News & Events

September 29, 2004

Update on Culture Survey and One-day Regional Trainings

Good afternoon! I am following up on the Commissioner’s e-mail update from last week. Two of the items she mentioned were the 360? Culture Survey and the One-day Regional Trainings. I’d like to expand on those two items.

Culture Survey

As we embark on the Bend The Curve Initiative, we have begun collecting data on the “current reality” within MDOL. We’ve also started having conversations about what we collectively would like the future state to look like. As part of that data collection, we would like every employee and partner to participate in an organization wide leadership culture survey. The results will be shared and discussed at the upcoming Bend the Curve sessions in October.

This survey is intended to provide us with a benchmark on the leadership culture of MDOL. It evaluates how people in the organization view the current leadership culture. It also compares that current reality to what people believe would be an optimal culture. The results of the survey will help focus the most important elements of the MDOL leadership culture that need strengthening.

The survey has approximately 60 items. When you take the survey you will cycle through the questions twice. The first time you will be evaluating the current leadership culture. The second time you will be describing the culture you believe would be optimal. It should take you no more that 15 minutes.

All you need to do is login to: http://www.theleadershipcircle.com/culturesurvey

You may complete the survey any time at your convenience from now through next Tuesday, October 5. At the end of the day on the 5th, we will close access to the survey so that we may generate reports on the results. The results will be shared with you at the October working conference.

One-Day Regional Training

Many of you have had the opportunity to learn a little bit about what Bend the Curve is through discussions that have taken place around the State. The next step is to gather together as a system to continue officially begin the Bend the Curve initiative. We’ll do this by getting together at one of three sessions in October. At those sessions, we’ll spend a moment talking about and answering questions about Bend the Curve and we’ll take a look at the results of the Culture Survey. We’ll also learn about the first tool we’ll use under Bend the Curve, which is Value Stream Mapping, and we’ll form task teams around the initial projects that will undergo Mapping.

The three dates and locations are:

Wednesday, October 13 Augusta, at the Augusta Armory
Friday, October 15 Bangor, at the Bangor Civic Center
Tuesday, October 19 Portland, at Keeley the Katerer

All sessions will open at 7:30 for registration and refreshments. The sessions will begin at 8:30, and will run until 4:30.

I am, along with the Commissioner, requesting that all MDOL employees, and as many of our partner employees as possible, attend on of these sessions. Please coordinate your attendance with your unit manager. Also, your director will be following up with a contact within your bureau/division for registering. Please register on or before next Monday, October 4.

If you have any questions, please talk with your director, or e-mail or call (287-1281) me. Thank you in advance for your participation. Your thoughts, ideas and involvement are essential to our collective success!

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