your happy day with fanfare.
 
I have more celebrating to do before I move on to reminders. Johanna and Sarah both received kudos from an internal customer, Pat Hardy. Here’s what Pat shared with me:
 
… I don’t ever remember a time when someone from each Management Consultant territory has been in the same MMA at the same time. It’s really fantastic, and I can only imagine the interactions and eye-opening moments they will have learning from both the coursework and each other.
 
Anyway, this reflects what I have seen going on with both Johanna and Sarah. As you and I have previously talked about, Johanna has also been the backbone of our effort to do a virtual EOA (which we have now scheduled for December). She always carries WAY more than her load, and she is so unbelievably innovative and forward-thinking in every approach she takes. Just a really impressive professional.
 
And I spoke with Sarah the other day, discussing potential topics for CME courses for next year. I can’t remember the last time we were asked for that kind of input. She has figured a way to do all of the current (and near future) courses virtual. Again, so, so  impressive (and so easy to work with).
 
I’m just fascinated and wowed by the quality of the work these guys are doing, and I wanted to share these thoughts with you. Thanks.
 
Way to go Johanna and Sarah! This is fantastic; and I’m always so happy to hear from customers (internal and external) who are more than satisfied with our work products and services. Thanks to you ladies for impressing Pat and doing more than what he expected. This is the epitome of our values: Adaptability, Service Oriented, Integrity, and Quality (A Service IQ). You adjusted to new conditions, acted with a focus on the customer, did the right things for the right reasons, and delivered an accurate, professional and timely product.
 
Okay, now for announcements: don’t forget that you are to get a flu shot this season (unless you have religious or medical reasons to exempt you). If you’re in Knoxville, IPS and UT Foundation have teamed up to offer a flu shot clinic in the office on October 14. If you are in another office and would like to have a medical professional come to the office to administer shots, please let me know. All we need to do is coordinate it and have someone lead the charge. Next, a few of you have asked if we will be participating in the deferrals of FICA taxes. The answer is no. UT System HR covered this topic in its newsletter last week and offered explanations for the decision to opt out of the program. If you missed the newsletter, you can link to it here: https://mailchi.mp/tennessee/hr-newsletter-sept-9-2020.
 
One final reminder for this week is for you to get training from Tonya Brown for Teams and Outlook. Teams will be replacing Skype so we need to start migrating now. We are targeting a switch date of the end of the calendar year. My one-on-one training with Tonya was easy and took about forty five minutes. I had a lot of questions, so we went longer than the anticipated 30 minutes. If you’d like to send a meeting invitation to Tonya, her address is tlbrown@uthsc.edu. In case you don’t remember who Tonya is, she gave us an overview of the Teams and Outlook software packages during our virtual MTAS retreat.
 
May your week ahead be full of entelechy (the movement of potential into reality). I hope you accomplish great things, and that you derive satisfaction and happiness as a result.
Margaret