Thirty-five participants attended a day-long retreat on May 21 as part of the Library’s Excellence Canada Pilot. The group included Library Managers, library staff members from all levels and across departments (including contract and casual employees), and Marilyn Thompson, the Associate Provost, Human Resources.
Excellence Canada Vice-President and lead coach Catherine Neville facilitated the retreat. In the morning she introduced participants to Excellence Canada’s Excellence, Innovation and Wellness Standard and then divided participants into six groups. Each group was assigned one of the Standard’s drivers: Leadership and Governance, Strategy and Planning, Customer Experience, People Engagement, Process and Project Management, and Partners and Suppliers.
With the Standards' implementation 
guide in hand, the groups were tasked with identifying the Library’s strengths and opportunities for each driver. There was plenty of lively discussion as the groups determined the things that the Library does really well, as well as those areas where opportunities and gaps exist.
At the end of the day, the groups reunited to share their findings and flag the key gaps that existed across areas. It concluded with some preliminary brainstorming on how the Library might approach addressing key gaps.
Many thanks to Catherine for facilitating the retreat, to Annette Dandyk for coordinating the day’s logistics, and to all attendees for their engaged participation. It was a great day!
