Hard Choices for Hard Times: Managing Expectations and Setting Priorities in Your Library
Format: Online
Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others.
(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
Jan 19, 2010 - Feb 15, 2010
The downturn in the economy and budget cuts have created many hardships for libraries. As a supervisor working through the uncertainties of day-to-day operations, it is your job to ensure that the library meets the needs of its users and employees. Demands on your services and resources continue to rise. The evolving needs of your customers may require new skills for you and your staff. Are you discovering that being really good at what you did a few years ago might not be good enough today?
This online course will introduce you to effective approaches to managing and leading employees in hard times. As a result, you will be able to:
- Create a culture of continuous improvement
- Show that you value employee input and feedback
- Model communication that builds loyalty and trust
- Improve employee morale and resiliency to drastic change and other workplace stressors
- Encourage collaborative input and decision-making
- More effectively utilize current resources and employees
These approaches help any supervisor, middle manager, or team leader to set priorities and manage staff and customer expectations in good times as well as bad.
Course Description: This online course will provide focused learning opportunities through individual and group assignments and discussions. The instructor will provide resources, best practices, and useful tips and techniques that can be applied immediately.
During the course, you will be completing assignments and assessments and taking quizzes. You will also participate in discussion forums and online meetings as part of the learning process.
Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:
- Module 1: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement in the Library
- Using proven philosophies of continuous improvement to ease the demands of managing your employees and department
- Fostering a culture of learning and experimenting for your employees without the fear of blaming or judging
- Managing and supporting a culture of process improvement for your employees where ideas are generated by those doing the work
- Module 2: Modeling Effective Communication
- Six components of effective communication that you can use to build trust and loyalty with employees and customers
- Understanding how managers create open or closed communication environments and their impact on employee and department performance
- Keeping it safe and interactive: Managing communication and feedback from within your department and organization
- Module 3: Building Resiliency to Stress: Keeping Morale Up While Workplace Demands are Increasing
- Five actions managers or supervisors can take to build resiliency to stress in themselves, their employees and their department
- Removing the effects of "survivor syndrome" from your employees after budget, cuts and changes
- Recognizing how your employees make a difference: Techniques that managers and supervisors can use to keep morale and spirits high
- Module 4: Tightening Our Belts: Decisions Managers Can Make to Save Time, Money and Valuable Resources
- Reassessing your decisions: Collectively examining what works and what doesn't work to maximize your resources
- Cross training for job enrichment vs. job enlargement: Understanding the difference when making decisions for your department and staff
- Maximizing self-service while maintaining quality service: Best practices in self-service in your library and online
Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2 to 2½ hours per week. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, it is recommended that you complete each week's assignments within that week to stay in sync with other learners.
Who Should Take This Course: Middle managers, front-line supervisors, and team, department, and group leaders looking for effective ways to respond to the increasing pressures and demands of managing employees and their departments during these hard economic times.
Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at
http://www.infopeople.org/training/learning_details.html.
Course Start: This online learning course starts on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.
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