IPS Senior Leadership Team Retreat Summary

In January the Senior Leadership Team held a retreat to focus on results of the Employee Engagement Survey and one or two other topics, but by the time we met we had quite a list.  In this note I will touch on the highlights of this discussion, but please ask any of us if you would like more information. 

The team includes the Executive Directors of each agency, the Assistant Vice Presidents and the Vice President, and we generally meet at least quarterly to discuss trends and issues that do or may impact the Institute for Public Service.  We also hold “retreats” away from the office about every 18 months or so for greater discussion on 1 or more topics.  During the January retreat we reached consensus on several issues, and, over the next few months you can expect to see action and discussion on the following:

1.      Telecommuting and FML Policies – IPS follows University policy on telecommuting and on an employee’s ability to work intermittently from home while on Family Medical Leave (FML), but within the University’s parameters we do have some ability to modify these to fit our needs.  We have received requests to allow flexibility on these policies, and have discussed this with the IPS workforce development team.  During the retreat the Senior Leadership Team reviewed this and concluded that while there should be greater flexibility, the policies do need to be fairly applied across all IPS agencies. 

After an exhaustive discussion we agreed to consider a one-year pilot program under the following guidelines:

a.       System HR is developing a new telecommuting policy, so we will delay implementation of an IPS-specific implementation paln until after the system policy is adopted. 

b.      Pending a decision on this, individual short-duration requests to work from home will be considered on a case-by-case basis, with approval by the Executive Director.

c.       The AVPs will monitor the use of telecommuting to make sure that the application of the policy is consistent across agencies.

d.      We also discussed allowing intermittent work while a member of staff is on approved FML, and agreed that work while on intermittent FML may be acceptable with an approved outline of the plan and schedule of work.  The Executive Directors will recommend plans to the Central Office for approval.

2.      Weather-Related Closings – We also discussed the impact of changes to the telecommuting policy on inclement weather requests, and we considered the differences in weather-related office closings in Nashville with the rest of the state.  We agreed that we will continue to evaluate the present policy linking closing of Nashville IPS offices to closings at state agencies.  We also agreed that changes to the telecommuting policy will not apply to inclement weather.

     3.      Horizon – We reviewed the compelling problems developed through the Horizon process, and agreed that the best role for IPS with these and other issues could be as a convener of the public or customer discussion.  We considered healthcare financing and the methamphetamine problems as among the more pressing problems in Tennessee, and for the first effort we are looking at convening information and discussion on healthcare and healthcare financing. 

We agreed to develop this first effort over the next year, and noted that a great deal of work will be required to develop this effort.  Initially we are considering hosting a public forum (and possibly a panel discussion) of customers on healthcare financing.  In support of this first effort we expect to develop a current assessment on healthcare and healthcare financing with a prediction for the future to support the panel discussion that we will convene.  Our goal is to help customers to think beyond today on this major issue, and to understand their options.

4.      Employee Engagement – The team reviewed the summary of survey responses, and noted low scores for IPS Senior Leadership related to direction, communication and trust by staff.  We discussed ways for members of the senior leadership team to better communicate IPS direction and messages, and noted that some of the low scores may be at least partially based on inadequate feedback to staff on the reasons behind decisions and actions.  The team discussed the process by which new initiatives are developed for and by staff and agencies, and the need to balance the internal and external focus of IPS. 

5.      Agency APRs – Team members reviewed the draft Annual Performance Review (APR) forms developed for each agency, and noted the similarities and differences. 

We discussed the employee engagement survey results that indicate that many employees of IPS are unclear on how they can achieve higher scores.  We agreed that all agency APRs should be developed using a collaborative approach.  We also agreed that the employee has the responsibility to demonstrate why the employee has earned a score of 4 or 5 on any point or category, and that the supervisor has the responsibility to demonstrate why the employee has earned a rating of 1 or 2 on any point or category.

We also discussed and reached agreement on a number of other topics:

-         Development – We agreed that we need to continue to look at options for raising funds for IPS services and projects.

-         Agency Handbooks – We agreed to finalize all agency handbooks by the end of February, 2014. 

-         Leadership Academy – Our consensus was to continue with the next leadership academy for IPS.  Applications will be accepted in April and May for the third academy, with the Academy starting with an orientation at the summer IPS annual conference.

-         IPS Annual Conference – We agreed that the proposal by the conference planning committee for the 2014 IPS conference has merit and should be brought forward for discussion at the University level.

-         IT Audit – We reviewed the limited information available on the recent audit of IT security for the University, and members of the senior leadership team plan to attend the next IPS IT team meeting on the audit recommendations.

-         Use of Outlook Mail and Calendars – We agreed that staff will only use Outlook for both calendar or E-Mail functions. No other software will be supported by IPS or our IT team.

As you see by this summary we covered a great deal of material over the course of the meeting.  I welcome your thoughts, input and engagement on these and other issues, and know that any members of the Senior Leadership Team will be pleased to expand on these discussions.