Group Therapy

What is the most pressing issue facing your library or nonprofit at the moment? Is it related to: Funding? Staffing? Marketing? Fundraising? Planning? Policy? Advocacy? Boards? Communications? Image? Friends of the Library? Continuing Education? Burnout? Management?

Tell us your challenge du jour. I promise to respond to all posts, and our community of readers will likely have suggestions for you. (And if you pass on this post, we’ll have the benefit of an even larger pool of brainpower!)

Creating a Positive Environment for Your Employees

Rather than reinventing great content, today I will re-post a recent offering of the SCORE Ask An Expert blog. The following information is based on 10 million interviews by Rodd Wagner and James Harper of Gallup. Here are the 11 concepts that great managers use to create quality employee experiences:

1. Employees want to know what they are supposed to do to accomplish their assignments. A job description alone doesn’t ensure that. As a manager, coordinate with people to make sure that you and they understand their jobs.

2. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to perform a job without the right equipment.

3. The Opportunity to Do “What I Do Best” is the “sweet spot” of employment. Companies sometimes place good people in jobs that are wrong for them. Recognize this and redirect misplaced people so they can thrive.

4. Showing appreciation for your employees is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal, use it generously.

5. Great managers know that people are not machines. When people feel that their employers respect their dignity, they work harder.

6. When managers give employees opportunities to grow , employees are willing to stretch to accomplish big goals.

7. Ask for their opinions about their jobs, the company and your management.

8. Make each staffer’s work more meaningful by demonstrating how it connects to the team’s goals and the company’s performance.

9. Employees who have close friends at work have the lowest turnover and the most positive performance ratings.

10. Talk about their progress. A manager who focuses on his employees’ strengths provides incentive to work harder.

11. Nearly everyone wants to learn and grow. Create an environment that supports some risk taking.

All CEOs say employees are their companies’ greatest assets. This praise is usually meaningless. The managers who get the most out of their employees are those who give their employees the most in terms of humanity, dignity and support.

Bill Haman, SCORE Cincinnati

Are You Developing Leaders?

Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith* distinguish between managers and leaders as follows:

The manager administers; the leader innovates.
The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
The manager maintains; the leader develops.
The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
The manager relies on control;the leader inspires trust.
The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
The manager has her eye on the bottom line; the leader has eyes on the horizon.
The manager imitates; the leader originates.
The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is her own person.
The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

Do you agree? Budding leaders need an environment in which leadership characteristics are not only tolerated, but encouraged. Does your organization make room for managers to grow into leaders? How do you nurture and support the development of the leadership characteristics above?

*Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader. New York: Basic Books, 2003, p. 8-9.

A Learning Organization

I believe that a healthy organization is a learning organization. What does that mean? Here are a few characteristics:

* People feel they are doing something that matters.
* Every person in the organization is growing, learning–and unlearning as conditions change.
* There are few (if any) sacred cows, and people feel free to challenge them.
* Employees are encouraged to take risks, and mistakes are just learning opportunities.
* Attention is on problem-solving and progress rather than positioning and politicking.
* Staff members know that their primary focus should not be on pleasing management, but on working together to please the customer.

These ideas come from Peter Senge (author of The Fifth Discipline) and others who have described the learning organization. How does your organization stack up?

No-Cost Staff Development

It is recommended that no less than 2% of your personnel budget be devoted each year to continuing education for your staff. In the best of times, I’m sure many organizations abide by this rule of thumb. But what about during the lean years? How can you keep staff skills sharp when there is little time or money to spend?

1. One a week. Encourage your staff to learn and share one new thing each week. Chances are, they are learning already, but may not be reflecting on what they have learned. Share at a weekly staff meeting, or make everyone responsible for asking as many of their coworkers as possible, “What one new thing did you learn this week?”

2. Cross-train. In any organization with more than one or two employees, there is a tendency for people to operate in silos. Cross-training not only facilitates skill development, it helps staff better understand their own roles in fulfilling the mission of the organization.

3. Go for freebies! Watch for free webinars and podcasts. There are a lot of electronic offerings nowadays, and they generally take very little time and no travel funds. Sources can include vendors, other libraries or nonprofits, professional associations, and other groups. Try a web search on the topic of interest or set up a Google Alert for “free webinar.”

4. Share the cost. Consider partnering with neighbors for continuing education events. If you are only responsible for half or a third of a speaker’s fee, it might make a special CE event possible. Who might you invite to join your group and share in the cost?

5. Read and talk. Start a staff book discussion group. Read titles that will enhance staff skills, and discuss them in the context of your organization. This is a great learning (and bonding) exercise.

What low- or no-cost resources do you use for staff continuing education?