You may have noticed that I’ve been trying to get a lot of feedback via surveys recently. One of the surveys was for folks who own a copy of Growing the Distance. If you have the book and haven’t filled out the survey, please take a few minutes.

Click here to take survey

Kathryn took that survey and I’d like to share her feedback with everyone.

Hello Jim:

Thank you for the invitation to be involved in your survey, and please note
that I have already done the survey. It was my pleasure!

You are so very correct! It does take courage to ask for feedback.

Because I read your book – Firing on all Cylinders in the early 1990s and I was
present at your Calgary workshop in 2004 and learned so much as a new manager, I
have been doing 360 feedbacks at St. Mary’s Health Care Centre since I was
honoured to become their CEO (started working there in November 2003). I do
performance appraisals with my staff…so I thought it only fair that they had the
opportunity to do my PA.

I use their feedback to improve my performance and to serve them better, so
that they in turn will serve our residents, families, their colleagues and
the general public better. It seems to be working…we have decreased our
deficit from $250,000.00 in 2003/04 to just over $100,000.00 this past year. We
have filled all of our empty PFT and PPT lines – in 2004/05 there was 4 empty
lines in nursing – 3 NAs lines and 1 RN line. All of our Nursing Attendants
(NAs) – except for 3 – have acquired the Health Care Aide certificate.

Two of my managers, who have been employees of St. Mary’s for over 15 years, are for the first time attending workshops on Leadership. My Board of Governance has
an orientation process now that they did not have previously, and the really
great thing is that they helped design it by telling me what they would have found useful to know when they were new to the Board.

Thank you, Jim, for all you do!

Take care and God Bless, Kathryn