Connect Newsletter (Aug. 28, 2025)

Get Ready for Annual Performance Reviews

Now through Sept. 13, managers are doing year-end reviews of job performance to support and enhance the professional growth of employees at Cook Children’s.

Performance evaluations measure our job performance since October 2024, providing a structured way to look back on accomplishments, contributions, strengths and opportunities. 

After managers complete the evaluations, the next step will be check-in conversations with their direct reports. These one-on-one, two-way conversations create space for constructive feedback, empowering employees to grow and excel. Employees are able to share their perspectives and feedback as well. It’s also an opportunity to reinforce how our individual roles contribute to the bigger picture.

This approach to Performance & Development utilizes tools in Workday to create a transparent and consistent process for performance reviews, career planning, goal setting and more. It’s designed to help you continually strengthen your skills and to keep Cook Children’s a model of excellence in pediatric health care.

In short, year-end evaluations are a way to look back, learn and launch forward – ensuring that our employees and our organization grow together.

Job Aids, Click Views and P&D Timelines are all available on CookNet. Some tips to help you prepare for your year-end discussion can be found here. 

Parking Impacted Near Emergency Department This Week

Patient and family parking in the Emergency Department will be limited due to construction on Sixth Avenue from Aug. 28 to 31. It was previously scheduled to start on Aug. 26. The Physician parking garage entrance and exit will be available; however, the garage exit onto Sixth Avenue will be blocked. 

As a reminder please be attentive when crossing busy streets. Traffic has increased and we want to make sure everyone is safe.

Detours within the garage will direct vehicles to turn around and go back through the physician parking area to exit via the entrance. Signage will be placed for direction and gates will be maintained up during this time. Please use extra care when entering the physician parking area as vehicles will be exiting as well. Please allow extra time for your commute and plan ahead to ensure you arrive for your shift on time.

To ensure you know the most current traffic updates, please bookmark this page. Thank you for your patience.

Doctor Spotlight: Michael Foreman, M.D., Cook Children's Gastroenterology - Lubbock

Take a moment to get to know our very own Michael Foreman, M.D., who works at Cook Children's Gastroenterology - Lubbock. The Texas Panhandle native always knew he would use his skills to help the children in the West Texas region. 

In this Q&A, Dr. Foreman shares his journey into pediatrics and more about his family.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Foreman. 

Wear your NFL Attire Sept. 4-7  

Employees are welcome to wear their favorite NFL attire such as Jerseys and accessories from September 4 to 7 to celebrate the start of the season. All attire must be appropriate for family and patients.

Employees are encouraged to submit photos of their team or individual football spirit to TeamExperience@cookchildrens.org to be featured on the Team Experience CookNet site. 

Have a Happy Labor Day! 

As we approach the Labor Day weekend, we want to thank the 10,000-plus employees at Cook Children's who work to keep our Promise: Knowing every child's life is sacred, we promise to improve the well-being of every child in our care and our communities. Your dedication to our core values — kindness, collaboration, imagination, generosity, respect and safety — elevates the care we deliver to patients and families. 

We hope everyone has a happy and safe Labor Day weekend! 

Share Your Content with Us

Do you have any tips, ideas or content you would like us to know about? We want to hear from you! Please view our SharePoint site and email us at InternalCommunications@cookchildrens.org. 

Check our CookNet calendar for more system-wide events and to find more content about our employees and news you need to know, bookmark our Connect Newsroom website.