The Personnel Board of Jefferson County (PBJC) was established by Alabama state statute as the human resources agency responsible for administering the civil service system (or Merit System) within Jefferson County. The Personnel Board Merit System currently includes more than 7,500 classified employees, 17 municipalities located within Jefferson County, the county commission, and five county-wide agencies. The Managers Preparing to Accomplish Change Today (MPACT) at PBJC is a selective program designed to develop and elevate the skills of already high-performing managers in the Merit System. This program is divided into monthly classes with topics specifically selected because of their impact on the careers of the participants.
Class attendees follow an application process that includes required attendance in other PBJC classes, a personality profile, and an engagement assessment conducted by the Training staff. Participation in the program requires that participants routinely interact with their direct supervisor and appointing authority (Director, Mayor, County Manager, etc.), so their progress in the program brings about measureable results.
Program Details
Component 1 of the program is the formalized class sessions. The topics of the classes include courageous leadership, accountability, discipline, trust, communication, public speaking, influence, managing in the middle, and project management.
Component 2 consists of an electronic forum throughout the program. The forum is used for posting class discussions, sharing best practices, and asking cohort partners for advice on real-life struggles they may be facing as a manager in civil service.
For component 3, participants complete an MPACT project that brings demonstrable change to their department or jurisdiction. A portion of each class is devoted to the assessment and fine-tuning of the project in addition to holding them accountable for making progress. Some examples of past projects include an electronic upgrade to all inventory management for a fire department, a new system of paperless reporting of police reports, a benchmark procedure for foreign language interpreters at the health department, and a new critical emergency response protocol for Jefferson County. These projects are the most critical part of the program, as the participants have to utilize all the competencies covered in the classroom component.
The most valuable best practice lesson from this program is the experiential component. For the longest time, PBJC training classes were held at a typical government building classroom. PBJC wanted this program to get out into the community and see other locations, hear from others speakers, and allow these employees to get out of their work bubbles and into the community. The PBJC Training team worked to partner with local agencies to barter space and guest speakers in exchange for PBJC training for their employees. This has been a success. Locations where MPACT classes are held at no charge include:
- Birmingham Museum of Art
- Birmingham Civil Rights Museum
- Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve
- Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
- WVTM – NBC 13
- Regions Park (minor league baseball stadium)
- Southern Museum of Flight
- McWane Science Center
Results
- MPACT participants attend classes in non-traditional locations that tie to the topic of the month (i.e., “Communication” is held at NBC-13). Their attention level increases, their engagement increases, and their passion for learning increases. When asked if their MPACT class is the best day of each month, 90 percent strongly agreed.
- The location gets to market their services to 20 attendees (who all have co-workers and families) who may not have ever visited that location. One hundred percent of all attendees in this program have not visited at least one of these sites, even though they live in the area.
- Participants get to hear from a guest speaker from that location who ties the topic to their business (i.e., the Ruffner Mountain director talks about how we all must be “accountable” to the environment…as the topic for that month was “accountability in the workplace”). Participants get to meet and greet with that executive and polish their networking skills.
- The PBJC Training team leads training for these partners that they may not have been able to have or afford from a private consultant. This increases the brand as leadership training experts in the community and positions the PBJC as a community partner.
- Employees who successfully complete the nine-month program are included in a special cohort of MPACT graduates. These graduates frequently are used as subject matter experts and are invited to special events, focus groups, and pilot classes. They also come together once a year at an MPACT networking breakfast where they can update their projects, share best practices, and continue building community with each other.
- Participants in the program routinely are promoted to new leadership positions upon completion of the program. Due to the range of projects that are completed, agencies have seen improvements in customer satisfaction, employee engagement, operational efficiency, cost savings, and employee retention rates.
