VP to visit offices statewide

I enjoy visiting with staff across the state twice per year and June will be a busy month. Among the agenda items are the IPS Outreach and Engagement model, the Horizon project, the Baldrige process, a budget update and the FY 14 salary plan. I also want to answer questions about anything on your mind.

Here's the schedule:

June 11 Nashville @ CIS office 9:30 - 11:30
June 11 Chattanooga @ IPS office 2:00 -3:30

June 14 Knoxville @ MTAS office 10:00 - 12:00

June 21 Johnson City @ IPS office 9:00 - 10:30

June 24 Memphis @ IPS office 2:00 - 4:00

June 25 Jackson @ IPS office 8:30 - 10:30
June 25 Martin @ IPS office 1:00 - 3:00

June 26 Nashville @ CTAS office 8:30 - 10:30
June 26 Oak Ridge @ LEIC office 2:30 - 4:30

June 27 Knoxville @ IPS central office 1:30 - 3:30

All staff are welcome to attend any meeting based on your travel schedule. No reservation required - just stop in!

See you in June!
Mary

IPS to give away $7500!

IPS Annual Conference Awards:

Don’t we have awesome colleagues working in IPS???

Friday is the deadline to submit nominations for this year’s awards ceremony at annual conference. In a typical year we give away at least $7500. The awards are funded by gifts from IPS employees and friends. Let’s not let the money stay in the bank – I want to give it away!

Please take a few minutes to nominate a worthy candidate at

http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/awards.asp

Click on "nominate someone" and it is easy from there! Remember the person reading your nomination may not know the nominee at all, so please be specific and brag shamelessly!

 

Pi Alpha Alpha

In college I was a good student, but never at the top of the honor roll. I was always too busy working to worry too much about joining clubs and didn't understand the value of membership in honor societies and such.

So, recently I was honored to be asked to speak at the UTK Pi Alpha Alpha/East TN ASPA Awards luncheon. Eight very deserving graduate students were inducted into this prestigous honor society, including some of our former interns Christopher Shults and Andrew Morelock.

The purpose of Pi Alpha Alpha is to encourage and recognize outstanding scholarship and accomplishment in public affairs and administration. Its objectives, such as fostering integrity, professionalism, and effective performance, promote the advancement of quality in the education and practice of the art and science of public affairs and administration. PAA membership identifies those with the highest performance levels in educational programs preparing them for public service careers.

Imagine my surprise when at the end of my presentation, I was presented with membership! Special thanks to Dr. Dave Folz and the faculty of the UTK MPPA program. I am a proud graduate.

The Importance of Relationships

 

Harry Hertz, director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Conference, is always insightful and the remarks he made following the recent natioanl conference made we think about how these principles apply to IPS.  Aren't we really about relationships?


Harry, says, "these are challenging times for all organizations. The unique blend of Baldrige Award recipients in 2012 (Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control—large manufacturing; MESA—small business/manufacturing; North Mississippi Health Services—large health care system; and the City of Irving, Texas— municipal government) allowed me to observe a set of commonalities that represent “universal truths” that are independent of sector. While the following two key themes were not necessarily stated directly in conference presentations, I found a profound commonality in the mindsets and operations of the very different enterprises.

• The importance of relationships and transparency: These two concepts are foundational to the sustainability of an organization or enterprise. Role-model organizations strive to build strong and supportive relationships with employees, customers, partners, and key suppliers. A key to building these strong relationships is transparency and openness in all aspects of the relationship. If transparency and relationships are strong, trust between people and organizations are built, and there is a basis for both longevity in the relationship and commitment to allegiance and support through periods of change.

• The logic chain of purpose → employee → customer → strategy (implementation): With a clear, meaningful, and well-communicated sense of purpose, an organization can gain an enduring sense of commitment from employees. That commitment leads to employees building strong customer relationships and loyalty. Furthermore, that loyalty from employees and customers engenders support at all levels in both groups for the organization’s strategy and its implementation. This is particularly important in times of rapidly changing external environments that require agility, trust, and commitment as strategy and, therefore, strategy implementation change."

Yes, I think this is the foundation for all we do in IPS.

Budgets, Budgets

We recently concluded the budget preparation process for fiscal 2014. It includes some good news -

Revenues:

• a 2.5% increase in our base state appropriation
• funding for a 1.5% across the board salary increase (everyone gets it, but we were only funded for "E" account positions)
• a $500,000 new state appropriation for LEIC
• fee income is improving, while fees are mostly staying flat

Expenses:

• We are matching the state funding for a total salary pool of 3%
• We are increasing our commitment to professional development for all staff
• We are maintaining our equipment replacement schedule
• We are enhancing office space in Memphis and Cookeville
• Most importantly, we are maintaining our commitment to our customers by providing the resources necessary to meet their needs

All of this is possible because of the outstanding work of the entire IPS staff. Because the work is excellent and our customers are satisfied, it is easy for me and others to tell our story, show the results and justify increases in funding. THANK YOU!

I look forward to discussing the budget process more during my upcoming statewide visits.

Recognition

A recent edition of the "Walk the Talk" e-newsletter talks about recognition.  They say,


"Recognition is perhaps the highest return on investment activity a leader can exhibit because a little goes a long way. And, it’s a gift that keeps on giving!

Here are a few specific How-To Recognition Tips for your consideration:

• Make a list of all the people who work with or for you. Then go through your list and identify the last time you gave recognition to each person … and for what. You should remember your last praising of most of the people on the list. If not, you’re probably not doing it enough!

 

• Be specific! The more specific your recognition, the more impact it will have. Instead of merely saying, “Great job,” tell the person what it was about the job that was done so well. Example: “That was terrific work. You came in under budget, you completed the work six days ahead of schedule, and you had everyone working together as a team. I really appreciate your efforts and your results.” When you’re specific, the person knows exactly what behaviors to replicate in the future.

Make it timely! Recognition loses impact with the passing of time. Receiving praise for something you did many months ago is not all that motivating and can feel contrived. A good rule of thumb: Give recognition as soon as possible after the positive behavior or performance."

I certainly don't spend enough time on this activity, but I'm trying to get better!

To read more information from Walk the Talk, visit the web site at:

WalkTheTalk.com

Words of CEO Wisdom

Ackermann PR publishes a great newsletter. I always enjoy the short and to-the-point stories.  In a recent article, it provided Words of CEO Wisdom that I thought was worth sharing.

"In a recent roundtable of Fortune 100 CEO's, the following 'words of wisdom' surfaced and were agreed upon by all participants:

• Hire people who are better and smarter than you.
• Ego is your single greatest enemy.
• Don't mess with the people who are getting the job done.
• Be sure to get feedback on big decisions from everyone.
• Always act like the leader you truly can be.
• What you say isn't as important as what the people you are saying it to think they are hearing.
• You could be wrong - always listen to others.
• Your hardest critics might actually be your best friends.
• Stop if you don't know what you are doing.
• Integrity is always number one."

Our leadership team needs help in all these areas. Tell us when you think we aren't living up to these words of wisdom.