The CEO has a yacht in Windermere Marina Village and went up this morning to check if it was still afloat following the recent flooding in Cumbria.

Fortunately it was – but some people have been less fortunate…………..

The problem was that the boats are moored to fixed pontoons which do not go up as the water rises. The mooring ropes therefore dragged some of the boats under.

All praise to the staff in the marina, they must have had the most stressful weekend of their lives and have done an amazing job to minimise the destruction.

The marina is closed and the ground floor flats surrounding the marina are all flood damaged, as the following youtube video shows:

The Westmorland Gazette reports around 20 boats as having sunk!

Some clever mathematicians out there will be able to calculate the biblical volume of water that could cause Windermere, a lake 12 miles long and a mile wide (at the widest point) to rise by 8 feet.

Another interesting 360 degree feedback article spotted, this time on ehotelier.com:

Closing the Circle in Measuring Performance – Understanding 360° Feedback

The article, by  Dr. John Hogan CHE CHA MHS, looks at the use of 360 feedback in the hotel industry.

Dr. Hogan writes:

“In a hotel management company setting or in a large hotel, 360 Feedback can target goals and objectives, promote practical interaction and clarify the ever-changing roles of all parties within the Management Company setting or hotel.  This in turn encourages self-development, which leads to staff engagement at multiple levels, while building staff loyalty for those you want to retain.”

The article also contains a list of recommended books for anyone considering a 360 feedback programme.

Just found a video on Youtube showing a group of people giving their personal views of  what they thought of a 360 degree feedback appraisal on them.

They all seem to have had a very positive experience……..

Having worked here at factors360 for a number of months now, after starting with little knowledge of 360 degree feedback appraisals, I have been impressed by how powerful a tool the 360 process is. Since starting this blog I have been constantly on the lookout for useful articles relating to 360 degree feedback in order to help me improve my own knowledge of the subject, but also to gather useful information for you guys who read this blog.

One article I found recently was  posted by John G. Agno on his Coaching Tips blog. I think it gives a very good summary of the way 360 feedback’s system of gathering the views of multiple raters can provide the appraisee with a ‘well-rounded impression of how others view their own work’, helping them to focus on areas they might need to address in order to improve how others view their performance.

The article also lists some useful tips for running a successful appraisal.

The whole article can be found here: http://coachingtip.blogs.com/coaching_tip/2007/07/what-is-multi-r.html

We are always keen to hear your views on anything 360 related, so feel free to let us know what you think…….

We have taken a few photos of the aftermath of the recent fire which badly damaged the Swan and Royal Hotel here in Clitheroe which show just how lucky we were to escape with no damage to our offices.

View of Swan and Royal from Castle Street

The first picture shows the Hotel from the front, looking completely undamaged – only the white hoardings suggest something is amiss (our front entrance is the brown door to the left).

The view from the ramparts of Clitheroe Castle shows a different story, the roof at the rear has been severely damaged and the people who were trapped inside this area had a very lucky escape.

View of Swan and Royal from Clitheroe Castle

The next photo was taken from our car park to the rear of our building and shows how close the fire was, and how incredibly lucky we were.I write this blog from the office in the corner on the first floor of the white building – just a little too close for comfort I think!!

This is a close-up view. I reckon if I had managed to find a toasting fork and a couple of loaves I could havepoked it out of the window and supplied the guys from the Clitheroe Fire Brigade with tea and toast all night!

By the way the good news is that the hotel is going to be rebuilt, but from talking to the contractors involved it looks like it will be a long job, anything up to a year.  It would have been a shame if it had been demolished, because as I discovered after a few Google searches, the place has had quite a history. Ghandi stayed there in the 1930′s and Winston Churchill stayed there during the second World War in 1942 when he came to meet Sir Frank Whittle, often referred to as the founder of the jet age, who was at  that time based at the Rolls Royce factory in Barnoldswick where he was developing his jet engine.

This last photo shows a group of contractors working on their battle plan to rebuild the Hotel. Note the boarded-up windows belonging to our neighbouring businesses who were less fortunate than ourselves. Over the past week there has been a steady stream of people carrying out boxes and filing cabinets – it looks like they will have to relocate for the foreseeable future.

 By the way, does anyone out there know the collective noun for a large group of people wearing hard hats and carrying clipboards?

Answers on a postcard please…………………..