Training
Issues Managers Face
Matthew Beacom
Yale University
Friday, June 22, 2007
Training
Issues Cloud
Skill sets RDA non-Roman scripts Web 2.0 Web architecture
digital libraries new hires People
Morale time retirements
RLG->OCLC
metadata expert/novice PCC long term staff
Next Gen OPACs google Cataloging courses Work Culture
Change Digital Asset Management Systems
Vendors NACO
Convergences LCSH
Productivity
Morale
Change
People and
their skill sets
People,
skills, etc., cont.
Institutions
and their Work Cultures
People need cohesive work units
Cohesion depends on trust, communication, and productivity
Productivity
Production is the measure of success
Morale is an indicator of how well or poorly we are doing
Thank
you
Questions?
The sub-title in the preconference agenda reads 00ncreasing awareness of Employer and Educator Needs00but you will see that I have not concentrated on that angle in my talk today. Instead, I have taken the title proper rather seriously and have considered the training issues that managers face given the current revolutionary environment.
Obviously, I00 trying to fake a tag 00loud00of issues and give some relative weight to them by size. It may work a little bit, but the obvious issues are pretty clear: People, Morale, metadata, the Web, Google, and all that, Work Culture, Change and Productivity. These are the big ones. I want to take the technological and social revolution in information use that is underway now for a decade or so as a given. It is driving a lot of change, creating a lot of stress on institutions and people, and offering many opportunities for new roles and increases in productivity, but it isn00 what I think we need to focus on today as we talk about the training issues we face as managers. The critical issues we face are those that come together as we develop ourselves, our colleagues and the institutions we work within to be highly productive as workers, colleagues and leaders, and to do so in the face of rapid and disruptive change. For me, individual and institutional morale is the key issue. Morale is both an indicator of success or failure and a driver of improvements in productivity through training. My thesis or rather my hunch is that by paying attention to morale we will be best able to manage the development of the kind of institution or workplace that helps its members thrive on change and grow in skill and productivity.
We need to be as smart about managing
morale as we are about managing budgets, contracts, space, workflows,
etc. Managing morale is part of motivating people and institutions to
be successful.
Of course this is all mushy, and my personal
inclinations show here rather than any objective or universal set of
characteristics for good or bad morale. However, as a manager I am concerned
with the morale of each of my colleagues and the morale of the unit
and the institution overall. As mushy as this is, I know that I need
to keep unit morale 00p00to be in a position to attempt large goals
or manage significant changes.
Why this focus on morale in a session
on training? Because people with poor morale will not take to being
trained and institutions with poor morale will not be able to successfully
apply any training its people get.
Training 00learning00its all about
change. And change00he degree of change we face now in libraries and
similar organizations00s what has made me put morale first in my list
of training issues.
Change is our environmental constant. Change is always the state we live and work in. Change is complex, multiple and various. The two types of change00ncremental and disruptive00re just two of the ways we can describe and classify change. But either kind of change challenges us and offers opportunities.
Generally, we need people who come to us with these skills; we are not well-positioned to train staff in these skill areas.
These are the skill areas that we can
provide on-the-job training or support off-site training. But each of
these skill areas is potentially huge. And people, the possessors of
skill sets, are not infinitely expandable. They can only learn so much;
they can only master so much.
The question then becomes one of making choices. What skills does the institution need, to what degree of mastery, and in how many people? That question leads us to consider the institutional questions such as prioritizing the need for particular skills, allocating resources to develop those skills in people on their staff or use third parties to provide the skills (e.g. using a vendor to do some specialized work.)
People have characteristics aside from the skill sets they can apply at work. I00l mention just a few limiting factors. People have limited capacities for productive work, learning new skills, and solving problems. The limits are highly variable across individuals and highly consistent within them. As managers we need to be alert to these differences and work to optimize the conditions that reward success and work to avoid creating the conditions that punish it.
People have characteristics aside from
the skill sets they can apply at work. I00l mention just a few limiting
factors. People have limited capacities for productive work, learning
new skills, and solving problems. The limits are highly variable across
individuals and highly consistent within them. As managers we need to
be alert to these differences and work to optimize the conditions that
reward success and work to avoid creating the conditions that punish
it.
Work units are a critical element for
everything from morale to productivity. People are social animals. Even
the most introverted among us needs other people. Work groups may range
from a partner to a small team to the whole library. The keys to cohesion
is trust, communication and productivity. In order for people to work
together most effectively, they have to trust each other. To trust each
other they have to know each other, and to know each other they have
to communicate with each other. With small groups communication may
work well informally (but often do not), but in larger organizations
formal communication must supplement and support informal communication.
One consequence is that time, thought, energy, effort and money must
be spent by the organization (and its members individually) on communication
and building trust. I am convinced that we all need to spend more
thought, time, effort, creativity and money than we do on communication.
Although people are pre-disposed to trust one another an organization
can00 just expect that it will happen at work in productive ways.
Success needs cohesion and cohesion needs success.
