Running for office

I think it's great we have such a large number of employees who hold both elected and appointed positions at the local government level. We always have to be mindful of public perception and conflict of interest. That's why we asked the UT General Counsel's office to help us develop a specific policy for all employees.

I encourage you to be engaged in your local communities - and be aware of the policy.

Click Here to read the policy.

Those we miss...

There is lots of information on the intranet. Every now and then I cruise through it to see if there is something new. And, occasionally I stop to reminisce about those we've lost. The gentle giants of IPS who had an impact. We've archived their "In Memoriam" article. Remember these?

IPS Legacy Society

We recently launched the Public Service Legacy Society thanks to the outstanding efforts of our Development Director, Paul Bowman. So, what is the legacy society and why do we need it?

The Legacy Society is simply a means for IPS to recognize donors who have made generous contributions to IPS through some sort of future giving rather than a current cash gift.

We need the legacy society to generate income for future generations of public service professionals so that they can continue to serve our customers and the state of Tennessee.

Anyone can designate a future gift of any amount to any IPS endowment, or you may choose to set up a new endowment for a special cause. Contact Paul Bowman for all the details on how to leave a life legacy to the Institute for Public Service.

Avoiding waste and fraud

We want to operate the most efficient and effective organization that we can. We need your help!

If you ever notice anything occurring in IPS that ought not to be happening, please bring it to the attention of your supervisor, agency director or any member of the IPS leadership team. All our resources are scarce and should be directed toward our primary mission.

Thank you to the anonymous staff member who suggested I make this a priority.

What are you reading?

I'm always in the middle of two or three books. They help keep me current on leadership trends and refresh my thinking.

I have a number of all time favorites. If you have not read "Good to Great" by Jim Collins and "Leading Change" by John Kotter, I would put those at the top of your list.

Last year I read a series of books by Marcus Buckingham. You might be intrigued by their titles: "First, Break All the Rules", "Now, Discover Your Strengths", and "Go Put Your Strengths to Work". All were fairly easy reads.

I'm about to start "7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm" by Bill George. I've read a summary and it sounds interesting.

Reading is a very cost effective way to stay current in your field. If you are interested in any book on management or leadership, contact Tom Kohntopp at tom.kohntopp@tennessee.edu. There's a good chance he'll have the book in our IPS "library."

Are you prepared for an emergency?

Judie Martin is the IPS Safety Officer. We have guidelines for all types of emergencies - weather, natural disaster, fire, UT car accident, accident on the job and many more.

You need to know evacuation procedures, location of fire alerts and fire extinguishers, and who to call in case of an emergency.

If you are not familiar with the emergency procedures for your office - read them! Ask questions of your agency director, your supervisor or contact Judie Martin. We want every employee to be safe and prepared.

Sick Leave Bank

If you are eligible to join the sick leave bank and have not already, PLEASE DO!

Some employees who have been with IPS for many years don't see the need to join the sick leave bank. The same is true for many new employees. Because of confidentially issues I cannot release the names of employees who are in the bank or those employees who have benefited from participating in the bank. I can assure you, many IPS employees over the years have been able to extend paid sick time and thus keep their benefits because they were able to draw paid time from the sick leave bank.

The cost of entry is small, just three days, compared to the potential benefit. And if you never need it personally, you could still be helping a co-worker down the road. This spring we will have an open enrollment period. If you have any questions, contact Judie Martin, but please consider joining if you have not already done so.

Another point on a similar subject. Employees who are NOT in the sick leave bank can donate time to an emplyee who is in the sick leave bank, but it has to be an 80 hour donation. Note, you must be in the sick leave bank to receive donated time. I hope we don't have employees who get so sick that they need this benefit, but if we do, isn't it great that UT allows us to help in this way?

Culture

Do you work in the type of culture that you would recommend to your customers?

Organizational culture is a curious thing. People assume there is a UT culture or an IPS culture. However, although there may be some similar characteristics about our cultures, there is not ONE culture.

And, for anyone who thinks there is an IPS culture, spend a few days in an agency other than your own. It is fascinating to me how different the cultures of our agencies have become. Part of it is because of history and tradition passed down from employee to employee and director to director. Part of it is the personality types of the employees who make up a majority of the workforce, for example engineers versus city managers.

The IPS Leadership Team is working to improve our culture in a number of ways. If you have suggestions, pass them on. Let's aspire to have the type of organizational culture that we would recommend to our customers.

IPS Compensation - Part Two

Your PDQ is current. Total points above the minimum requirements for the job have been calculated. What comes next? That depends on your job family. The HR office sets the salary schedule for every job family, but those positions in the Public Serivce job family have a separate salary schedule because of the unique nature of the positions.

We help determine the salary schedule for the Public Service Job Family. We collect data from a number of sources including the International City/County Managers Association and the Manufacturing Extension Program. The HR office runs a regression analysis and produces a salary schedule based on the UT model. This model sets a minimum, midpoint and maximum salary for each pay grade and sets the distant between pay grades.

The method for calculating what we call the "target salary" is the same for every job family. How does this work? We subtract the minimum salary from the midpoint salary for each pay grade. This number is divided by 10. The result gives us the value of each point. Your total points are multiplied by the value of each point. This number is then added to the minimum salary for the pay grade and voila - we have your target salary.

Every employee should understand how your points are calculated and thus how we arrive at your target salary. Our goal is to get 100% of our employees to their target salary. We started this process about a decade ago. We've had some good budget years and some lean budget years. We've made progress, but we still have a ways to go. We were hundreds of thousands of dollars below market in 2000 with virtually no employee at his/her target. Today, we are much closer. Let's hope for some better budget years so that we can continue to remain competitive.

IPS Organizational Review - Resolution

February 26 Dr. Simek sent an email updating everyone on the outcome of our organizational review. It was a best-case scenario. IPS, for the first time in its history, is a stand-alone organization reporting directly to the president.

We've had some great leaders in the past who have also had responsibility for other activities such as pubic relations, government relations, statewide continuing education or a variety of other areas. Now, we are singly focused on our public service mission!

Thanks goes to the review committee members including Joe Johnson, Jack Britt, Jimmy Cheek and Joe DePietro. They spent a number of hours asking good questions, reviewing information and listening.

A special thanks goes to a number of our key customers, partners and stakeholders for taking time from their busy schedules to meet with the committee in Nashville last November. Their participation made the difference. You can see their names listed on the final report that is posted on the IPS web site.

Now, onward and upward!