Trailblazer board hears workplace study preliminary report

Susan Herreid, a consultant with Sand Stone Group, outlined the general results of a workplace environment study commissioned by the Trailblazer Transit Joint Powers Board at its Thursday, April 25, meeting.
Herreid prefaced her remarks by noting that not all of the information she collected could be discussed at a public meeting because of data practice laws regarding private employee information.
Herreid said she had consulted with an attorney from the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust (MCIT) about what she could and could not discuss publicly.
Herreid said could talk about the general themes she collected through interviews with current and former employees, board members and customers, but items dealing with specific employees would have to be dealt with in a closed session with the employee present.
Nor could she, Herreid said, provide the board with the full report until the MCIT attorney had reviewed it and redacted any information that would not be considered public.
“So, we spent all this money and now we can’t talk about it,” said McLeod County Commissioner Doug Krueger.
Herreid stressed that she could still talk about general results, but that the board would need to find a procedure to deal with the private data.
Herreid said she had both positive and not-so-positive feedback.
Overall, she said, there is a perception that Trailblazer’s management team “is doing a geat job of budgeting, planning and marketing Trailblazer.”
In addition, there is a perception of a “strong and ongoing relationship with customers, and a lot of excitement about growth and expansion,” Herreid said.
But there were also issues, Herreid said, within the workplace regarding communications, consulting and follow up, training, conflicts and resolutions, professional trust and accountability, and the interview process for hiring new employees and retention of current employees.
“There were concerns around the workplace environment,” said Herreid. In particular, she said, about “rigidity regarding polices and procedures wasn’t conducive to teamwork and collaboration.”

For more, see the April 27 print edition of The Chronicle.