Let’s start with a gross generalization: Libraries as an institution seem to prefer conformity within our organizations; but librarians as a profession also strive to counter conformity. We cater our services to various nonconformists, and provide service to those who want to learn something new on taboo topics, or to have access to materials they may have been denied elsewhere. We will fight to the death for the rights we all have to express ourselves, and privacy is very important to us. But as a profession, we shy away from change. Even the most forward thinking librarians can be afraid to rock the boat. Let’s face it, we embrace the rules.

According to the article, humans feel better when we stick with what we know. That makes sense, right? We believe the potential loss associated with a change is greater than the gain that may result from the change. We ignore information that challenges long held beliefs. But this has a downside in that we do not create environments where feedback is welcome, or new ideas are celebrated. Yes, a new idea here and there may be praised, but the overall environment is stagnant. When I visit libraries, I often encounter bored staff members. They share the glazed-over look that comes from repeating the same tasks; frustration with disengaged managers; and a general feeling of disconnect from the work they are doing. How can nonconformity help these staff members re-engage? By encouraging them to break rules? Of course, we know that not all conformity is bad. But to be capable of cutting-edge library service, perhaps we need to look at striking a balance between the necessary structure that comes with any organization and the freedom to be creative in their jobs that can inspire and excite employees.

I once asked a staff member to create a flyer for a display. I needed something quick and dirty. This person was usually assigned to assisting with checking out books. He reacted with fear, then disbelief in his own skills, then acceptance, and the final outcome turned out great. We later talked and I said something along the lines of, “Hey, it’s fun to be creative and engaged at work.” He actually thanked me for the opportunity. Something so simple was a big deal to him. So, in the interest of shaking things up here are 7 ways to promote nonconformity in your library:

1. Ask staff members – What makes you unique? When do you feel at your best? Use the information you glean from these questions.
2. Don’t tell them how to do it, tell them what the end goal is.  For example do not say “You need to take the following steps to increase programming attendance (insert steps).” Do say “We need you to find ways to increase attendance at programming. Please think of a few ways to accomplish this goal and present them at the next meeting.”
3. Have staff members define their own mission. An example: I will advance the library system by actively seeking out opportunities to share our online resources with every customer I encounter.
4. Give staff members the freedom to choose their responsibilities. I prefer to give a list of initiatives and have them choose one to work on.
5. Lead the way by asking why. Why are we doing things this way, why is that policy in place? Keep staff thinking about updating, changing, moving forward.
6. Variety keeps people motivated. Remember the bit about asking someone to create a flyer? Yeah, those moments are pretty important. The benefit of having people switch up their tasks is that now you have people cross-trained on different jobs.
7. Get out of your own library. Go to other libraries or shops and look around at their displays, read blogs, send out ideas to your staff. Make it your goal to send out one great idea from another library system each week.  Implement these ideas. And here’s a bonus suggestion – read this article, you’ll gain awesome insights on this theory!

Resources

Gino, Francesca. “Let your Workers Rebel.” Harvard Business Review. October 24, 2016. Accessed October 25, 2016.

The post Shaking Things Up at Your Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Master of All

The purpose of public libraries can be hard to pin down because it is so broad. We want to be everything to everyone. I struggle with the simultaneous goals: circulation, programming, outreach—you know the deal. I once read about a visioning technique where you discover your purpose by imagining your library receiving an award: What is it for? You can do this at the department, branch, or system level. In one year, what should your library receive recognition for? Lives have been changed, the community has grown, what did you do to contribute?

Focus

Take your vision and focus on it until it becomes a part of the culture. Clearly state where you want to go and try not to waver. When something shiny pops up, quickly assess: Does it fall in line with your vision? If not, move on! We tend to overcomplicate things. We don’t just want to create a new program; we want to add ten elements to make the program really great! Wasn’t it Coco Chanel who said to take one accessory off before you leave the house? Take some items off of your grand proposals so that you can focus on the vision.

Don’t give people room to guess. This leads to many versions of the truth, low morale, and general grumpiness. If you can tell your staff the vision in ways that makes sense to them, you will be successful. Will it be overnight? No. Will it be fireworks and unicorns? No. Staff will begin to trust you once they see the results. Sharing information is a skill some must learn and some have naturally. Take time to develop the skill of immediate information sharing.

Once you have shared the vision, and any relevant information, the staff will begin to learn how to behave. They will look at new opportunities with a more critical eye. Does this fit in with where we want to go? Your customers will notice the change, your volunteers will want to be a part of it, and your staff will reach new heights. I promise.

Maintain Forward Movement

You set a vision, and you shared it. How do you maintain movement with all of the daily tasks? Sometimes you have to recommit by reviewing your vision and your goals. Post them in your office and the staff work room. Refer back to them during staff meetings, say the word “community” fifteen times a day—whatever you have to do to communicate and push everyone forward.

Be sure to catch up on Part 1!

The post Tips for Managers – Part II first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Manage your people and yourself.

Your role has changed dramatically. You are no longer the person who gets things done. But wait, that was the fun part, right? From finding an answer for a customer to ironing out the details for a great program, the satisfaction was immediate. So if you aren’t getting things done, what are you doing? You are managing others so that they get things done. This can be incredibly hard to understand and accept. If you can look at each opportunity as a chance to manage someone else by coaching them, spelling out expectations, checking in, and encouraging time to reflect, you will begin to actually manage people in order to see results.

Manage your stress.

If you are like most new managers, you are stressed about your role. The worst thing you can do is to internalize it. You are frantic about getting schedules completed, responding to two staff members fighting, and trying to think long-term for your library. You have to find your flow—that place where you are being challenged, but you feel confident in your skills. Give up the illusion of catching up. You are not going to get caught up. You are always going to have pending emails and looming deadlines. Seek out ways to handle your stress with articles similar to these from Forbes and the American Psychological Association.

Manage your priorities and workload.

A lot of management is delegating and then managing the employee you delegated to. You have to stay on top of their work. First, admit that you don’t feel comfortable delegating. You think, I won’t add as much value, my employees have too much to do, and honestly, they probably won’t get it right. Holding on to these doubts can lead to so many problems. You must delegate and then manage the process or person. Just passing a task along and hoping for the best will not lead to a productive library, but being overly involved won’t help either. There are many layers of management, but when you are starting out you will quickly learn the benefits of delegation, or you will burn out. You should be thinking strategically, and you can only do this after you put in a lot of effort to delegate.

These are just three tips to help you develop your skills. Ultimately, you have to study management. You have to read, explore, and discuss it. Being a librarian is different than being a manager. Take some time to be better at your craft!

Resources

Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves

How to Communicate Employee Expectations Effectively

15 Books Every Manager Should Read

12 Ways to Eliminate Stress at Work

Coping with stress at work

Successful Delegation: Using the Power of Other People’s Help

Coursera’s Leadership and Management Courses

Manager Tools’ Podcasts

The post Tips for Library Managers – Part I first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

PART 1: INTIMACY
“Distance is a disease that cripples true conversation.” The first sentence of the book. Whoa. I agree, and I feel the pains of working in a twelve-location system. It is hard to have a true conversation without intimacy. Leaders must share thoughts about strategy and operations, while also giving away intimate pieces of their own history. This is not easy! This takes practice, but it truly sets the stage for the rest of the working relationship. The value of listening to someone in a face-to-face interaction is incredible. As I read this book, I adjusted our probation guidelines – we should be rating managers on their ability to listen. Listen. We tend to focus on formal modes of conversation to push information to employees—if you do that, they start to fill in the gaps themselves; they start to create scenarios that probably never happened. This is why we must be diligent to create an open forum to converse with each other. But how?

ICS
Treat employees with respect by setting up an Internal Customer Service structure. Use a work ticket system to show that their requests are just as important as external customer requests. This is two-way communication.

Intranet
Use your library intranet wisely. Post about staff success, community engagement, and clear up policies when necessary.

Listen
When a new idea is presented, sit back and listen. If I give my opinion, it may influence others. So, I try to listen before giving immediate feedback. This allows me to hear the full idea, and others to form an opinion without my influence.

PART 2: INTERACTIVITY
Getting close to employees can’t happen without interactivity. Pushing info at them is one thing, but providing a place where they can interact is another. Social media’s success relies on back-and-forth conversation, and it can be mimicked in the workplace. How do you create opportunities for interactivity?

Blog
Leaders can blog once a week with a question, a statement, a fun fact, whatever! This allows employees to understand what people in administration are up to, and it provides an opportunity for employees to engage. They can leave comments, talk with each other about it, and even set up a blog themselves.

Online Options
Bank of America created an online water cooler where employees can engage across departments and locations, and according to Groysberg and Slind, it is extremely successful. I find that just asking “What are you reading?” can lead to a lengthy discussion that allows employees to connect with and understand each other.

PART 3: INCLUSION
“An inclusive approach to communication transforms employees from receivers of corporate messaging into messengers in their own right.” Inclusion happens when an organization treats employees as official communicators and asks them to be a part of the conversation AND a creator of the conversation. Obviously, the employee must participate in order for this to be successful. How do you encourage them to participate?

Product Reviewers
Review new materials, databases, resources, etc. and share those reviews internally and externally.

Event Reporters
Report on events ranging from staff meetings to public events.

Ask Questions
Ask staff pointed questions: “How can we reduce costs?” “How can we be better?” “Where do we excel?”

Opportunity
Set up a small grant structure where any employee can write a one-page grant.

Day in the Life
Have one day where all employees take pictures and share on the intranet, celebrate each other!

The basic point of inclusion is to show the employee that they, too, are a customer. They, too, should be happy and they too are a community within themselves. We always want to serve our community, and the employees bring a rich and diverse opportunity to do just that.

PART 4: INTENTIONALITY
Intentionality centers on using conversation as a means to move the organization forward. The authors describe the first three elements as the fuel to energize the company and intentionality as the guide to a certain point. What is your destination? Fuel, and guide the conversation to get there.

It is the leader’s responsibility to guide the organizational conversation to improve its internal and external performance. This means that when you speak with an employee he/she should be able to tell you the mission, strategy, and goals of the library and be able to talk about their role within the organization. Surely you’ve heard the story of the NASA janitor who said his job was to “send people to the moon.” Everyone has a role, and the intentionality of a conversation can lead to real breakthroughs. How can we be intentional in our conversations at work?

Visioning Exercise
Imagine your library is receiving an award: what is it for? Start your conversations by stating goals of the organization, and ask employees for feedback.

Communicate the Why
When writing memos or speaking to staff, start with the What and follow up with the Why. Humans love to know why…even when they don’t agree with you.

Cross Talk
Create opportunities for conversations across departments and branches so that people can understand each other.

Sources

Groysberg, Boris and Michael Slind. Talk, Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power their Organizations. Harvard Business Review, 2012.

The post Talk the Talk first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

“We should be more like a business”

“I hate calling patrons customers”

“We’re more than books”

Sound familiar? While libraries strive to remain relevant, you can see the slide to the “let’s run it like a business” mentality. I firmly believe we need to think outside of the box of traditional operations of a library. Creative problem solving is a must in our business! I picked up this monograph and was surprised to be faced with a different line of thinking—we don’t need to be like a business, we just need to be great.

Exceptional performance

What is exceptional? What makes a library great? Figure out what that means for your library and work every single day to get there. If you spend too much time looking at your barriers, you won’t focus on this goal. Let’s review some options for how to make a library great, in practical terms:

Superior performance

• Every interaction with every customer is treated with respect and dignity
• Every politician knows your name and your library’s mission
• Demand for your services increases every year

Distinctive Impact

• Everyone wants to talk about your services (word-of-mouth-marketing!)
• Other libraries copy what you do
• You win awards, receive grants, and make an impact

Lasting Endurance

• People give your library money—lots of money
• People return after years to tell you how you made a difference
• You change the world

As managers and world-changers, we must lay the groundwork for greatness. I have to tell you, the political jungle gym that is a government job does not make it easy to advance the organization. We all know this to be true, but that shouldn’t stop you from working every day to get to greatness. Collins makes the point that people want to be a part of something great. Yes! They do! And not just staff—this includes community leaders, politicians, companies. If you work tirelessly to make something great, they will be drawn to your organization.

So, what’s next?

As a manager, you have some options to start laying the groundwork for greatness.

• Make sure your mission statement and strategic plan are updated and relevant— no joke, start at the start
• Review employees early and often—consistent reviews show that you are disciplined and you have high expectations of your employees
• Only accept the highest goals with the loftiest priorities—don’t let employees get away with weak goals that don’t move the organization forward
• Be more than books—alter your space, be creative, don’t settle
• Change the culture—yes, it can feel like beating your head against a door, just keep at it

I highly recommend this monograph. I’m sure the parent book From Good to Great is even better. I hope to read it soon, and I hope you all focus on greatness at your library.

More resources:

A great organization starts with great communication: How to Build a Great Organization By Doing Something You Already Know How To Do http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/06/25/how-to-build-a-great-organization-by-doing-something-you-already-know-how-to-do/

What makes a company a great place to work? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-hardman/best-companies-to-work-for_b_2287193.html

Podcast: Building Greatness with Jim Collins http://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/building-greatness.html

Collins, Jim (2005). Good to Great and the Social Sectors. HarperCollins. http://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Social-Sectors-Monograph/dp/0977326403

The post Are You Good? Or Great? first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

“Almost one thousand people in this country die each day from smoking-related illnesses. Imagine it. That’s as if two fully loaded jumbo jets collided over your hometown every day and everyone aboard was killed. . . ” Authors Karen Berg and Andrew Gilman write about “selling points” in the book Get to the Point. This selling point (in italics) was created to paint a picture of how many people die from smoking every day. The selling point is striking and I can’t imagine you could forget the image. The library has plenty of great stories, touchy-feely and full of “awww.” I have to tell you, those stories don’t always resonate with me or politicians. They want results. They want to know the return on investment.

What is a selling point?
Selling points, as defined by the authors:  “Strong messages use vivid, unambiguous language. They rest on a foundation of information presented in a package that we call a selling point, which makes a positive statement and then gives an illustration.” When I make a presentation to stakeholders, I focus on selling. The goal is to leave an impression and a call to action. I challenged myself and my team to come up with some similar (though not as morbid) selling points, and this is what we created:

• Picture 200 people playing five-card stud. Now, turn all of those playing cards into library cards. That’s how many library cards we issue in a month.
• Imagine the traffic jam! Seventy-two school buses full of children. That’s how many people attend our library events in a single month! Seventy-two school buses would stretch from the library to the Mission on Main St. . . and they visit the library voluntarily!
• If you laid out every book that was checked out of a County Library last year, you would have enough books to stretch from Ventura to Disneyland.
• Every month, residents request about 8,000 titles. That’s over 1 million dollars of savings in a year. They aren’t just picking up a handful of titles while browsing, they are seeking out our titles specifically.

Depending on the crowd, I will add a call to action at the end of the statement. “Imagine what we could do with more!” I will also add a specific request, leaving the audience with the impression that they too can be a supporter of the community’s success. I pose the same challenge to you. Get to know your stats and talk to your coworkers. Create unique, brief selling points and start sharing them. The next time someone says “You’re a librarian! I didn’t know we still had librarians!,” respond with a smile and a selling point.

Reference

Berg, K. & Gilman, A. (1989). Get To the Point: How to Say What You Mean and Get What You Want. Bantam.

The post Get to the Point Already first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Leaks or Bursts
Feelings are going to come out whether they leak out or burst forward. Some of us keep feelings inside and they leak out in other ways. Some can’t help but burst with emotion at times, which isn’t always helpful. The Feelings Conversation is designed to prevent the leaks and the bursts. By following the techniques, you will find value in examining, assessing, and expressing your emotions.

Scenario:
You’re talking to a direct report about a change in procedure. This change will help save time and money, but your direct report isn’t into it. Instead of talking about the feelings behind the conversation you walk away. Now you’re annoyed your colleague doesn’t want to change and your co-worker’s annoyed you don’t care about her point of view. While we can easily focus on the business side of this–you want the change and you know it will work out–we have to change our focus in order to help the organization.

What’s the worst could happen? So, I hold in my emotions. Who cares? The pitfalls of holding your feelings in are:

• detachment from coworkers
• tension throughout the workplace
•  aggression in tone, body language
• hindrance of your ability to listen
• misdirected aggression can be perceived as sarcasm

What’s the best that could happen? You begin to create a culture where feelings are expressed without judgement. BUT you can’t just start going around dishing it all out all the time. Follow these steps:

Sort out your feelings  (Protip – Use a feelings inventory to help).

• Accept that feelings are normal and natural and everyone has them (this can be very hard for some)
• Don’t be a speedbump, allowing other people’s feelings to always go before yours
• This is about you, and shouldn’t be a blame game

Negotiate with your feelings (my favorite part!) (Protip – The authors compare this to walking around your feelings as if they are sculptures in a museum.)

• Your feelings follow your thoughts, so be clear on what you are thinking and why.
• Ask some questions: What is my story missing? What is another explanation? What is motivating me? How did I contribute to the situation

Describe the feelings (Protip – Start a lot of conversations with “I feel”)

• Hopefully, negotiations went well and now you can talk about your feelings in the context of the problem/situation
• Establish a judgement free zone – don’t evaluate each other’s feelings!

Stone, Patton, and Heen end the chapter by talking about acknowledgement which is an important concept – read the chapter for more information!

More Resources:

Needs inventory: https://www.cnvc.org/sites/default/files/feelings_inventory_0.pdf

Free course on emotional intelligence at Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/course/lead-ei

Stone, Patton, & Heen (2010). Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most. Penguin Books.

The post Leaks or Bursts: Managing Feelings in Workplace Communication first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

For this first blog post I want to focus on the issue of building trust. Patrick Lencioni addresses this in his book The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. According to Lencioni, before you can get healthy as an organization, you need to establish a strong team. To establish a strong team, you must establish trust.

Building Trust

What is trust? We aren’t talking about trust in the way you trust your partner to tell the truth, or you trust a friend to follow through on promises. Lencioni calls it vulnerability-based trust. Be vulnerable in front of your management team. Tell them when you screw up, tell them when you struggle, and tell them when you’re sorry. In general, be vulnerable. If everyone on the team does this you avoid a lot of issues. One, everyone is speaking freely which can lead to breakthroughs. Two, you get to the heart of issues much faster. Fear takes a back seat as you express your vulnerable side more often.

But!

Librarians like to know everything, and rarely admit to not knowing something or not having thought something out. It goes against our nature to admit we don’t know. This is why you have to be the example. Truly, it should begin with the leader, but it can begin with anyone at the table. Next time you find yourself feeling defensive, take a moment and explore what you are feeling, and say it! I’m feeling overwhelmed, I messed up, I need help. Start building the trust by being honest.

Practical Steps to Building the Trusting Team

Lencioni shares two steps that essentially do the same thing: force you to get to know yourself and your team members.

• Share Personal Stories – Talk about yourself, your personal history. He suggests answering the question: what was the most difficult or interesting challenge you overcame as a child? This allows you to get to know each other’s motivations. Someone may micromanage out of fear, and another might be tight with money because he/she grew up in a certain environment.
• Take a Personality Test – I love this! I prefer Myers-Briggs, but there are others (see below). Yes, they can feel awkward to take and share but, man, I have learned a lot about myself this way. Take the test, share with others, and see how it will help your organization in the long run.

But!

We have been a team forever, this seems a little late in the game. It’s never too late. Tell your team you want to try something new. Use a consultant as a catalyst. Many local consultants will come in for just a few hours to help with something like this and it won’t cost you much money at all! But please understand it is a culture change, and it won’t happen offsite in a day-long session. This is skimming the surface to deeper cultural behaviors.

The rest of the book is really great. I recommend you read and marinate on it, then go back and read the sections that stuck out the first time.

Take some time to explore these resources as you start to build your team:

• Team Building 101 http://www.manager-tools.com/2007/05/team-building-101
• Effective Managers Earn Trust Quickly By Doing 5 Things Well http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/07/10/effective-managers-earn-trust-quickly-by-doing-5-things-well/
• Titles from ALA http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3717

Personality Tests:

• Enneagram https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/guide-to-all-riso-hudson-tests/
• Myers-Briggs http://www.mbtionline.com/

Reference

Lencioni, P. (2012). The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. Wiley.

The post It Takes More Than a Trust Fall: Establishing a Great Management Team first appeared on Public Libraries Online.