Floyd County enacts new training program to improve functionality
Floyd County is working on a new employee training program to improve how the government functions and departments cooperate.
Peak Academy was created by the Denver, Colorado, city government and has since spread across the country. The program is free to use and can be adjusted to fit any local government, whether they are counties or cities.
“If you looked into the private sector for something like we’re doing, it would probably be $5,000 a participant,” County Clerk Erin Elrod said.
Elrod — along with Finance Director Susie Gass, Police Chief Mark Wallace, Facilities Manager Ryan Davis, 911 Director John Blalock and Special Projects Manager Bruce Ivey — attended a Peak Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to learn
about the program and bring it to Floyd County.
The six are now leading the county’s first Peak Academy class, which includes Assistant Police Chief Tom Ewing, Parks and Rec Director Todd Wofford and Prison Warden Mike Long.
Peak Academy works on skills such as decision making, problem identification
and idea innovations to better improve customer service quality and employee performance.
The program will be offered quarterly and officials are first targeting department heads before moving on to frontline workers and other essential employees.
Floyd County Commissioners have been fully supportive of the program. They set their mission statement to make the county “the best place to live, do business and play by providing a high level service in a responsive manner,” Elrod noted.
“It’s about empowering the employees who are actually providing the services every day to make improvements in their areas and make things more efficient and customer service friendly,” she said.
At the end of the five-day program, everyone must present three innovations they plan to move forward with in their respective departments. Ideas include financial savings, time management, using more environmentally friendly products or making a more comfortable work environment.
Elrod also said they’d love to introduce the program to city employees and department heads, especially since the two government entities have many joint services.