METS: Founded in 1999 as an Employee Advocacy Organization

Based on the leadership of Dr. Jim Votruba, President of Northern Kentucky University (NKU), and extensive input from community and business leaders, a public service extension of the University called Metropolitan Education and Training Services (METS) was created in late 1999.

In considering the strategic role for METS, it was clear from the outset that what was NOT needed was yet another conventional, University-based training and consulting provider. There were already more than enough such (competent) providers in the marketplace. Detailed conversations with executives throughout the tri-state region targeted what was missing and very much needed: An employer advocacy group that could help organizations assess their most critical performance improvement problems and solve them with minimal or no assistance from external sources.

There are, of course, occasions when employers do need to turn to outside experts for assistance. When such assistance is truly needed, METS helps employers:

1) sort through the mass of seemingly undifferentiated, competing providers (locally, regionally and nationally),

2) match the very best quality and/or value providers with organizational needs, and

3) if requested by the client, monitor the work of providers to assure that the highest quality professional standards are being attained.

In short, the NKU METS program helps organizations meet their present and future employee and organization development needs by providing state-of-the-art, objective performance/needs assessments, assisting organizations in efficiently accessing existing resources, and by helping them determine whether their investments in performance improvement efforts are paying appropriate returns.