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In Touch with Tennessee
In Touch with Tennessee
The Journey to Enhanced Leadership Skills for Tennessee's Public Servants
Discover the transformative power of the Tennessee Certified Public Manager (CPM) program in our latest episode, where we're joined by Trent Clagg, the Naifeh Center for Effective Leadership Center Program Manager, and Terry Bell, a CPM graduate and current Director of Community Corrections in Madison County. Unpack the secrets behind the program's successful expansion, its tailored leadership modules like conflict management, and the exclusive career perks it offers, including potential salary bumps for dedicated state employees.
Hi and welcome to In Touch with Tennessee, a podcast of the UT Institute for Public Service. The National Certified Public Manager Consortium, formed in 1979, establishes and preserves standards for the Certified Public Manager designation by providing and monitoring accreditation standards, facilitating program development, encouraging innovation and developing linkages with programs and organizations across the US and internationally. In 2017, the NAEPI Center for Effective Leadership was chosen to run the Certified Public Manager program in Tennessee. Since then, more than 220 participants in the state have received the CPM designation. Joining us today to talk about the Tennessee CPM program is NAPI Center Program Manager Trent Clagg and CPM graduate Terry Bell, who's Director of Community Corrections and is based in Madison County. Thank you both for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:So, trent, talk about establishing the CPM program in Tennessee. You were kind of in on it from the, it from the ground floor.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's been quite a journey, as I first came to the NAFE Center, I was hired in 2017, and I remember sitting in my office with then our executive director, dr Maisel Ely, and he walked in and he handed a jump drive to me and he said Trent, I want you to take a look at this jump drive. There's some material on there that is this certified public manager program. That is a nationwide certification and we would like to work on that here at the University of Tennessee. So I'm thinking okay. So I opened it up and it was a OneNote file full of all of this information of some folks before me at the NAFE Center were hired out to do some research to develop this program, and it was interesting.
Speaker 2:After a few attempts to get it off the ground, it was kind of had fallen flat, and then, as Mesa looked at me and said we're going to do something with this program, we're going to move forward, and so I looked at that and I thought, oh boy, what is this? And then we started looking at it and realizing the potential of gathering city, county and state employees together in the same room and talk about all different types of leadership. I thought what a wonderful opportunity this would be to be across the state and really help agencies and cities and counties to grow and to not only have professional development but then have an opportunity to make a positive change in their agency.
Speaker 1:All right. So how did you spread the word about the program?
Speaker 2:Well, it's an interesting question. As we are the NAFE Center for Effective Leadership, we have the fortune to have other institutes that we run in the NAFE Center, and so we have a partnership with the Department of Human Resources, which sponsors residential leadership institutes across the state. So they have one that's called the Tennessee Government Executive Institute that focuses on executives, and then they have one that's called the Tennessee Government Management Institute that focuses on mid-level managers. So the NAFE Center we work in those, it's a two-week residential institute for each of those, and so we were able to work in those institutes and be among state leaders and they could realize that we have some leadership training to offer. And as we built a relationship with some of those leaders, they trusted us to say, oh, let's look at this program and we have another program that we taught and lead called the Local Government Leadership Program. So by working in some of these other programs, we were able to really plant some seeds and just explain what the Certified Public Manager program was, and then it helped us to grow.
Speaker 2:One of the other aspects that has been a major issue of growth, or maybe a catalyst, if you will, is with state employees. We started early on petitioning the criteria for salary increases and not far into the program we were able to get the designation of a legitimate certification across the state so that state employees could take this program and potentially get a salary increase, and that has helped spread the word about the program. A lot of it was relationships and word of mouth. We did a lot of email blasts and I used to go around and do what we call info sessions. We would go to the bottom of the Tennessee Tower and reserve a room and bring some cookies and fruit in and have a session like that and those were some of the formative years of the CPM program.
Speaker 1:I know you mentioned your partnership with the Department of Human Resources. Who all can enroll in the program?
Speaker 2:So in the CPM program it is open to city leaders, so all cities.
Speaker 2:So if you are a city employee, whether it's the utilities district or if you're in the finance department, or if you're in the legal area or if you're in just actual HR or in just county city leadership, and the same goes for county leadership in all different forms. We've had several state agencies send folks through, like the Department of Health, the Department of Children's Services, those type of individuals that, and basically you don't even have to be a part of those. You have to be able to be a part of an agency that you can commit to doing some research and maybe, with that research, finding something in your agency that you could improve, an agency improvement. And so I've actually had some from private industries such as Blue Cross, blue Shield, to join in and be able to do a capstone project to make their agency better. So it's open to those that have the opportunity to make a potential, do some research and make a change in their agency. So typically that's local government, state agencies and larger private companies.
Speaker 1:So, once participants decide to join the program, what is required of them?
Speaker 2:decide to join the program. What is required of them? Yes, the program is primarily covered over a one-year time. We stretch that just a little bit because we put graduation after the year is completed. But the participants come once a month in person and so in those once a month in-person sessions there are 12 in-person sessions and within those sessions we have a lot of discussion about leadership. We talk about conflict management, we talk about basic leadership and general leadership principles versus management. We talk about crisis leadership. We actually have an opportunity to go into a simulation.
Speaker 2:We put participants in an active shooter situation and they have a Glock with a laser on it and they actually go in person and they actually have to make some decisions whether to fire the firearm or not, in a non-lethal way, of course, in a safe handling environment with firearms instructors. It's a great way. But we come together in those in-person sessions to really just talk about best practice. We have a lot of seasoned individuals, as you'll hear from Terry here in a little bit. He's been in leadership for a while in the National Guard and in his local government, but he was able to bring a lot of just great leadership best practice and then he'll share learned a few things as well, but there's that in-person part of it and then the other part is a self-paced online class environment, and so we have several classes that we source out through LinkedIn Learning that are top-notch, just leadership courses that talk about goal setting and talk about managing up, and we have quite a bit of curriculum that addresses the office suite and that goes through and you learn different aspects of using Microsoft Office as a public servant.
Speaker 2:That's one of our tools that we use. But there's also just very specific management courses and leadership courses just to help in HR and those types of topics to help leaders to be a better you be a better them as they grow, to be a better you be a better them as they grow. And then, lastly, participants to join, and what is required of them is they need to complete a capstone project, and that is kind of the capstone or the climax of the program that we have them kind of be thinking about different aspects of how they can improve their agency, whether it's a policy issue, a personnel issue, whether it's taking something from analog to making it digital, with forms or with the tablets or however, so they're able to kind of really do some research and make a positive influence of change in their agency. And so those are the three main components in person, online and a capstone project.
Speaker 1:OK, well, so from the time you started the program and you really did start the program sounds like how is it grown now?
Speaker 2:It has grown exponentially through the last several years. We started in 2018. We had 14 noble souls actually 15, but we graduated 14 individuals that took a leap of faith with us with this brand new certification in the state of Tennessee. And since then we have grown and of course we fared through COVID. We did take a little dip while COVID happened, but it has grown from 14 to now. This year we have 78 individuals enrolled in the program, in what we call the Legacy CPM the Legacy CPM.
Speaker 2:What's interesting is last year we were approached by the Department of Children's Services and the customer focus group, which is a think tank out of the governor's office, to look at possibly offering the CPM program to DCS or the Department of Children's Services caseworkers and looking at investing in that line of employees for DCS.
Speaker 2:So we went to work and looked at the curriculum and we have geared it the same competencies that we have in the legacy. We applied to a specific cohort for the Department of Children's Services this year and we launched that cohort in February. So we start the legacy cohorts in January and then we started the DCS and we call it the CPM-CWS. It's the same certification, the same program, but for us it helps us tell the two apart. It's basically a closed enrollment versus an open enrollment with a legacy, and that program has started with 77 individuals. And so now the growth since seeing our growth of the regular CPM or legacy, the DCS has doubled it now. So we have a little over 150 participants this year and due in coming in next year. In 2025, dcs is going to double to 150 participants in the closed enrollment. So since the inception in 2018, we have grown leaps and bounds and the future is looking bright.
Speaker 1:Right, it sounds like, and you're all across the state, correct? You offer classes in Knoxville, Nashville and Jackson.
Speaker 2:That is correct. Yes, UT has a far reach in the state so we are able to utilize our facility. In Jackson there's the UT Ag Research Facility that conducts a lot of agricultural research but they have a training center there that we're able to use the facility there. And then in Nashville the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service has a training facility. It's the state-of-the-art training facility. We're able to utilize those facilities. And then here in Knoxville we have our IPS headquarters to meet there, so we're able to service the three grand regions of the state.
Speaker 1:Great Well, Terry, thanks for joining us today. Tell us a little bit about your background, first of all.
Speaker 3:Well, I am the director here at Madison County Community Corrections and we serve three counties, the whole judicial district Madison, chester and Henderson counties and my background has been in government serving juvenile court and then also with recovery courts, and also been a county commissioner. So I've been involved in my government and where I live at home in Chester County Just also, as he mentioned earlier, I am a member of the Tennessee National Guard. I've been serving in the Guard since 1987. And it's a big part of my life, and I'm currently serving as a chaplain with 1st Squadron 278. So it's had a lot of prior leadership training, as you can imagine. But I just saw this opportunity and saw it'd be a great time to jump in and grow even more Right.
Speaker 1:What interested you about?
Speaker 3:Right. What interested you about the CPM program? Well, to be honest, I hadn't heard of it until probably December of the year, I guess that'd be 22. And it was. I learned about it from a friend and then I was able to reach out to Trent and just learn a little more about it and I just became pretty excited because it seemed like such a really good program. The difference in this program and I your basically middle management for state government and I saw that just a real opportunity to reach across some of those what probably shouldn't be divisions but they're there and just meet new people, develop understanding of what they're going through, what they're working through, so we can kind of build bridges across some of those divides. Also just an opportunity to maybe learn about ways that I can benefit Madison County and community corrections specifically. The more people you know and you network with, the more opportunities you learn about.
Speaker 1:Right, so can you tell me about your experience? Was that kind of all you expected, and more?
Speaker 3:Well, actually I was really surprised at how great it is, because you know, you've been in various training programs and as I got into it I figured it would just be a lot of just going sitting down and listening to somebody lecture me, and although that's part of the program, it is far from that. They've developed this to where they have great instructors that come with a lot of experience, but within that you also have a pretty select group of people in the classroom and it's pretty active in that the instructors are not just instructing but facilitating learning. There's a lot of discussion being able to sit beside a city mayor Mark Maddox, who's formerly a state representative, a current county mayor, someone that's in leadership and DCS locally, various people throughout state government. Someone is working in CTAS John was with our group and CTAS John it was with our group. It was just that our group was a really good group that had a pretty good cross section across government and having those discussions with that much diversity of backgrounds, it was pretty experiential learning.
Speaker 3:Not just sitting there and hearing somebody lecture. Not just sitting there and hearing somebody lecture, and I have to say, one of the great parts about it is although the tough part that you have to really kind of discipline yourself is the online portion.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of it and as you start through that some of it, you think, well, how am I ever going to use some of this? And you're learning about PowerPoint, different things but then later as we start doing our capstone that's, all those things were building blocks that you know. We started putting it into action, applying what we learned and it. I was really surprised how much I remembered of all those online courses when I was developing those PowerPoints and developing my project and I learned a lot from it. And I'll tell you one thing that I will not let go because it was so good and Trent did a great job of this and his staff. You come and you learn and you have a lot of fun in the learning, but you always they hunt over baited field. They have excellent lunches and, as a lifelong soldier, I like to eat and they always had really good food and good lunches and they treated us just really well. They were a very good host.
Speaker 1:That's great. So talk to us about your capstone project. What was your project title and how has that played out?
Speaker 3:My project had to do, obviously, with what our organization does and we deliver probation services and a pretty high percentage of the people that come from the courts to be supervised by us are affected by drug addiction. And my project was titled Delivering Outpatient Treatment Services for Substance Use Disorder in Rural Areas of the 26th Judicial District. And the reason I chose that I didn't just immediately decide what I was going to do. I had to really think about it a lot, what I wanted to take on, because I wanted to do something worthwhile. And as I thought about it I realized that probably one of the things I've been trying to work on anyway was the fact that in Henderson County, which is where Lexington, tennessee is, and in my home, county Chester, which is where Henderson, tennessee is, at Freed Hardeman University there were no outpatient services, no intensive outpatient services. There had been prior but a particular agency that had been providing those had folded and I won't get into all the reasons why that folded, but anyway, but it was gone and it really it's important to me that we not just hammer people for using drugs, that we find them, help and get their lives turned around and move them on and so their families can benefit and the community as a whole can benefit, because these are people with great potential and a lot of value and just you know they need help. And so we started pulling together a team to try to address the fact that there was no outpatient services in particularly in those two rural counties and to some degree in rural Madison County. As we work through that, trying to figure out how to best address it, I talked to ASPL, that's a treatment agency here in Jackson. I talked to JICOA, another treatment agency, their leadership, different people, judges, the county mayors, a whole array of folks that were involved in treatment and in local government to try to figure out how we could address it. Local government to try to figure out how we could address it.
Speaker 3:And it became clear that we would not be able to, within the time frame I was looking at, be able to place your IOP intensive outpatient services as would be considered by the departmental health and being able to be charged out under TennCare and that sort of thing. But we were able to find that Adult Teen Challenge had a program that was in Henderson County that had kind of been limping along because it didn't have a lot of assistance or help. That's for health. It's a faith-based program and they provided basically a service, a meeting on Monday and Thursday of each week and people that were dealing with issues controlling issues in their life, that they could go there and meet with people that are similar to them and then have people that are there that have kind of gone through that, they're on the other side of it and could be there to kind of lead them and embody hope and kind of give them direction and work through some really good curriculums that would help them with that.
Speaker 3:But they didn't have a lot of assistance and help and so we try to come alongside with our services and be able to provide them with drug screening and to try to provide them with drug screening and to try to give a little bit more of a push so that sometimes people need a little bit of inspiration from courts and from probation to really get involved and do the things they need to do to get their lives changed.
Speaker 3:And we improved on what was already in Henderson County but I talked to Judge Scott, angela Scott in Chester County and a local church and got some volunteers from other churches and we were able to pull together another adult teen challenge living free program in Chester County and they've been meeting ever since. They meet on Tuesday and Thursday and we've had multiple graduates and a lot of people coming through and sometimes, obviously, when you make a referral into something like that, outpatient isn't for everyone and sometimes it just doesn't fully meet the need, and so if we determine that through drug screening and different things that it's you know they need a little more intensive effort, then we can move them on up to residential care. But the beauty of the program is we've been able to reduce the number of people that have to go to residential, which costs about twice as much.
Speaker 3:Know about twice as much, and so it's actually it costs a lot more than what we're doing, because what we're doing is virtually free, but normal intensive outpatient versus residential is about twice as much money, and so we've been able to, I believe, save a considerable amount of money for the state and at the same time, provide treatment in the community, and that's so important because so many of these people are struggling with transportation and issues of that nature. There was another caveat that we were able to do because that's faith-based Not everyone's, you know, you don't want to force people into that and so we were able to partner with Hope Restored. That's another organization here in Madison County and to refer people to it's an internet-based intensive outpatient program that they can do over the computers, and so we've been using those and working alongside both of those, providing drug screening and helping people receive the services they need in their community rather than having to either go residential or nothing. So I think we've done some good stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it sounds impactful. So, trent, if someone's interested in learning more about the CPM program, where can they find more information?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. One of the great places to find more information about the Tennessee Certified Public Manager program is to go to our website at leadershiptennessee, and that's Tennessee, all spelled out edu slash CPM. So leadershiptennesseeedu slash CPM. And they can also email me at trentclag C-L-A-G-G at tennesseeedu, and that's Tennessee, all spelled out edu. And we will get any information they would like and talk over the phone. That's one of the interesting parts of our job is we get to network and talk to all different kinds of people and bring them together through the Tennessee Certified Public Manager program.
Speaker 1:Okay well thank you and thank you both for joining us today. Well, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:And thank you, listeners. Be sure to subscribe to In Touch with Tennessee, where you find your favorite podcasts.
