10/13/2020
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Hello MTAS!
I hope you are doing well and staying healthy. I know this has been a challenge lately, with no immediate end in sight. However, I know that you are a group of resilient people and you’ll keep fighting the fight as long as it takes. Please continue to exercise caution and follow CDC guidelines. In case you’ve not looked at them lately, click here to access them. I continue to take my temperature every morning to make sure I don’t have a fever before I leave the house. If you need a reminder about the daily self-check survey, you can click here to take it. We are a family here at MTAS and I hope and expect you to treat your kin with respect, including making sure you are well and not coming to the office when you feel sick. Together we’ll get through this.
Speaking of our family, we are one fewer after last week. Sheila Figgins submitted her resignation on October 5. Sheila came to work with us on August 24 this year, so she had a very short tenure. She had an opportunity to return home and she took it. I wish her the best, and we have begun the process to fill the training coordinator position again. We are in the process of filling Joe Cosentini’s management consultant position, and are accepting applications for a new finance and accounting consultant in middle TN. If you know someone who is qualified and someone who you think has the MTAS stuff, please encourage him or her to apply. I want our MTAS team to be strong, knowledgeable, principled, flexible, and one that delivers excellent customer service. Does this sound familiar at all to our values? When I interview candidates, I’m looking for individuals who demonstrate these qualities. Our average employee tenure is thirteen years, so I look at a new hire as a long-term investment for the agency.
While on the subject of tenure, this is a good segue into work anniversaries. I’d like to celebrate Elisha who had an anniversary on the sixth, and Emily who had an anniversary on the eighth. I’m so happy for you both on your milestones and look forward to continued successes from both of you.
Oh, I’m on a roll. Let’s talk about successes. Last week the MTAS team working with the TML search committee to find a new executive director, concluded its efforts. The team consisted of John Grubbs, Gary Jaeckel, and Richard Stokes (who is working in retirement for us on a contractual basis). They put the candidates through an assessment center, the first one that we’ve ever done virtually. We learned a lot through that process and look forward to taking those lessons learned and applying them to the next virtual assessment center. As Dr. Byrd says: “You don’t have to be sick to get better” and we definitely found ways to improve the virtual process. This is an important position, and I’ve been honored to serve on the search committee. The board concluded its efforts last Friday and will be making its recommendation to the full TML board this afternoon (2:00 EST/1:00 CST). If you’d like to watch the meeting, the link is available on the TML website (www.tml1.org).
I’d like to leave you this week with a quote from Alicia Vikander: “The mere fact of being able to call your job your passion is success in my eyes.” I know I’m in the right place, and I hope you feel the same. I wish you all amazing success!
Margaret
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