CITY OF MEMPHIS
“ I want to know what each person does , what they like about their work and what they would suggest to make it better ”
KIMBERLY BAILEY CIO , CITY OF MEMPHIS
from our office so we went along anyway . We were blown away to find out that they not only recycled but also provided hardware and did imaging . We had found a very lean outfit , very well organized and a very good partner for us . So , two weeks later when we needed these laptops we went to them rather a local retailer . I reached out to them and they responded immediately and they were able to deliver .”
This was a great confidence builder for a division led by an untried CIO at a time when Memphis needed its IT team to deliver . It also illustrated the value in the focus she gives to relationship-building . “ Everything came together as if we had practiced it beforehand .” she said . As it happened , the way was smoothed by the fact that Microsoft Teams software had already been purchased by the City of Memphis though it had never been turned on . “ We turned it on and we put together some quick reference guides and training materials . We simply sent everybody home and that worked and it has been phenomenal all the way through and everybody has responded and it has been a very good experience for us to see how we have been able to come together with partnership-building and relationshipbuilding .” In fact , so successful has been the move to remote working that this arrangement will be made permanent for many .
The tools may have been in place but that ' s only half the story . We ' ve seen how Kimberly Bailey leads by consensus , not wanting to impose solutions as it were , from above . So right at the beginning of the process she surveyed her teams to see how they felt about working from home . “ I wanted to be mindful of the fact that many of my team have young people studying and maybe elderly relatives who need attention from time to time . We have a hoteling arrangement : if someone needs to come in or a team needs to meet , they can schedule a space . We don ' t want anyone to feel excluded , we just want them
252 March 2021