Leadership Requires Thinking

Thinking for a Change: 11 Ways Highly Successful People Approach Life and Work by John. C. Maxwell

Acquire the Wisdom of Big-Picture Thinking: How can I think beyond myself and my world and process ideas with a holistic perspective?
· Learn continually; listen intentionally; look expansively; live completely
· Big-picture thinking allows you to lead
-See the vision before the other people do
-Size up the situation, take into account the variables
-Sketch a picture of where the team is going
-Show how the future connects with the past
-Seize the moment when the timing is right
· Big-picture thinking keeps you on target
· Promotes team-work
· Keeps you from being caught up in the mundane
· Helps you chart uncharted territory

The glamorous world of leadership committee...

We all know that leadership is all about mimosas in the mornings, hats and tails, getting dolled up for parties, and of course, cupcakes with lots and lots of sprinkles!

Ok..this is just a test post to see if we get an e-mail notice as well... if this works, we can add more info on the work and plans of the leadership committee here...

From a passionate us comes passionate patrons

Hi all ... Friday night ... my blog-time ...

Just read this from one of my favorite blogs, Creating Passionate Users ...

It's so tempting to say that anyone who really cares that much about users ought
to get the hell out of the big company. I know, having done my time at Sun. But
I'd forgotten how to see Microsoft as something other than a Big Company. I'd
forgotten (or never recognized) that it's a collection of individual people, and
no matter how entrenched the company's views, policies, practices, values,
bureaucracy, etc. are, there are motivated, smart, caring, creative people who
work there.

The author was talking about a visit to Microsoft, and how surprised she was that they were real people ... Reading this made me think of our own situation ... Sometimes we forget that our staff are real people truly commited to helping each other and patrons.

Relatedly, I posted something to my blog tonight that echoes a similar sentiment ... feel free to read it ...

Sierra (from Creating Passionate Users) outlined what she called a guidebook to ensure passionate users for large companies ... here were her ideas (condensed):

• Language matters. Frame everything in terms of the user's experience.
• Be annoyingly persistent.
• Capture user stories.
• Speak for real users... not fake abstract "profiles".
• Never underestimate the power of paper.
• Get your hands on a video camera, and record some users.
• Put pictures of real users on your walls. Act like they're as important to you as pictures of family members and pets.
• When product features are discussed without taking into account how it helps (or hinders) the user kicking ass, adopt a slightly confused, mildly annoyed look...
• Blog about it.
• Challenge user-unfriendly assumptions every day.
• Gather facts. Build a rational, logical case that maps a user-centric approach to real business issues.
• Look for first-person language from users about their own experience. Challenge others to solicit first-person, user-as-subject language.
• Don't give up.

An remember, although much of this sounds like it applies to online stuff (which it can) it's all completely transferable to the real-life, face-to-face world of library service. That's it for me ...


tim

Cerritos: How to create an experience library without building a new building

Hi all,

Here are my notes from the Cerritos presentation at KLA. Most of these are totally unrelated to the super cool interactive building--most have to do with staff, design, and thinking about what would be beneficial to patrons....

Cheers,
Erica

Ten easy ways to create an experience library for less than a cup of mocha latte
Libraries can enhance their users’ experience by…

1. Being on stage.
When you’re working with public, you’re on stage. Eliminate any “emotional leakage.”

2. Conducting daily briefings.
Be sure all staff know what is happening in the library and when.

3. Creating guerilla displays.
Model information discovery by creating quick, timely, ephemeral displays.

4. Doing spontaneous programming.
Have programs planned and ready to be presented at a moments notice when you see a teaching moment. Examples: the doctor is in…Dr. Database—when they have off-desk time, staff at Cerritos put on a lab coat and mill about the computers, ready to help and teach patrons about using databases; when you see kids, tell them jokes; have birthday parties at the library

5. Getting up and moving around.
Re-evaluate everything: nothing is too small to look at and to be looked at again. Small details = pleasure

6. Greeting visitors.
It’s not enough to have friendly people up front—be able to guide patrons across/throughout the library.

7. Knowing and telling your library story.
I love this one—we should all know how the library as a whole was created and be ready to share details about the histories of our buildings and about personal connections to the library.

8. Looking at everything from the customer’s point of view.
Look at everything with new eyes. Does it make sense? Is it easy to use? What would a first time patron think? How does the library look from the perspective of an occasional patron, or an every-day patron? Take responsibility for your environment: don’t assume someone else will/has.

9. Providing staff name badges.

10. Saying “Thank you!”
Thank your patrons for being there and asking questions.

Lessons learned at Cerritos:
Appeal to all the senses: ensure the environment includes pleasing sights, sounds, tastes, etc…Ex: flower arrangements: think about the details

Appoint an arbiter of taste: again, it’s the details, but the right details

Find ways to say “yes.”

Engage your customers: Be with them and around them. Have your spontaneous programming ready to go whenever you notice a teachable moment.

Let line staff make decisions

Find a mantra

Have fun (with patrons, too)

Be brave: Don’t be scared to try new services, new ideas: Incubate new services, ideas. If they don’t work, no big deal. But don’t be cowardly.

Have buy-in from your staff:
Their staff training included Wow! Training for customer services
Treat each other as customers
Do 10 minute refresher courses with staff
Respect all ideas. Always encourage staff to think, “will it make own patrons’ experience better?”
Be sure the staff areas create good experiences, too. Ask staff: what would make your life easier? And then give it to them. Have them list the tech things they need, where they’d like their desks to go, let them design their own workplace
Get staff excited about what they’re doing
Staff need to be involved (daily briefings, bullet points for 15 minutes)
Arcane knowledge is bad customer service—if only one person at the library knows the answer, that’s bad news. Share knowledge throughout the organization.
Use incubator projects for testing: allow people to fail without recrimination. It’s not failure—think about what you learned and go back to your previous success point.

Experiences are transforming: Think (and act like) “I’ve worked my entire life for you to come through my door today.”

What Cerritos wants patrons to think: 1st: Wow, what a great staff. 2nd And don’t they have a great building.