Core Dialogue with Directors Interest Group

Meeting Minutes: 2016 Midwinter (Boston)

30 attendee, including 6-8 new people (split academic and public, plus 1 school)

Proposed topics:

• Evaluating expertise, specifically of IT managers


• Building partnerships and navigating the politics


• Working with CFO, budget planning for library, engaging others


• Suggesting retirement, preparing for retirement waves


• Merging 2 institutions


• Organizational development during times of major change


• Successful fundraising initiatives


• Digital humanities


• Succession planning


• Perceptions of technical services


• Dealing with large number of vacancies, especially senior level


• Messages to give new provost, 100 day plan


• Being younger than entire staff

Evaluating IT employees or other high end specialized managers

• Establish expectations


• Evaluate the results as you do not need to know the technology specifically


• 360 evaluations


• Is it training, counseling, or exit strategy time?


• Document everything


• Does the person know how to be accountable? To make decisions? Guidance or training maybe need.


• Does the manager know they are in control?


• Expect a manager to manage

Retirement

• Focus on expectations, focus on needs of institution


• Preparing transitions


• Refocused jobs can lead to poor matches for some individuals and the organization; people may need to leave


• Visualize the path to retirement


• General suggestions to all staff of getting retirement or general career counseling rather than telling a single person "to retire"


• Do people stay because we have overstressed they are overly essential?


• Repurpose and focus on a person's interests and passions


• Succession planning: interviewing those leaving to take notes of all that knowledge in their heads


• Atrophy in your career/position does happen


• Think about the needs of the institution


• Institutional knowledge is valuable, but sometimes that history is no longer needed or comes off as demanding


• Offer opportunities to all

Transitions

• Regenenerate ideas


• Invite people to reengage


• Inspire


• Let them lead, find their passion

Engaging others in the library budget process and development AND engaging the rest of the

• organization in the library's role in relationship to other budgets


• Past director settled with budget offered and focused on external development


• Short term versus long term


• Persistent, bring data, share consequences if not provided


• Lay out plan rather than just ask for money


• Present the needs

Merging institutions especially staff culture

• 2 libraries are very different from a highly controlled conservative model versus a more forward thinking and open sharing culture


• One institution coming in with poorer graduation results and fiscal restraints


• Staff fear of what will happen, such as maybe layoffs and just the unknown


• Disney Leadership Institute: culture by design


• Challenges of forced mergers versus mutual mergers

Fundraising

• Advisory boards


• Map out targets of need


• Being able to visualize or demo needs to donors


• Bring ”experts” into the conversations with donors


• Target "feelings” to lead to stronger matches of donors with needs


• Library development conference = ALADN (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/aladn/)

Being younger than those you supervise

• Do not worry about it, it is not really a big deal, those that were being supervised did not really care


• Treat behaviors, not ages anyways


• Recognize strengths and weaknesses equally


• Do not create the concern yourself


• Establish professionalism and process


• Come from a view of certainty


• Avoid habit of the ”young” person is the technology expert


• Hire the best people

Digital humanities

• Many need to consider non-librarians for these new roles


• Library as "hub"


• Video team in the library


• Northeastern University as an example (http://www.northeastern.edu/nulab/)