Tips and Tricks for Effective Library Supervision

1. Tips and Tricks for Effective Library Supervision Instructor: Gail Griffith gailg@carr.org An Infopeople Workshop Fall 2005-Winter 2006

2. This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first-come, first-served basis. For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.

3. Introductions • Name • Library • Position • One or two words that describe the best supervisor you ever had

4. Workshop Overview • Supervisory Style and Motivation • Coaching for Development • Performance Reviews • Disciplinary Procedures

5. What’s a Supervisor’s Primary Job? • Getting things done through people Does that mean you need them more than they need you? Just a reality check! Hmmm… That’s interesting

6. Biases Blind spots Bad days (That’s the bad news….) The good news? We also have Skills Experiences Inspirations Even the Best Supervisors Have

7. All Contribute to our Supervisory Style • And there is a link between supervisory style and employee motivation, as we’ll see

8. Where does motivation come from?

9. Research on Employee Motivation Says These Factors are Critical • High expectations • Treating people fairly • Setting work-related goals • Effective discipline • Satisfying employees’ needs • Restructuring jobs • Basing rewards on job performance Accel Team

10. Something to Think About • How does your supervisory style affect the motivation of the people you supervise?

11. Situational Leadership • Four stages of employee development • each stage has different needs • Four supervisory styles • each style makes different contributions • Challenge: • match supervisory style to employee’s development needs Hersey and Blanchard

12. Stages of Employee Development consciousness competence Hersey and Blanchard

13. Supervisory Styles support direction Hersey and Blanchard

14. The Best Match support consciousness competence direction Hersey and Blanchard

15. Exercise #1 Diagnosing Development and Making the Match

16. Break

17. What does the term ‘coaching’ mean to you? What’s your experience of coaching, or being coached?

18. Coaching for Development • You set the tone • make expectations clear • regular, clear communication • keep the door open

19. Coaching Basics • It’s done for someone, not to someone! • Ideally initiated by the person who wants to be coached • May be peer-to-peer, supervisor-to-staff, or even consultant to executive • May be formalized or scheduled • May be informal when opportunities are seized

20. GROW Model of Coaching • Goal • Reality • Options • Willing to do John Whitmore

21. Exercise #2You Be the Coach

22. How do you make time for observation and coaching? • What happens if you can’t?

23. Try Coaching Your Staff • Introduce GROW model • Schedule 15 minutes of uninterrupted time each month • Give coachees a tool to help them plan • Be sure to contribute, not control • And remember, you’re a D1 at using the GROW model!

24. Lunch!

25. Writing Performance Reviews • Know your environment • law • union? civil service? • local policies and procedures • local resources to help you • Opportunity to engage employees in self-assessment • Snapshot in time • No surprises!

26. Making the Best of the Forms • What would your ideal performance review form contain? • What are forms good for? • address things your organization considers important (some are even updated regularly!) • way to document the ongoing communication between you and your staff • resource for references, promotion decisions, other personnel actions

27. Be Specific in Your Comments • Focus on behaviors and results • not motives, personalities, feelings, attitudes • Tell employees what behaviors you want to see more of • Tell employees what behaviors need to change

28. Why Behaviors? • Three realities • yours • theirs • actual behavior Bradford and Cohen

29. Jim’s attitude needs to improve. He doesn’t care about this job. Jim was 15 minutes late twice last week without an excuse. Which comment lets Jim know what he needs to change?

30. Mary Jo has a great customer service attitude. Mary Jo received three letters of thanks from customers, including one from a disabled woman who appreciated her volunteering to deliver her books. Which comment do you think Mary Jo would rather see?

31. Describing Behaviors • Key to effective praise and correction, whether oral or written • Critical in handling all difficult supervisory conversations and documentation • Requires practice

32. Exercise #3 The Ball’s in Your Court

33. Break

34. When Your Best Efforts Don’t Work • Typical Progressive Discipline • verbal warning • written counseling • final written warning • There must be consequences You have a sample policy in the handouts

35. Documentation for Counseling • What to include • behavior that is occurring • steps already taken to get improvement • next step that needs to occur • consequences • Who should review it

36. Conducting the Counseling Session • Before the session • anticipate their responses and plan • practice • During the session: practical tips • schedule the session late in the shift • sit closest to the door • bring tissues • consider bringing ‘back-up’ • After the session • make notes while your memory is fresh • take time to reflect and grow from the experience

37. Exercise #4 What’s Next?

38. Evaluation and Learning Agreement