We got trouble...
From PLN
We got trouble...
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An overview for articles on internal difficulties and possibilities
- by Walt Crawford, published May 23, 2008
Introduction
Do you dream of a library without problems?
Really? Would it be possible to have a library without problems that's also dynamic and serves its community?
Back here in the real world, we got trouble--it comes with the territory.
Much of what's now in PLN and should appear in the future is about library problems and finding ways to solve them--and one reason for the Forums is so that you can discuss and help solve specific problems. Here, we're talking about internal problems related to the people who staff your library--who they are, how they behave, how you and other managers deal with them and how the organization itself functions. That leaves out all the external problems (funding, politics, marketing) and problems directly related to your roles in your community. It also, for now, leaves out most issues of leadership development and recruitment: That's another set of essays!
It's easy to say that every problem is an opportunity. That sounds good on a motivational poster or in a fortune cookie; life isn't always that convenient. What is true is that many problems can yield opportunities--and that most of us can use help in identifying and solving problems. This essay should help lead you to some of the material in PLN that deals with "people problems" and organizational difficulties, including good advice from within the library community and elsewhere. You won't find a "Related articles" section at the end because this whole essay is a set of pointers to related articles.
Trouble with employees
The best employees can be problematic at times, particularly if they're stars who don't play well with others. The worst employees can be productive members of your library team. They're all--we're all--people. Most of us can't turn that off when we're at work.
Problematic and star employees offers a range of thoughts from outside the library literature on coping with people problems--and getting the best from your stars. You'll get advice on dealing with anxious people, finding and coping with "your saboteurs," motivating difficult employees and managing absenteeism. Turning from underachievers and malcontents to your stars, a series of perspectives offers ways to identify your best people, steps to help retain them, a few notes on stars and teams--and ways to manage the best people without managing them.
One commentary in Problematic and star employees argues that star performers aren't self-contained phenomena and depend on teams for performance. That may not always be true (and maybe there's a commentary to be written regarding solo performers in team-oriented organizations), but teamwork issues certainly come into play. A set of teamwork checklists includes factors for successful teams, ways to get the best solutions from teams, building successful teams of change agents, ways to improve collaboration and more. Maybe some of the sources overstate the universal superiority of teams to individuals (e.g., "If you're the brightest person in the room, you're in trouble" seems overstated as a generalization), but you'll find much to think about in this set of non-library commentaries.
Staff feedback and involvement includes some related guidance on staff involvement and performance. Some items there also apply to other troubled areas such as communication--as with life and work, it's difficult and sometimes artificial to parcel things out neatly into single categories.
Turning to libraries and also to the positive side, Jamie LaRue talks about experience with "the smartest, most interesting people I've ever met"--his own library staff--in "Hey boss, I want your job!" Peter Bromberg, Steven J. Bell and Barbara Kelly consider ways to identify issues with your employees, your organization and yourself in Looking in the mirror. You'll also find much to think about in the inaugural PLN Challenge, What keeps you up at night?
Are employee problems generational? Generational notes includes commentaries on young bosses and older reports, learning from tomorrow's leaders, generational truths--and what's claimed to be different about "Generation Y." The same roundup includes some grumping about gen-gen--generational generalizations that Walt Crawford considers frequently more harmful than useful, including links to other library and nonlibrary discussions. One specific "generational" issue specifically concerns the young and the old, regardless of named cycles. In On appearances and legitimacy, Iris Jastram considers problems that younger librarians face in being taken seriously. In The age of librarians, Wayne Bivens-Tatum offers another perspective on issues facing "younger" librarians.
Trouble with management
If there are no perfect employees, there are equally few perfect managers and directors.
Problematic management includes commentaries on "bad bosses" and how they impact staff performance, job addiction, behaviors that hold managers and other leaders back and the tendency of some managers to be risk-averse.
One reasonable universalism is that no manager, director or leader is equally good at everything. In praise of the incomplete leader breaks down leadership capabilities into four general areas and offers signs of weakness in each area. Incomplete leaders understand their weaknesses and find ways to offset them; incompetent managers ignore their weaknesses and "will find themselves at the helm of an unbalanced ship." Interestingly, there's also strong evidence that People who apologize earn more money!
Within the library community, Tyler Rousseau says Don't be that boss and offers some thoughts on the boss you should be.
George Needham says Forget the OPAC, why does library management suck? and offers some reasons for problematic library management and the hard questions directors and management need to ask themselves. Needham stresses the need to improve mentoring, discussed at more length in Mentoring notes and Mentoring - Peer Panel. Note that PLN also has an extensive set of Mentoring resources--links to mentoring programs, new member round tables, job shadowing and more.
Can directors and managers have it all? In Directors, leaders and work-life balance, Steven J. Bell, Wayne Bivens-Tatum and Jeff Scott discuss those and related issues, with additional commentary by Barbara Fister, T. Scott Plutchak, Bill Drew and others.
Sometimes, it just doesn't work. Impossible positions and bad decisions includes three commentaries on how directors find themselves in untenable positions--and why they (and others) are bound to make bad decisions at times.
Trouble with communication and behavior
Will there ever be a library without communications problems? Probably not--at least not as long as people run and use the library. We're prone to communications problems; it comes with the territory. We (most of us, some of the time; some of us, most of the time) disguise our feelings in our comments. We avoid saying what we mean. We scapegoat. We don't speak up when we should.
Problematic communication and behavior includes several nonlibrary pieces on communications problems and possibilities, noting the need to be aware of nonverbal communication, the urgency of dealing with character assassination, the dangers of publicly dressing-down or otherwise humiliating staff and ways to extract value from "toxic" feedback. You'll also find some notes on preventing scapegoating, dealing with jerks in the workplace--and helping staff members through difficult times.
You'll get lots of good advice and when and how you need to listen carefully and say what needs to be said in Speaking up, keeping quiet and listening. Do you actually hear people when you're listening to them? Can you keep your ego in check so others can also offer good ideas--and are there times you should stifle your ideas? What do you do when you offer great ideas and people hate them, and can you "stay with no" when that's necessary? This roundup includes comments on all those areas and more.
Some articles noted above fall equally into this area--Don't be that boss, Staff feedback and involvement, People who apologize earn more money!.
Trouble with organizations
Does your organization itself cause problems, in addition to those involving problematic employees, management and behavior? Maybe--or at least there are discussions that fit even less neatly in those areas.
Problematic organizations includes commentaries on signs of unrest (and the signs of a "miserable job") and an interesting idea for "learning from failure" before the failure occurs: the project premortem.
In How healthy is your organization?, Meredith Farkas starts a discussion on organizational health, Jeff Scott continues the discussion--and notes from management literature discuss happy workers, healthy organizations and learning organizations. And in Learning from failure, Meredith Farkas and several others discuss ways we can learn from organizational and project problems.
Jamie LaRue says that Dynamic organizations stay supple, stressing the need for organizational flexibility in good libraries. The LLN Peer Panel discusses Having the right organization in a library context. Maureen Sullivan considers Libraries and organization development, while Ryan Deschamps asks What can organizational structure do for user-centered change?
Static organizations are almost inherently problematic, but change raises its own issues. Morgan Wilson offers Different ways of dealing with obstacles, based on a nature walk. The LLN Peer Panel discusses Change management--including the issue of whether "change management" is itself a meaningful term. Change notes includes brief commentaries on change from outside the library field, while Organizational change: How transformational leadership makes it work focuses on one aspect of organizational change. You'll also find notes from a 2007 ALA program on Leading technology-driven change: Theory and practice.
Your turn: Talk about it
We'd love to have other suggestions for useful resources on identifying and dealing with these and other troubling aspects of life--but there's also a specific request for feedback:
This article is something new and different, an overview for a group of related readings on a topic. You'll find that each article leads back to this overview in its first Related articles link. Do you find it useful? Pointless? Suggestions for improvement? Let us know!
