It's a Balancing Act

I heard a recent speaker share his take on the work-life balancing act.

He asked us to imagine juggling five balls at one time.


Family - imagine this ball is glass
Health - imagine this ball is glass
Friends - imagine this ball is glass
Spirit - imagine this ball is glass
Work - imagine this ball is rubber

Not to imply that our work is not important, but if you are not taking care of the other "balls" in your life, then work will suffer anyway. If something has to "drop" temporarily, work can recover.

Set your priorities and strive to keep your life in balance.

Giving Thanks

Tomorrow is our nation's annual Thanksgiving celebration. Sometimes we get so lost in the rush to eat turkey and begin Christmas shopping that we forget to actually GIVE THANKS.


We are fortunate to live in a place where we can openly celebrate holidays, express our religious opinions, vote, and experience all the freedoms of our country.

Take a few minutes, relax, and think about those things for which you are thankful!

Baldrige Express Follow-up

IPS and the Baldrige Express Survey
One Year Later, What Happened?

In October 2009, employees of the Institute for Public Service were invited to respond to an online survey asking how we rate our organizational performance compared to national standards of performance excellence. Of the 167 distributed surveys, 131 IPS employees responded, achieving a 78% response rate. We noted several organizational strengths including our commitment to customers, our willingness to measure our performance, leaders’ commitment to promoting legal and ethical behaviors, and the scope and quality of the workplace benefits. We also noted five priority opportunities for improvement that could help us become an even more valuable asset to Tennesseans. Listed below are those five opportunities for improvement and an abbreviated list of actions that have been taken or are underway since we completed the Baldrige Express Survey last year.

Analysis and Use of Customer Data: determining customer groups and segmentsThough we have significant amounts of information about our customers, we believed we could be even more effective by doing a better job of segmenting, targeting and collaborating on our training and assistance efforts. Actions undertaken this year included: (1) CIS and CTAS deployed shared worker safety training programs targeted to county highway officials; (2) MTAS and CTAS targeting Pioneer Academy training sessions for rural leaders; (3) CTAS and LEIC deployed new training for Sheriffs departments’ corrections leaders; and (4) MTAS survey of each city to determine which services are most valued.

Emergency Readiness: preparing the work system and the workplace for emergencies and disastersThe IPS Public Safety and Worker Safety Strategy Team and the IPS Human Resources Strategy Team worked together to update and distribute emergency evacuation plans for each IPS work location. The IPS IT Strategy Team reviewed data management processes and practices to assure emergency and disaster plans are properly implemented throughout the Institute.

Workforce Enrichment: performance management system to support high performance work and workforce engagementWith input from the IPS Performance Management Strategy Team, the IPS Leadership Team developed and deployed a draft IPS Balanced Scorecard for FY11. Specific performance metrics and performance targets continue to be refined in preparation for the Calendar Year 2011 Annual Performance Review (APR) and Goal Setting period. The IPS Annual Supervisors survey was administered again in September 2010 with feedback and results used to support 2010 APRs and 2011 individual development plans. Finally, IPS deployed the Baldrige Express tool and engaged targeted IPS leaders in a variety of professional development settings (Pals’ Business Excellence Institute, Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, Baldrige Regional Conference) designed to support improved understanding of high performance work systems.

Vision, Values and Mission: sustaining the organization through innovation, learning, organizational agility, and developing leadersMany actions were undertaken involving this priority. One example is the IPS Leadership Team’s initial implementation of the recommendations from the IPS Organizational Review process regarding opportunities to promote collaboration between IPS and UT Extension (e.g. the CREST economic development pilot project) and additional IPS engagement with faculty and students in the conduct of our work (e.g. Candace Graham hired as first Muscatello-Rodgers Intern during Summer 2010). Another example is the creation and deployment of the IPS Leadership Academy, a two-year professional development program to better acquaint participants with IPS and University operations and how IPS contributes to the University’s outreach mission.

Communications and Organizational Performance: effectively communicating, engaging and encouraging workers to take action to improve performance and create customer valueThe IPS Communications Strategy Team took an active role in addressing this priority. First, a survey was completed of all IPS staff exploring the methods by which IPS employees prefer to be communicated with. Following the survey, additional communications tools were deployed including a Vice President’s blog and a mid-month electronic update of the IPS Exchange newsletter. Changes have been made to the IPS employees intranet to promote easier sharing of sensitive organizational information and a new, standard format for updates to IPS strategic planning teams work agendas and accomplishments has been created.

As IPS and its agencies continue our organizational journey, we will continue working to improve our performance. Using the platform of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program provides us a world class tool and language to approach our continuous improvement efforts and comparative information to help in our journey. Thank you for all you are doing to help us improve, including providing feedback and changing your approaches to work as we move ahead together.

IPS Diversity Strategy Team

The IPS Diversity Strategy Team is making outstanding progress revising its plan. Below is our new purpose statement and the three goals in the plan. We'll be finalizing initiatives by our next meeting.

PURPOSE
To create an environment that better allows IPS to fulfill its mission. Our plan will be meaningful and will present options and different ways for employees to contribute or meet expectations.

In order to achieve its purpose, our plan will be:
• Realistic
• Respectful
• Focused on excellence
• Embraced by leadership and staff


GOALS
• Promote diversity in the workplace to strengthen the organization
• Educate the IPS workforce on diversity issues
• Monitor diversity efforts

Visit the IPS Intranet site for more details and to give feedback!
Click here

SMART Goals

To be truly successful, you need to set and pursue SMART goals. Write them down, and then check them to make sure they are:

• Specific (detailed not general)
• Measurable (can be tracked and inspected)
• Achievable (realistic even if challenging)
• Relevant (lead to important, suitable results and contributions)
• Time-Sensitive (deadline driven)

Thanks to our Veterans

The Veterans Day ceremony is held each year on November 11th at Arlington National Cemetery and begins precisely at 11:00 a.m. with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The ceremony continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater with a parade of colors by veterans’ organizations and remarks from dignitaries. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all who served in the United States Armed Forces.

We have a number of veterans working in IPS. Today we honor them and all the veterans who have made sacrifices to keep our country free. This year the inaugural class of the IPS Leadership Academy is conducting a service project, Horses for Heroes, to honor veterans. Check with a class member for more information.

Click here to visit the Veterans Day web site and watch a great video on how you can help our veterans.

Click here to see a list of veterans in IPS and family members who are veterans. Contact Susan Robertson is you know someone who needs to be added to the list.

Guest Blog from Scott Gordy - Performance Measures

Performance Measures at the Institute for Public Service

For as long as I have been at the Institute for Public Service, almost 10 years now, “performance measures” has been a part of the vocabulary used within the Institute.

Having been personally involved with the collection and aggregation of performance measures for most of those years, it has been interesting to observe the transformation of this information in terms of how it is collected and reported.

Historically, it has been the responsibility of each agency to collect, aggregate, and distribute the performance information. Additionally, because of the need to report to stakeholders, such as state and federal legislators who fund our agencies, the information was typically broken down by Tennessee county into an Excel spreadsheet and returned to Central Office. This information was then, once again aggregated and consolidated for presentation to stakeholders with an interest in the Institute and all of its agencies.

Having said all this, the question remains “How is this information used?” I know this is a question posed by staff within the Institute because I have heard it posed by a number of my colleagues.

Furthermore, I would answer the question by saying it is used to describe the cause and work of the Institute to internal and external stakeholders. If you don’t believe me visit the IPS website at http://www.ips.tennessee.edu/ and click on the About Us link. In the right hand column you will find some quick links. Take some time look at the “Annual Reports” and look at the “Solutions for Your Community”.

The information contained therein is all comprised from the information that is gathered as a result of Performance Measures and the various Management Information Systems across the agencies.

What has been lacking until recently is a way to, in a timely manner, consolidate the information into a single repository in such a way that it is useful. Historically, consolidating the information happened once a year at the close of each fiscal year and there is a mad rush to get everything updated.

Sample Report for FY10, Loudon County

Now, the information contained within each of the respective MIS systems is uploaded once a month to a centralized repository. This fact has two primary advantages: 1) the information is available throughout the year for review and 2) less rush and stress to collect the information at the end of the fiscal year.
Also, with the MIS numeric data, project and activity descriptions are uploaded providing the additional information necessary for the Institute to send the message of our activities across the state and across the nation.

You have access to view the information throughout the year, and can see just how the work you do has an impact across the state and nation. Visit http://performance.ips.tennessee.edu/

VOTE!

Today is election day. If you did not early vote, please take time today to exercise one of the most basic rights we have as American citizens.


This fall we are electing a new governor, congressional representatives, state senators and representatives, and voting on a state constitutional amendment related to hunting and fishing. There are also a number of municipal elections.

These elected officials end up being our customers and partners in many ways. It is imperative that we have well qualified individuals holding public office.

Please vote!

Mentoring

All of us mentor in one way or another, but few of us ever get the opportunity to participate in a formal mentoring program. IPS is establishing such a program as part of the IPS Leadership Academy.

In October all the potential mentors attended a training session on how to be an effective mentor. I came away with more questions than answers, recognizing that there is much more to learn and realizing that mentoring is hard work!

We will continue to develop the program and explore ways to expand it. I look forward to reporting to you our success!