Looking in the mirror

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Looking in the mirror

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Three posts from two library-related blogs, dating from December 2007 and January 2008, have been sitting in my "possible material for PLN" folder for a while--and, looking at them now, I see links among the three. They're all, to one extent or another, about self-examination on an individual and institutional level. I'll add a fourth, more recent, post from one of the two blogs--a post asking a question that should involve looking in the mirror.

There's a lot to be said for stepping back once in a while and seeing how you're doing. If you can be honest (even brutally frank) with yourself about yourself (and your institution), that's a big step toward making worthwhile changes.

Peter Bromberg offers a dozen questions that you should ask new employees to help gain a clear picture of your library. Could you ask those questions of yourself and other existing employees and give honest answers?

Earlier, Bromberg noted "lead management" and five basic questions to ask yourself about where you are and where you want to be--generalizing the questions from the personal to the institutional. At about the same time, Steven J. Bell offered a related discussion, "Are you where you want to be professionally."

Here are the posts (slightly modified and excerpted as appropriate), with brief excerpts from some comments. I believe they're worth thinking about--and making your own links among the topics, your personal situation, and where your library stands.

Walt Crawford, May 12, 2008
Updated May 14, 2008: Barbara Kelly brings it back to the institutional side in a May 7, 2008 post, portions of which appear near the end of this article.

Ten questions to ask every new employee

by Peter Bromberg. Adapted from this post on January 16, 2008 on Library garden.

Kate Sheehan had a wonderful post a week or so ago, "Customer service mind, beginner mind, in which she writes about the value of looking at things with a fresh eye. It reminded me that every time I ever started a new job, I was hyper-aware of all the wacky things about my new organization; the signs that had been taped to the door since 1973: the restrictive (or just plain arbitrary and weird) policies that seemed to have no rhyme nor reason; the lack of basic equipment available for staff (no sliderules or abaci, but close.)

These awarenesses weren't always negative. Sometimes I was aware of the amazing benefit package that everyone else seemed to take for granted (or even grumble about), or an incredibly efficient work flow or communication mechanism--like a wall in the staff room with everyone's picture (Facebook 1.0) or a Director that was actually available to speak with employees.

But no matter how strong or strange these awarenesses were, they always faded away within the first few weeks on the job. It didn't take long before my new environment would simply register as "normal." Seriously, there could have been a chimpanzee in a tuxedo singing the star-spangled banner in the lobby; but if he was there on day 1 and day 2, by day 3, I'd be nodding and saying, "morning George, you sound good today. Nice job on the bowtie..." In other words, I can't underestimate the power of our brains to adapt and reset the benchmark for normal experience.

I always thought that those first few weeks as a new employee, when everyone told me everything and more but no one asked me for my thoughts or impressions, were a wasted opportunity. So when I became a department manager I made it part of the orientation process to squeeze these observations out of all new employees. I would literally take new employees to lunch and tell them that for the next few weeks, their perceptions were extremely valuable and encourage them to share with me if there was anything that we did that seemed odd, inefficient, wasteful or stupid. Or amazing, creative and blazingly brilliant.

If you can manage to get this data--heck, even one tiny datum--from your new employees (give them a break now and then from reading the 250-page employee manual), you'll have gotten some very useful information.

So. Submitted for your approval, here are my Top Ten Questions To Ask Every New Employee. [drumroll please...]

  1. What was your first impression when you walked into the library?
  2. What are your impressions of the aesthetic environment inside the building? What could we do to improve it?
  3. What are your impressions of the aesthetic environment outside the building? What could we do to improve it?
  4. What are we doing that strikes you as wasteful--of time or money?
  5. What services are you surprised to learn that we are offering, for better or worse?
  6. What services are you surprised to learn that we are not offering, for better or worse?
  7. Are there any policies that you don't understand the rationale for? Are there any policies that strike you as just plain nuts?
  8. What are your impressions of our website?
  9. What was your experience like when you called the library? What are your impressions of our phone system?
  10. What are your impressions of our customer service orientation? Are we customer-focused? What could we do to be more so?
    • Bonus questions (for the brave ones out there)
  11. How friendly (or unfriendly) did the staff seem when you first walked in the door?
  12. What are we doing that strikes you as straight-up bat sh*t crazy?

If you consistently ask these questions of your new employees, you'll have a wonderful opportunity to recapture the newness of seeing, if only briefly, through borrowed, "beginner mind" eyes.

Comments

  • "I've noticed that libraryfolk aren't good at distinguishing local practice from generic library practice... Relatively new people can usually remember the things that caught them off-guard and tell the newest hires...the things they learned the hard way. An official process to get all the insight we can out of fresh eyes is a fantastic idea."
  • "I realized recently that there are things at my workplace that are good that I have begun to take for granted, and bad things that I am ignoring. I love the idea of interviewing the new person. However, I think the next step is what is most crucial: changing the bad and maintaining the good!"
  • "More managers and directors should be brave enough to ask question #12--without shooting the messenger, of course!"
  • "...I'd have loved to have had that list, and that structure to put my observations into in those first few weeks, and then have been able to hand it to my boss and go: 'Here, that's what I've noticed. Some of it isn't very good, I'm afraid--but we could try this, and this, and this to fix it.'"
  • "I personally would ask more about the library's digital presence--not just the website but the library's catalog, the eBooks, databases, extended web presence through sites like Flickr and Facebook..."
  • [Peter Bromberg, reading the comments:] "Here's one more: 'What question should I have asked you, but didn't?'"

Five questions that will improve your effectiveness

by Peter Bromberg. Adapted from this post on December 10, 2007 at Library garden.

I recently stumbled across a wonderful little book called Leadership Simple: Leading People to Lead Themselves, by Steve and Jill Morris. It's based on Dr. William Glasser's "Choice Theory" (which suggests, among other things, that the only person whose behavior we control is our own) and Glasser's "Reality Therapy" (which suggests that we choose our actions and we are responsible for our choices.)

The authors use a fictional case study written in narrative format to illustrate the process of "Lead Management" or "self-evaluating, and leading others to do the same." The principles are also presented in bullet-point format in an appendix, which makes it easy to quickly review the main points.

The Lead Management process involves walking oneself (and later others) through five basic questions:

  1. What do you want?
  2. What are you doing to get it?
  3. Is it working?
  4. What else can you do?
    • (I like to throw in an extra one here: "What am I willing to do")
  5. What will you do?

The authors suggest that when using the process, we spend the majority of our time on steps 1-4, thinking, talking, analyzing, generating options and generating more options. Finally, we decide what we will do and commit to an action.

I've realized that in the past I've sometimes rushed through steps 1-4, failing to think deeply enough and generate enough options. But more often I've spent too much time on steps 1-4, enjoying the process of exploration and never getting to a commitment to action.

What appeals to me about this process, and the underlying philosophy, is that it is deeply grounded in personal responsibility. Consider this quote from the book:

  • You are accountable for the meaning you place on the information you receive, for what you want, and the behaviors you choose to get what you want.

And this one:

  • People are going to do things. Events will occur. In essence, whatever happens outside your mind is information. You get to choose what that information means, what importance you place on your perceptions of that information, and how it fits with what you already know.

One value in adopting this perspective is that it takes us out of victimhood. We can't simultaneously take responsibility for the meaning we ascribe to events and to the behavior of others and feel like a victim. This is highly empowering. Victimhood, whether experienced individually or as an organizational or professional culture or belief system, gets us nowhere. When we perceive ourselves as victims we are less likely to invest our energy in trying to change or influence events. However, when we take responsibility for our perceptions and the meanings we ascribe to them, we become grounded in a place of power, and we are more likely to make conscious choices regarding our behavior. We are more likely to take concrete steps and try to exert our influence on outcomes.

The commitment to action (the "what we will do") is the final step in the Lead Management model. The process, however, is circular. This means we can choose to go back to earlier steps and reevaluate what's working, what's not, and generate more options. We may even decide to reevaluate at step 1, and look at whether or not we still want what we originally wanted. We may discover that our original goals have shifted over time in the light of new experience and knowledge.

The Lead Management process is designed to be used for self-coaching and the coaching of others. I think the process of working through the five questions could also be effectively used to guide decision-making for departments and organizations by re-phrasing the questions:

  1. What do we want to achieve? (What is our mission? What is our goal?)
  2. What are we doing to get achieve our mission/goals?
  3. Is it working?
  4. What else can we do to achieve our mission/goals?
    • ("What are we willing to do")
  5. What will we do?
Note: There's more to the post related to personal coaching and omitted here.

Are you where you want to be professionally?

by Steven J. Bell, adapted from this post on December 10, 2007 at ACRLog.

It’s a thought that probably comes to every librarian at some point in their career. Professionally, am I where I’m supposed to be at this point? Should someone my age be further along? Should I be an administrator by now? Should I have a bigger reputation in the field? And the ultimate question, should I be making more money? When we seek the answers to these questions we often have no choice but to compare ourselves to others, whether it be a colleague down the hall, that blogger being profiled in the Chronicle or folks who graduated in your MLS class. We tend to judge ourselves against the A-listers rather than the majority of library professionals who are probably doing about the same as we are. It’s a harsh mirror into which we gaze. It’s hardly unique to librarians.

If you are completely satisfied in your current post as a reference librarian, cataloger, systems specialist or archivist, and you have no intentions of doing anything else other than what you do right now, this post may not be for you. But if you are experiencing anxiety about your status in the profession and wondering where you are supposed to be in your career and how to get there, read on. I’ve been fortunate to achieve some nice accomplishments in my profession. There’s a balance of some scholarly publications, some notable opinion pieces, a few presentations each year that have enabled me to travel, a secondary career as an adjunct faculty member and, more recently, some blogging and a few keynote speeches. Academic librarians who are newer to the profession may think that’s the story of my library career. But it wasn’t always this way.

I went to library school as soon as I graduated from college, and was fortunate to obtain my first professional position soon (about six months) after I received the MLS. I was all of 23. But it wasn’t an academic library position and for the next eight years I toiled in complete obscurity as a librarian. It wasn’t until my first academic library position, in 1986 as a frontline reference librarian, that I started writing and was able to get a few articles published--and some conference presentations, but nothing spectacular. I finally published a book in 1992 (a resource guide) co-authored with my boss at the time. This helped me to gain more of a reputation, but only in business librarianship. Fourteen years into my career I had never belonged to ALA, ACRL, been on a national-level committee or any activity that gains national recognition. But I now had an administrative position in access services and would soon move into an assistant director position at the same library. I finally thought I might be library director material after all. To further my career I began a doctoral program in higher education administration--a program that would take me six years to complete. Are you beginning to get the idea that success doesn’t come overnight for the vast majority of us--even those you may think have always had recognition?

I should mention that my first son was born when I was 26. Then the next when I was 29. While there are folks who can accomplish everything simultaneously, that wasn’t me. When I started in academic librarianship in 1986 I had a 5-year old and a 3-year old. Between child care, t-ball, soccer games, helping with homework, meetings with teachers and all the other responsibilities of parenthood it was difficult to even consider publishing and presenting, but I did my best to be active in associations on the local level. I’m not suggesting parenthood held back my career--those were great years--but it wasn’t until the kids became a bit more independent that I could attend night classes, write an article, travel to a conference or those other things some folks take for granted.

When I became a library director in 1997, with the doctoral studies behind me and teenagers helping out at home, it became easier to take on professional responsibilities, like becoming president of my regional ACRL chapter. Another change that I made somewhat intentionally was to force myself to write articles with opinions and viewpoints rather than the same technical or scholary pieces I’d been writing. I don’t know if the newer generation of librarians can appreciate it, but before blogging it was much more challenging to be heard. A piece like this one would be unthinkable. To my way of thinking those opinion pieces, not unlike blog posts, are more likely to provoke thought, garner attention and result in requests for presentations.

The ten years since the start of that first library director position were the most productive of my career. When I left the big ARL research library I thought my publishing and presenting would plummet because of lack of inspiration. If anything it was the opposite. I’m not suggesting you need to be a director to achieve professional recognition. Many directors don’t do anything beyond directing their library, and more frontline folks are finding ways, mostly through blogging, to get recognition. If earning more money is important in your success equation, moving to the rank of library director is one surefire way to increase your salary. But it comes only with sacrifice. That’s true of the colleagues you know who are, in your mind, A- or B-list library professionals. Those folks are doing more than just putting in nine to five days. There are long nights of writing or preparing for presentations; deadlines are waiting to be met. It may mean getting to work an hour or two early to have time for keeping up and quiet contemplation--those ideas and inspirations must come from somewhere. Less attention is being paid to family and friends. There is a price to be paid.

All of this may be a long winded way of saying: I urge you not to worry about where you are professionally. If you think your career needs to be progressing faster, think of it as a marathon. You’ve got to pace yourself. Keep in mind that the road is a series of hills and valleys. Sometimes you will get things right at the right time and you’ll be on the hill. But then it will be someone else’s turn, and you’ll be in the valley. It’s much better to look at the long view and focus not on one-time recognition but developing the ability to acquire and nurture ideas and inspiration. I can’t tell you how many librarians I’ve seen gain instant recognition only to be relegated to the dustbin of forgotten personalities once change came and their great idea was replaced by the next big thing. Then there are librarians who seem timeless and are always in the forefront of our thought leadership because they are adaptable and always have something of value to say no matter what changes come and go.

One great thing about the library profession is that it is something you can do for a long time if that’s your desire. It’s not physically demanding. I can do my job as well now as I did thirty years ago. I’d like to think that I’m better at it now than I was then. I should be because this is a profession where accumulated knowledge and experience is of great value to both those we work for and those to whom we provide services. My father was an auto mechanic, and by the time he was the age I am now it was pretty hard for him to physically even do his job. Eventually he had to find a second career with a desk job. So if it seems that things are not moving quickly enough for you professionally try to keep in mind that over the long haul things will happen for you--if you are willing to make sacrifices for your career. Since a number of other folks have preached about the need for life/career balance I won’t take that up. You should already know about that, and besides, I’m probably not one to preach about it to others.

Perhaps what I can preach about is to be strategic in thinking forward about your career. Where would you like to be in five or ten years? What would you like to be doing in your library or a different academic library? What will it take to get there? You may need to move to a position where you have more management responsibility. There may be workshops and continuing education programs where the right skills can be gained. Professional associations have their costs too, but a key benefit is a network of colleagues who can provide mentoring and opportunities--if you put yourself in the right place at the right time. Can you earn an additional or advanced degree at your current institution? It’s hard work and risky, but the return on your investment may be getting to the next level.

I haven’t always been publishing and presenting. I haven’t always had professional recognition. It took time to develop my voice and gain the ability to think and write about things in a way that communicates well to others. It didn’t happen in a vacuum. I had plenty of support and encouragement from good colleagues and family. I’m still working to improve and accomplish new things, to share new ideas and to help those in the early stages of their careers to develop professionally. I’m still moving through the hills and valleys.

Comments

  • "...As a relatively new librarian, I sometimes wonder if I am doing everything I should be doing, and getting noticed as much as I should, whether I’m writing and publishing as much as I should, etc... I appreciate the advice to look at the long term, do one’s work with as high a quality as possible, and keep one’s whole life in perspective."
  • "...I appreciate you sharing your career narrative and the need for folks (especially us new to the profession) to think long-term and, in doing so, focus/alter/steer the direction of our careers. Plus, it’s good to be reminded that the A-list is not the majority and that there are plenty of folks not on the A-list doing important work."
  • "...Starting out in an entry level position, it's daunting to think about all I have to do to become a tenured librarian. Your article was very reassuring…"
and, after you've looked in the mirror, looking at the long haul and where you are today, maybe you'll try to answer this question--although some of us never do, and may not even care for the idea.

What's your signature statement?

by Steven J. Bell, adapted from this post on May 4, 2008 at ACRLog

Most academic librarians go through their careers performing a host of jobs and filling a multitude of functions. From selection to reference to instruction and more we are true workplace multitaskers. But amidst all these different activities have you ever stopped to ask yourself what’s at the center of it all? What defines you as a librarian? What’s your signature statement?

I watch little television outside of the occasional sports event. But one show I never miss since it began several seasons ago is Hell’s Kitchen. I have no rational explanation for this other then to say I get a kick out of shows involving restaurants; I never even watch food channel programs. I got hooked when I caught a few episodes of the short lived reality show featuring Rocco DiSpirito that chronicled his effort to open a restaurant. If you ever thought your job was stressful, demanding or just plain crazy, you are not even in the same league as to someone trying to open or run a restaurant.

Without going into great detail about Hell’s Kitchen just know that in the first episode each aspiring chef must prepare and present his or her signature dish--which Gordon Ramsey promptly trashes in the most humiliating fashion possible. Nearer to the end of the show the surviving two contestants usually prepare their signature dish for a panel of food experts in one of their final competitions. A chef’s signature dish, according to Ramsey, defines the chef. It sums up in a single presentation all their skills, and expresses their creativity and accumulated experience. The signature dish says “this is who I am”.

I’ve not thought much about this idea until recently, reading Crucibles of Leadership by Robert J. Thomas. On page 80, Thomas briefly profiles Bill Russell, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time; Russell played center for the Celtics team that won eleven championships. Russell reveals that his earliest source of inspiration was his public library. He recalls a fascination with art books. He realized he couldn’t draw or paint, but marveled at the works of famous artists. The valuable lesson that he took away from his reading was that all the world’s great artists had a distinctive quality that Russell thought of as the signature statement. While he didn’t become the next Michelangelo, he did create his own signature statement and applied it to his overpowering defensive style to become the dominating player of his era (you Wilt fans may beg to differ). No one else could capture Russell’s signature style.

I have never heard an academic librarian express his or her signature statement. It’s not uncommon, I believe, for educators to have a statement of teaching philosophy, but if we’re educators how come we have no way of concisely stating what defines us as a librarian or educator? So my humble proposal is that academic librarians should develop their own signature statement that provides insight into the distinctive characteristics that define them as a librarian. To guide you, consider Thomas’ definition: 'a phrase or sentiment that serves as a source of inspiration that guides both the heart and the mind. Since my personal philosophy is to avoid asking others to do something that I wouldn’t or haven’t done myself, it’s only fitting that I take a shot at my own signature statement. I think my passions for keeping up, blended librarianship and design thinking certainly contribute to my signature statement. So here’s what I came up with:

Ideas and innovation inspired by a desire to learn in the service of my community.

Just like most of those signature dishes, it needs work. If you are willing to create a signature statement for yourself, share it as a comment.

Comments

Generally, these excerpts are limited to the statement itself. Consult the post to see who said what...

  • “To identify, communicate, publicize and provide training in the ideas, skills and tools our libraries need to ethically and peacefully enrich their communities.”
  • Empathy is my profession. Systems of information are my tools.
  • Inspired by innovation, change and constant challenges, I strive to give [my library's] community the best service and experience possible and I strive to be an innovator and change agent within the profession.
  • [A user-oriented take:] “Here’s the information you need. Here’s how you can find it, too.”
  • “Learning more is doing something.”
  • “Demystifying rare and special materials, to encourage an active, ongoing engagement with hands-on history.”
  • "To be there when I am needed, to help when I am asked and to share my knowledge with others."
  • "I’ll have the constant intellectual challenge with sides of service, creativity, comfort, coaching, and downright wacky fun! What’s on your plate?"
  • "I strive to live my life without doing too much damage to the planet."
  • “Helping people with limited technology skills, be they patrons or fellow librarians, take small steps to become more comfortable using the myriad of technologies available to us today.”
  • Some folks didn't buy the premise: "I try to live my life not reducing it to an elevator pitch. No slur intended on anyone commenting here… I just think the idea of making a slogan or a logline for one’s life is kind of comical."

The message is the message

by Barbara Kelly, excerpted and adapted from a May 7, 2008 post at Manage this!

We should all stop what we're doing for a moment. Stop the book ordering, the reference interview, the program development, the partnership building, the staff development, the conference presentation, the facility expansion, the report writing and the strat-plan meeting--especially the strat-plan meeting--and evaluate the message(s) we are giving out. Not just our formal messages, but the messages we give with the way we do the above actions. Are our actions at work even in line with our formal statements or messages? Which one needs to be adjusted? Maybe it’s both.

Are we collectively (or me and you individually) really saying what wants and needs to be said? Is the message jargony, too cute, too medicinal, so vague it’s meaningless or perhaps too bloody boring to ever be referred to again?

I apologize to the patron saint of communications in Canada as I declare that the “message is the message” and we had best make sure it’s clear, authentic, followed through on and most importantly is not just one sided, but a response to a discussion with the communities in which we serve.

Okay, that’s my message for today. You got anything to say about it?

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