Dear Colleagues:

Last December, I wrote to you announcing the kick-off of the MI 360 leadership development initiative. I am pleased to report that we have completed a successful test-run of this initiative and have now opened it up to the rest of state government. In fact, some of you may already have participated in the survey.

As you will recall, MI 360 is another facet of our ongoing Vision and Values initiative which we embraced nearly two years ago. MI 360 was designed to help take our organization to the next level – by opening up lines of communication and giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback to their supervisors about management style and how it is perceived by employees.

We know that great organizations invest in engaging their employees in discussions about how to make their workplaces great. And we in the state of Michigan are no different. To make Michigan a tremendous state in which to live and a tremendous organization in which to work, I believe we must continue to pursue creating a culture – a way of doing things around here – that is based on our shared values, values we hold deeply and values which we hold ourselves to. And I believe MI 360 will help us do just that.

I am very much encouraged by the results from the pilot test and invite you to visit the MI 360 Website at http://connect.michigan.gov/portal/site/ogwd/index.jsp to read the MI 360 Beta Lessons Learned Survey Results report and to become familiar with the initiative if you have not already done so.

My personal thanks to all who participated in the pilot program – including my own staff. I very much appreciate the time they took to provide feedback to me. That is what the MI 360 is all about – to help leadership recognize strengths, understand weaknesses, improve communication, and to allow us to become stronger, more cohesive teams within our own workplaces and throughout state government.

You are the heart and the future of this exceptional organization . . . an organization committed to being A Great Place to do Great Work.

Sincerely,
Jennifer M. Granholm
Governor