h_e_ _N_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_ _C_e_n_t_e_r_ _f_o_r_ _M_o_b_i_l_i_t_y_ _M_a_n_a_g_e_m_e_n_t_ _(_N_C_M_M_;__w_w_w_._n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_c_e_n_t_e_r_f_o_r_m_o_b_i_l_i_t_y_m_a_n_a_g_e_m_e_n_t_._o_r_g_)_ _i_s_ _a__n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_ _t_e_c_h_n_i_c_a_l_ _a_s_s_i_s_t_a_n_c_e_ _c_e_n_t_e_r_ _c_r_e_a_t_e_d_ _t_o__f_a_c_i_l_i_t_a_t_e_ _c_o_m_m_u_n_i_t_i_e_s_ _i_n_ _a_d_o_p_t_i_n_g_ _m_o_b_i_l_i_t_y__m_a_n_a_g_e_m_e_n_t_ _s_t_r_a_t_e_g_i_e_s_._ _T_h_e_ _N_C_M_M_ _i_s_ _f_u_n_d_e_d__t_h_r_o_u_g_h_ _a_ _c_o_o_p_e_r_a_t_i_v_e_ _a_g_r_e_e_m_e_n_t_ _w_i_t_h_ _t_h_e_ _F_e_d_e_r_a_l__T_r_a_n_s_i_t_ _A_d_m_i_n_i_s_t_r_a_t_i_o_n_ _a_n_d_ _i_s_ _o_p_e_r_a_t_e_d_ _t_h_r_o_u_g_h_ _a__c_o_n_s_o_r_t_i_u_m_ _o_f_ _t_h_r_e_e_ _n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_ _o_r_g_a_n_i_z_a_t_i_o_n_s_ _– _t_h_e__A_m_e_r_i_c_a_n_ _P_u_b_l_i_c_ _T_r_a_n_s_p_o_r_t_a_t_i_o_n_ _A_s_s_o_c_i_a_t_i_o_n_,_ _t_h_e__C_o_m_m_u_n_i_t_y_ _T_r_a_n_s_p_o_r_t_a_t_i_o_n_ _A_s_s_o_c_i_a_t_i_o_n_ _o_f_ _A_m_e_r_i_c_a_,__a_n_d_ _E_a_s_t_e_r_s_e_a_l_s_._ _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_ _i_n_ _t_h_i_s_ _d_o_c_u_m_e_n_t_ _i_s__d_i_s_s_e_m_i_n_a_t_e_d_ _b_y_ _N_C_M_M_ _i_n_ _t_h_e_ _i_n_t_e_r_e_s_t_ _o_f__i_n_f_o_r_m_a_t_i_o_n_ _e_x_c_h_a_n_g_e_._ _N_e_i_t_h_e_r_ _t_h_e_ _N_C_M_M_ _n_o_r_ _t_h_e__U_._S_._ _D_O_T_,_ _F_T_A_ _a_s_s_u_m_e_s_ _l_i_a_b_i_l_i_t_y_ _f_o_r_ _i_t_s_ _c_o_n_t_e_n_t_s_ _o_r__u_s_e_._ _Mobility Management Sustainability
Assessment Tool –Lessons from the Field
March 2023

Programs for Equitable and Sustainable
Mobility

Ap ril 20 22

Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

The National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM; nc4mm.org) is a national technicalassistance center created to facilitate communities in adopting mobility management strategies.
NCMM is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)and is operated through a consortium of three national organizations – the American Public
Transportation Association, the Community Transportation Association of America, andEasterseals, Inc. NCMM is charged with supporting FTA and its partners in carrying out therecommendations suggested in the updated Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility*CCAM) Strategic Plan.

About the National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM)
The National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM; nc4mm.org) is a national technicalassistance center created to facilitate communities in adopting mobility management strategies.
NCMM is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)and is operated through a consortium of three national organizations: the American Public
Transportation Association, the Community Transportation Association of America, andEasterseals.
This information brief was prepared by NCMM staff and is disseminated in the interest of
information exchange. Neither the NCMM nor the FTA assumes liability for its content or use. The
opinions and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and should not be
construed as representing the opinions or policy of any agency of the federal government.

About Transport New Hampshire (TNH) Transport New Hampshire is a statewide advocacy andsupport organization that broadly supports transportation in all its modes, but with a specificfocus on community transportation services public transit and active transportation. Most
recently TNH led the development of the New Hampshire Statewide Mobility Management
Network and is now tasked with providing support to the regions as it is implemented. TNH is
also active on the national scene with the intention of increasing collaboration between N.H. andother states and organizations focused on improving the capacity of our public and community
transportation systems.
About Easterseals
Since its founding in 1919, Easterseals has remained committed to ensuring that the needs ofchildren and adults with disabilities, veterans and older adults are met with services and support
to help them live, learn, work, and play in their communities. By combining on-the-groundpresence, deep expertise, and diverse programs, 69 Easterseals affiliates nationwide areadvancing change to assure that people with disabilities and other special needs can thrive intheir communities.
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Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

About this Information Brief
Easterseals, through its work at the National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM), focuseson building connections across education, human services, and transportation sectors so that
individuals with disabilities can access school, work, health care, and other inclusive community
settings. In this work, NCMM has researched, and sourced national examples to identify programs
using FTA and private funding that demonstrate mobility management activities performed byvarious agencies around an area defined as a state or region. This document will review thehistory, activities and projects conducted by the Mississippi mobility network across their region,
state, or local communities.
For questions about this product or to start a conversation about the mobility management
sustainability assessment tool, please contact Judy Shanley, Ph.D, Easterseals Partner Director,
NCMM at JShanley@easterseals.com and Steve Workman, Director, Transport NH
steve@transportnh.org.
Acknowledgments
NCMM would like to thank the following organizations for their contributions to this product. They
provided key insights, information, resources, and time to ensure this report accurately reflects
the fundamental aspects of each example highlighted in this brief:
•
•
•
•
•

Easterseals, Inc.
Easterseals Project Action
Transport NH
Mississippi Department of Transportation and state Mobility Managers
Minnesota Department of Transportation and state Mobility Managers

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Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

Implementation of the Mobility Management Sustainability Assessment Tool (MM-SAT)
Lessons from the Field
Summary
Initial development of the Mobility Management Sustainability Assessment Tool (herein, MM-SAT) occurred during year
three of the NCMM Workplan (March 2021 – February 2022). Mobility management professionals from Arizona,
Wisconsin and Minnesota assisted NCMM with the early development of the MM-SAT during work sessions at theirrespective conferences. This initial work allowed NCMM to test assumptions, assess the understanding of certain concepts
and explore how a group of mobility management professionals interacted during group discussion of topics covered by
the MM-SAT. At the conclusion of this learning process, NCMM incorporated lessons learned and created a pilot versionof the MM-SAT. The final step of the development process was to pilot the MM-SAT in two different states. NCMM
worked with Ohio Department of Transportation, Office of Transit and a group of its mobility managers through astatewide network evaluation using the MM-SAT in Ohio. NCMM also worked with a Mobility Manager in Region 10
Mobility Manager that led the Alliance for Community Transportation and its members through a regional network
evaluation of the MM-SAT in New Hampshire so that we could see the tool implemented at two different targeted focus
areas, state and regional. Once completed, NCMM again incorporated what it learned and published the current versionof the MM-SAT.
Once published in April 2022, the MM-SAT was made accessible to all, but NCMM correctly anticipated that it would needto take an active role in promoting and helping states to understand and use this new product. A target goal to implement
the MM-SAT in two different states was incorporated into year four of the NCMM Workplan (March 2022 – February2023). NCMM reached out to several states that it knew were actively building and refining their mobility management
services and networks to see which were willing to use the MM-SAT. Ultimately Ohio and Mississippi were selected towork with NCMM staff to explore the MM-SAT and ideally complete the assessment. The remainder of this document will
introduce the participating states, explain how each approached the MM-SAT and lessons learned.
State Participant Partners
Mississippi:
Mississippi Department of Transportation
expressed interest in the MM-SAT because it wanted to findtools and resources that could help it sustain and grow its local
coordination and mobility management services. The stateorganizes service delivery and coordination through six
regional coordination transportation planning groups: Delta
Rides, Trans-Con, SMART, Ride the Smile, EZTAG, andSouthern Connect. These groups represent over 60 providers
making over five million trips each year. NCMM technicians
conducted virtual and in-person workshops with DOT
leadership and regional mobility management practitioners.
At the time of this report, Mississippi has worked tounderstand the purpose and benefit of the MM-SAT, createdbuy-in to use the MM-SAT and launched the assessment itself.
Next steps will include follow-up virtual sessions to assist
them in completing the assessment and organize its findings.
Depending on resources, an in-person workshop may be
included.
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Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

Minnesota: Minnesota Department of Transportation firstlearned about the MM-SAT when NCMM conducted workshops
on the early development of the MM-SAT during the joint
Minnesota-Wisconsin Transit Conference in October 2021.
Once the MM-SAT was finalized and published, MDOT wasinterested in exploring further how the MM-SAT could help it
sustain and grow its local coordination and mobility
management services. It also saw MM-SAT as a possible toolthat would compliment its recently developed Logic Model.
The state organizes coordination and service delivery startingwith the Minnesota Council of Transportation Access (MCOT)
which is similar to the Federal Coordinating Council on Accessand Mobility (CCAM) eight Regional Transportation
Coordination Councils (RTCCs) in Greater Minnesota and six
Transit Coordination Assistance Projects (TCAPs) in the MetroArea. NCMM technicians conducted virtual workshops with
DOT leadership and regional mobility management
practitioners. At the time of this report, Minnesota has worked
to understand the purpose and benefit of the MM-SAT, createdbuy-in to use the MM-SAT and completed a practiceassessment using one of the MM-SAT Dimension. Next steps
will include a second virtual workshop to refresh the MM-SAT
and prepare for a Fall in-person workshop to conduct the full MM-SAT.
Conducting the MM-SAT in the Field
NCMM personnel working in the field to implement the MM-SAT were able to work closely with departments oftransportation leaders and mobility management practitioners with diverse responsibilities and operating structures.
Generally, the process starts with an exploration of the MM-SAT with DOT leaders so that they can understand the
purpose, process, and return on investment that the MM-SAT offers. It is helpful at this stage to connect the MM-SAT toplanning activities and related documents that they already employ to demonstrate how MM-SAT can fit within andenhance those activities. Examples may include strategic plans, logic models, theory of change models, coordinatedtransportation plans and more. Typically, once DOT leaders see potential benefit, a similar process with mobility
management practitioners is conducted to show them the value and create buy-in. Once there is agreement of the value
and desire to conduct MM-SAT between DOT leadership and practitioners the work of conducting the assessment cancommence.
Conducting the MM-SAT is the next phase of the work, and it requires a greater investment of time. Most groups haveelected to break the assessment into smaller bites by working through two or three of the five dimensions per session.
This results in multiple work sessions with hours or days in between depending on circumstances. It is also possible toconduct the MM-SAT in smaller groups that rotate through the selected dimensions for that session. This results in two
sets of responses that can be merged in the final report, but the potential benefit of smaller groups improves both logistics
and group dynamics. Regardless of how the assessment is structured, the value is in the discussions that occur. The
coming together of a diverse group of professionals working at different levels and with different responsibilities createsan opportunity to learn from each other and consider aspects of mobility management that have yet to be recognized byPage 4 of 9

Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

an organization, leadership, or individual. As a facilitator/observer one can see how policies, structures, and organizational
cultures impact the different roles from leadership to practitioners working where the rubber meets the road.

Introduce
MM-SAT

Demonstrate
Return on
Investment

Participant
Buy-InConduct
Assessment

Apply theFindings

Lessons from the Field
The Human Side of Mobility Management
1. While not exclusive to the MM-SAT, working in the field reminds us that the customer or person-centered focus at
the heart of mobility management is but one side of a coin. The other side is that mobility management requires
people to provide the services. Put another way, mobility management is about providing services for people, bypeople. If this is true, we must remember that the people providing services have similar aspirations, a desire to bevalued, respected, and treated as fairly as the customers they serve. Therefore, investing in our mobility management
practitioners through technical assistance, opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, and deliberate and meaningful
inclusion in organizational planning, operations, and evaluation is equally important.
2. Creating a safe Space for practitioners to conduct the assessment is essential. We have heard that some practitioners
are concerned that speaking openly during the assessment could pit them against or bring retribution from coworkers, supervisors, or state and federal agencies. Others have suggested that the assessment is like a group review
of his/her job performance. These are valid concerns, and we understand that a poor organizational culture or difficult
employee could reinforce such concerns. For the facilitator, it will be important to address these concerns upfront
and to be prepared to address such dynamics when they emerge during the assessment. Framing the assessment as
an opportunity for open and honest dialogue for the purpose of creating and sustaining a thriving organization andservices is the best place to start. Receiving this message directly from the highest levels of leadership is critical, butleaders must remain vigilant and address any of these negative dynamics if they emerge during or after the completionof the assessment. Mississippi and Minnesota Departments of Transportation exceeded at communicating that it was
important to them to maintain a space where feedback, ideas and perspectives were wanted, valued and essential tocontinual improvement and sustainability.
3. Information delivery is another topic that is not exclusive to MM-SAT, but the experience we gained while working in
the field is relevant to all the ways information is provided to the field. Consideration about how information is
structured and delivered is not new to federal agencies or technical assistance centers which demonstrate significant
effort to provide clear, concise information in a way that is accessible to all. It is a tall order to truly provide
information accessible to all, but it is in the best interest of government, agencies, and people to continually strive toachieve that goal. Let’s pretend for a moment that the MM-SAT Technical Guide itself is the crowning achievementof accessible information. Does this guarantee that the field will receive it, digest it and act upon it? The answer is
no. It would appear that a bridge is needed between where the information resides and where leaders andpractitioners reside in the field. The following are examples supporting the need for bridge activities:
a. Opportunities to access and use new Information in the field is critical. Despite best efforts that can sometimes
be a challenge for practitioners and technicians alike as one technician shares: I am a life-long learner. Learning
new things that I can apply to my life and work excites and energizes me. At work this means I am constantly
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Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

looking for the next edition of technical assistance center newsletters, new studies from the National Academiesof Science, and thought pieces that stretch me to imagine what is possible and how we might get there. Then life
happens and I get busy. I didn’t lose my love for learning or professional self-improvement, but my responsibilities
frequently take me away from discovery of new information and ideas. In the fast pace of today’s world, I
frequently miss opportunities to learn because I am temporarily busy, but this means I usually miss the windowof opportunity. At that point I must (unknowingly) wait for a time when I stumble on the information by accident
or when and if it gets elevated by the field allowing me an opportunity to discover it after the fact. If as a selfproclaimed life-long learner I miss new information that I want to receive and my job makes space for, how could
someone whose job doesn’t allow much time for professional or organizational development gain exposure? The
field would benefit from even greater effort to actively bring information to practitioners in addition to passive
methods such as newsletters and websites widely used today.
b. This material is dense! We heard versions of this sentiment multiple times, and it wasn’t a surprise because the
MM-SAT was designed to push practitioners to consider the many different parts of the system that must function
well to remain sustainable. This is not an issue of ability to learn, and it makes perfect sense that time andguidance was needed to work through the information because many of the parts (dimensions) are outside ofpractitioners’ daily responsibilities. Whenever new information is presented, the recipient needs time tounderstand and then incorporate it into their existing knowledge and experience. While technicians should always
strive to present clear and concise information, dense or complicated information is not a reason to simplify.
Instead, techniques for helping practitioners to digest the information, connect it to their work and then act on
the new information should be developed. As a practical matter this could mean finding ways to highlight salient
points and incorporate other styles of learning such as visual aids in addition to the text blocks that provide moredetail.
c. Related to information delivery, culture and language can impact how information is received, understood, andacted upon. Using the broadest of applications, culture could be racial, geographic, or organizational. One
humorous example of geographical differences is when Steve, a New Englander, was presenting information topractitioners in Mississippi and moving quickly to cover as much material as possible. Suddenly, several
practitioners said, “Steve, you’re in the South now, we take things slower!” We all had a good laugh and I
confessed to my fast-talking New England ways, but more importantly I was able to course correct and they had
given me permission to move more slowly through the information; it was a mutual win. The takeaway is that as
technicians we need to learn as much as we can about the groups we will be working with and then to be readyto make adaptations or course corrections to ensure mutual outcomes are achieved.
d. As technical assistance professionals it is important for us to remember that the people we assist come with
their own knowledge, experiences, and goals. Rather than present new information strictly teacher to student,
it would be more effective to create an environment where learning is a two-way, collaborative process. This
helps TA professionals to meet practitioners where they are at, demonstrate respect for practitioner knowledge
and experiences, and create opportunities to learn from the field itself. Learning from on-the-ground experiencesin the field allows the TA professional to bring information back that could be used to revise policies andprocedures, education materials, or identify areas where further assistance is needed. Essentially, refining thisapproach to providing technical assistance becomes an iterative process that benefits the field, individual
practitioners, and governing systems.
Understanding the MM-SAT
4. We have been conditioned to associate evaluation with some type of scoring system. It is often helpful to have aconcise measure to track progress and this is why MM-SAT does include a scale: emerging, moderate, or highcapacities. However, the magic of the MM-SAT is the guided discussions that occur as participants move through thePage 6 of 9

Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

five dimensions. Efforts should made to underscore this point so that practitioners and leaders do not become overly
focused on the “grade” instead of the content that came out of the assessment.
5. The MM-SAT is an evaluation tool. It was not created to provide solutions to challenges, but to identify challenges sothat strategies to address areas flagged for improvement could be developed later. While it is natural to want to solvea problem, facilitators and participants will have to be vigilant to keep the focus on evaluation. If this focus is not
maintained, the evaluation process will become drawn-out, lose its focus or even become contentious if the free flowof ideas isn’t managed properly.
6. Initially, some of the dimensions or subdimensions may appear irrelevant or outside of a participant’s job. While some
may be outside of one’s job description that does not mean they are not relevant or important to work done and theoverall health of the organizational system. For example, a mobility management practitioner may have little ornothing to do with Dimension One, Organizational Infrastructure and its five subdimensions: governance, operating
systems and procedures, human resources, funding, and internal communications. However, practitioners and theservices provided are impacted by these five subdimensions. This suggests an inherent interest in how an organization
is operating on the part of the practitioner. Further, many practitioners operate in the space where the rubber meetsthe road. This means that they have invaluable insight regarding the successes and challenges of organizational
policies, procedures, and systems as well as customer and employee satisfaction. These insights are critical if policy
makers and leadership want an organization to be sustainable and thrive. For the facilitator, it will be important to
explain this when introducing the MM-SAT to leadership and practitioners and to reinforce it when conducting theassessment.
Return on Investment
7. MM-SAT requires an investment of NCMM personnel time (and money) but after repeated experience both during
MM-SAT development and implementation this is needed so that DOT leadership and practitioners are willing toinvest the time required to conduct assessment.
8. Committing to the MM-SAT requires a strong understanding of why it is important and how an organization andpractitioner can benefit; in other words, what is the return on the investment? These questions should be answered
when the MM-SAT is introduced, and throughout the assessment, as necessary. The importance is relatively simple,
if you do not assess your organization and services you cannot build on strengths and focus on areas that need
improvement. This has negative impacts on sustainability considering the adage that you are only as strong as yourweakest link. As a practical matter, the insights gained from taking the assessment can be used to inform strategicplans, logic models, theories of change, performance reviews, data driven investments and a host of required regional,
state and federal planning documents. Finally, if embraced the assessment can be a way to increase understandingof how the organization operates and create a sense of shared purpose to sustain the entire organization.

Recommendations
The recommendations below were developed in response to issues identified in the Findings section of this document.
Several of the recommendations could be applied topics beyond the MM-SAT and may be beneficial to Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) technical assistance products, and technical assistance centers. The initial target for theserecommendations is FTA and National Center for Mobility Management personnel because implementing therecommendations have implications for work plans, resources, and leaders across both. While states would not be
involved with the recommended changes to the MM-SAT, most of the recommendations are still of value when a state isconsidering using the MM-SAT and for facilitators who might lead the process.
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Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

1. Repackage MM-SAT: The MM-SAT was developed to focus practitioners on sustainability across all aspects ofoperations. Based on findings we have learned that MM-SAT creates a space to have operational discussions that often
don’t occur or are left to the highest level of management. The MM-Sat Implementation Guide does compare MMSAT to a SWOC Analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges) but with a structured process that
focuses attention on specific content (dimensions) rather than open brainstorming. Work in the field confirmed thisand expanded its practical application to inform strategic plans, logic models, theories of change, performance reviews,
data driven investments and a host of required regional, state, and federal planning documents. The recommendations
below may help the field to understand the practical benefits and return on investment of using the MM-SAT.
a. MM-SAT currently stands for Mobility Management Sustainability Assessment. Rather than sustainability which is
the lens MM-SAT employs, changing sustainability to self as in self-assessment might improve topline
understanding of the tool and increase the likelihood that practitioners will take a closer look at what MM-SAT canoffer. This does not require a change to the acronym which is already known in some parts of the field and doesn’tchange the intent to focus on overall sustainability.
b. The MM-SAT Implementation Guide already explains in detail the purpose of the tool and the benefits, but here
again, it might be beneficial to develop a subtitle that distills the purpose. For example, MM-SAT: A tool to help
practitioners develop and sustain thriving mobility management services.
2. Augment the MM-SAT & Guide: In response to comments that the MM-SAT is dense, there are opportunities to revise
the implementation guide to include summary points or similar techniques to underscore the key points by section.
The process of conducting the assessment could also be improved by creating a bulleted list of questions to guidediscussion under each sub dimension. This will help kick-start group discussion and break the dimension summary into
more digestible bites. Finally, the guide and facilitator should emphasize how important it is to capture key points
during discussion rather than focus on grading performance without any data to support the grade.
3. Facilitation: A person who understands the MM-SAT and has facilitation skills is best suited to lead the initialassessment process. This could be achieved through participation in an introductory seminar offered at a conferenceor state/regional workshops; however, this method will work best for someone who already has experience with policy
development, organizational operations, and facilitation. Ideally, a more effective process would be for practitioners
to go through the entire assessment under the guidance of an experienced facilitator. Once they have experienced theprocess, they are better positioned to lead the assessment in a future cycle or assist peers in implementing theassessment in another region. Over time this will create a cadre of experienced facilitators to keep the field focusedon sustainability and organizational health.
4. Language & Culture: Grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion goals, language and culture are critical areas thatmust be addressed to work more effectively in the field and service delivery. Language is perhaps the easiest barrier
to address whereas cultural considerations can be more nuanced. Culture can also apply to norms in an organizationthat has little or nothing to do with race or nationality, we often call this organizational culture. The recommendations
below focus on MM-SAT but are widely applicable to information dissemination and work in the field more generally.
a. Translating the MM-SAT Implementation Guide into different languages could help determine if language barrierscause a practitioner to avoid using it or reduce understanding of the material. As the MM-SAT is an internal tool
for the field, translations should be guided by the language needs of practitioners. Initially we recommend
translating the MM-SAT into Spanish and to work with Spanish speaking practitioners who could assist NCMM in
evaluating the potential benefits of the translation.
b. Related to translation of materials, if there is a high concentration of practitioners for whom English is not theirprimary language consideration should be given to using an interpreter.
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Implementation of the MM-SAT: Lessons from the Field ▪ March 2023

c. When technicians develop materials for and work with groups representing different cultures, it would be
beneficial to do some advance work to better understand that audience. This could be augmented by partneringwith another professional who could help you better understand the cultural norms and differences of the group,
introduce you to the group, and assist you as you work with the group. Really the same work a facilitator would
do before starting to work with any group.
d. When the MM-SAT was being developed a few practitioners from tribal systems were in attendance, but it has yet
to be fully tested in a tribal setting. Initial observations during development suggested that there may have beensome degree of cultural and language issues at play, but that has not been confirmed. We recommend presenting
the MM-SAT at the National Transportation in Indian Country Conference and to pilot the MM-SAT with at least
one tribal transportation system.
5. Invest in Soft Skills: Defined as personal attributes or core skills applicable to all professions, soft skills enable someone
to work and interact more effectively in organizations and with people. This contrasts with hard skills which are specificto a profession – think, travel training, call center operations, driving a vehicle, etc. There is a tendency to focus on thedevelopment of hard skills at the unintended expense of soft skill development. Soft skills can include critical thinking,problem solving, public speaking, professional writing, facilitation, group dynamics, thinking & learning styles,
leadership, professional attitude, work ethic, and more. Practitioners who focus on the development of such skills arean asset to the field – a rising tide floats all boats. Government and technical assistance centers would be well servedin creating more resources and training opportunities to develop these skills; especially if the skills can be taught in thecontext of the work being done by mobility management practitioners.
6. Respond to the Needs of Your Audience: There is no substitute for good preparation. Technicians should be preparedwith subject matter materials, talking points and goals for the time spent working with practitioners, but should be
prepared to switch gears to meet the needs of their audience. In other words, meet people where they are, not where
you think or hope they are. A pitfall facing every “content expert” is forgetting that an audience likely does not havethe same level of knowledge and experience, or time spent thinking about the content. This is a normal occurrence
that can be quickly rectified if you recognize it is happening and adjust to meet the needs of the group. It is true that
this might take more time and impact your intended outcomes; however, the opposite approach would be to stick withthe original plan without deviation leaving your audience to likely feel unheard and left behind.

References
National Center for Mobility Management. (2022). Mobility Management Sustainability Assessment Tool (MM-SAT).
https://nationalcenterformobilitymanagement.org/ncmm-products/
S. (n.d.). Connect MS | Public Transit in Mississippi. https://mdot.ms.gov/connectms/
Home Page | Minnesota Council on Transportation Access. (n.d.). https://coordinatemntransit.org/

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