Core Dialogue with Directors Interest Group

Thank you for attending Dialogue with Directors during CORE Interest Group Week! Our program this year focused on succession and continuity planning, and this is a brief report on the session. We encourage you to continue the conversation through this list.

The two co-Chairs, Shelly McCoy and Denise Shorey, introduced themselves, and offered their definitions of succession planning as the process of developing leaders within the organization, and continuity planning as the process of capturing documentation, workflows, etc. to ensure that the departure of an individual or a disruption won't affect library operations.

Several participants indicated, through a show of hands, that they or their library were engaged in some form of succession or continuity planning and offered some suggestions or tips.

Succession planning

·        One approach to developing the next generation of leaders is through internships and practicums (paid or unpaid). Caveats included ensuring an appropriate budget for paid internships as well as adequate staff to train the interns.

·        Leadership does not have to depend on a title or one's role: leadership opportunities abound on committees.

·        Look within the organization for future leaders.

·        Be aware that individuals who are being groomed for leadership may leave the organization, so you are ultimately benefiting the profession.

·        Succession planning is a component of strategic planning, as one looks at knowledge or skill gaps.

·        Directors are usually thinking about developing their staff for the next level of leadership.

Continuity planning

·        How does a library or a supervisor prepare for a departure?

·        Loss of institutional knowledge is a real concern, hence the importance of knowledge management and cross training.

·        Upcoming retirements / departures are opportunities to document workflows and processes of the individual leaving.

·        Build the information and documentation into everyday processes.

·        Practical suggestions included maintaining shared drives and institutional rather than personal accounts for access to resources.

·        Create backups for information AND for staff--make sure that someone else is familiar with another person's workflow.

·        Look at critical areas where personnel loss might cause a hiccup, and prioritize these as focus areas.

·        Staff departures may be an opportunity to redefine a job, perhaps spread out some responsibilities.

·        Performance appraisals can serve as useful pointers if a person has documented his / her accomplishments

Challenges

·        Long-term staff possess a wealth of institutional information that may not all be captured. They may also have inadvertently created problems by developing particular workflows in their own style.

·        An aging organization may suddenly find itself without leadership or institutional knowledge if retirements take place within a short span of time.

A brief bibliography about succession planning is at https://tinyurl.com/successionplanningbib.

 Thank you, Shelly and Denise