Brandy’s Comments (group member since May 13, 2016)

Brandy’s comments from the Read to Lead group.

Reminder- book discussion at East Regional Library today at 2pm- 946 Steeple Square Court, Knightdale, NC 27545

Hi Everyone,

Just checking in. Have you had a crucial conversation that you needed to have yet? If so what was the outcome? If not, what are your fears?

I will start - In my case I needed to let a colleague know that I was interested in dividing up our reports/updates equally beforehand, so that during meetings or other situations we were both seen as equal leaders (we are co-chairs on the same project). It was my concern that if I did not bring it up, because of her outspoken nature, she might end up doing all the speaking and come off as the lead. Since I brought it up I felt much better and paved a way for a more logical approach to our agendas! If I had brushed this off it would have continued to hang over me. Once I decided I would address it and got up the mental fortitude it was not as hard. I think the biggest obstical is getting over our fear of how it will come across. If we not let things go we end up more frustrated than necessary.

Good Luck with your crucial conversation!

Please use this board to express any thoughts or experiences you have regarding the current reading.

Think of the last change initiative you completed. How did you evaluate the result of the change? How well did the change correspond to the original intent?

You completed a change initiative and you find out later that staff impacted felt that you ignored their input. What did you do to resolve this?

(We got a little behind last week so this week features two chapters)

Let's talk about evaluating change.

1. You are leading an initiative that requires employees to cross train in multiple service areas. What sort of assessment techniques might you use to evaluate the progress and identify issues with the change?

2. What methods of evaluation have you tried and which do you think work best?

This week's' questions take a little soul searching...it's time to look inside yourselves and examine...your baggage.

What particular challenges do you think you would encounter in "reinventing" yourself at your current organization?

What managerial baggage do you have with your staff, peers or administrators and how do you overcome this baggage?

It is impossible to foresee all the factors that may hinder success. This week we will discuss environmental factors that impact success.

Which of issues listed in the book (Budget concerns, institutional bureaucracy, staff turnover, weather, personalities) has impacted a change in your department or organization? What was the end result?

I so agree Dale, processing time is important. Sometimes change comes to quickly and it's hard to implement unless people have fully grasped the concepts in the change.

What an interesting chapter on implementing change! This week's discussion should focus on buy in, empowerment, and communication.

What are some ways to empower employees when implementing change?

Have you tried to implement a change you thought would work only to see it fail? What did you learn from this failure?

Consider the statement from page 83 " few change leaders are criticized for over communicating to all audiences." - Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Please state your reasons.

If I were going to implement a change in a department I would first meet with the Librarian Is and get their feedback and input. I would then ask them to be leaders of the change. For example, we did a huge handselling pilot project. We needed to get all staff (but mostly the library assistants) to get on board with handselling at every transaction. The managers met with the LIs and we acknowledged that while they may be stellar at doing this, we need them to model and or gently remind other staff that we always have great things to "sell" at our desks. By including them in the process, it made them feel more a part of it. I also gave them a leadership opportunity. Lastly, the managers did not have to be the only ones to monitor the project. Before we implemented the project, we provided training on handselling and explained our expectations clearly. In addition, we could follow up individually with those who were not following through instead of addressing the whole staff

Hello and Welcome to Week Four of Read to lead! This week's discussion is about Initiating Change Effectively. Here are your questions...

1. Thank about a time when change was introduced effectively to your organization. What was it that worked so well?

2. If you were to implement a change in your department work work group who would your change leaders be and why?

Hello! Welcome to week two of Read to Lead! Keep those comments coming, the discussion is going well.

Here are your discussion question for Week 2 -Feel free to respond to this question or one of the other "thinking exercises" at the end of chapter two.

1. Think of some times when you disagreed with a suggestion or decision made in your organization. How did this impact you emotionally? Did your emotions vary depending on who the suggestion or decision came from? How did you move forward in each case?

This week we will explore the "thinking exercises" from the first chapter entitled "Change in Libraries."

1. What aspects of your library fit the various organizational models described in this chapter?

2. How would you describe your organizational culture toward explaining decisions?

Hi all the book is available through NCLive's ebrary database!