1.
Innovation and
Libraries: Building a
Collaborative
Learning Ecosystem
Brian Pichman

2.
Innovation and
Libraries:
Building a
Collaborative
Learning
Ecosystem

3.
Do You Ever
Feel Like This:

4.
Success Is
Measured By
Employees
Leaders should have two main
concerns: people and production
High concern for people
motivates the team and they
become more productive
High concern for production
creates sense of achievement
and satisfaction

5.
Why do we strive for Peak State
• Accelerate New Ideas
• Build Better Community Partnerships
• Stronger Working Relationships
These things help:
• Lower Employee Turnover
• Keep leaders in the organization to stay and
continue to grow

6.
Managing a team is a lot like…

7.
Happy Teams are: Mentored

8.
Happy Teams are: Challenged

9.
Happy Teams are: Promoted

10.
Happy Teams are: Involved

11.
Happy Teams are: Appreciated and Valued

12.
Happy Teams are: On A Mission

13.
Happy Teams are: Empowered

14.
Happy Teams are: Trusted

15.
Bring New Ideas &
Collaborations
Think Tank Sessions
White Board Sessions
(or Post It Notes)
Focus Groups

16.
Think Tank
Sessions

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How to set one up
Key Components of a Think Tank Session
Ideas
Reading Levels
Work Buckets
Prototype
Solve
Present on general topics, such as the sustainability goals and history of technology to get a feel for the room
and audience.
Introduce Core Topics and Time Line of Events
Provide simple one-page documents to members so everyone is on the same “page”. If you are tackling
“hunger and poverty” share relevant articles about what's in the news, nutrition requirements, core needs.
Everyone Should Have Basic Understanding of Topics
Throughout the conversations during Reading Levels and Ideas, you will start to see areas in which attendees
hope to “solve”. Lay those out and let people vote on which buckets they find most relevant to them.
Task Out Assignments
Using the knowledge gained from Reading Levels and discussions through the Work Buckets, people can
prototype how they hope to solve an issue.
Prototype or Build Towards a Working Solution
In order to take the Prototype to the Solve stage, accountability must be assigned to those groups. Document
the entire days event and share pictures and videos of what people worked on to continue the conversation
and for reference points.
Measure, Implement, Coach

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You will want to do the following
Between Each Step
Rapidly share and report out
A core component of a Think Tank Session is the ever rotating process of learning and exploring,
reporting out in a smaller group, and bringing everyone back together in what’s commonly
referred to as a Quaker Circle
Everyone essentially has knowledge on particular topics. By sharing knowledge amongst smaller
teams, information can be shared quicker while tracking key ideas or conversations. These key pieces
of information are then highlighted for reporting out to the entire group.
Learning and Exploring
This enables to share the key outcomes from learning and exploring to all attendees, further
getting everyone “up to speed” without having to waste time on the smaller facts (which if
documented can still be shared post session)
Report Out
This is less organized where people are no longer sharing things from a smaller group
perspective but sharing what they personally learned, are thinking, or key take-aways to
everyone.
Quaker Circle

19.
Whiteboard
Sessions

20.
Key Components
• Take pictures
• Typically have one person writing/notes/drawing on the board
• At wrap up, circle the key take aways and box in action items with
initials of who is taking ownership of the action items.

21.
Focus Groups

22.
Key Components
• Small Groups
• Try not to have vertical leads within the focus groups
• No idea is a bad idea (even if it is a bad idea)
• Report back out to the group to confirm outcomes of the discussion
• Actually follow up on items after presented to leadership or final decision
makers

23.
OTHER LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES

24.
THE CHALLENGE
You want your team / teammates to rapidly
grow and improve. The most unique way is to
present a 40 day challenge.

25.
A 2009 study published in the
European Journal of Social
Psychology stated that it takes
18 to 254 days for a person to
form a new habit.
The study also concluded that,
on average, it takes 66 days for
a new behavior to become
automatic.
WHY 40?

26.
Kundalini Yoga, also known as
the yoga of awareness is
practiced over 40 consecutive
days to make or break habits.
Through physical movement,
breathing and listening to
specific sounds it will help
improve ones consciousness,
develop intuition, increase self
knowledge, and is said to
unlock the unlimited creative
potential.
MAGIC NUMBER
Forty days has sacred relevance
throughout religion.
• In Judaism, for someone who
seeks an answer to their
prayers should pray the same
prayer request for 40
consecutive days.
• Forty days also has significance
for Christians who fast for 40
days during Lent.
• Some religions and cultures
state that a new mother is
confined to her home for 40
days after she has given birth.

27.
• Personality can be changed
through handwriting
exercises over a period of 40
days.
• Our skin cells on average
take 40 days to renew, our
red blood cells start dying
from 40 days onwards
SCIENCE OF 40

28.
The goal is that by doing small
incremental changes over 40
days we can strengthen our
connection with ourselves, our
team, and our community
MISSION

29.
Give challenges that are
designed around strengthen
your connection to your
community.
CENTERED ON
COMMUNITY

30.
CHALLENGE:
CALLING
Asking for help from local
businesses can yield surprising
results

31.
Whether or are a leader or not,
its important to have good
leadership values. Find
challenges that are geared to
put people outside of their
comfort level and push
themselves with new skills.
LEARNING TO
LEAD

32.
360 SURVEY
Asking for feedback is vital to growth

33.
Design challenges or activates
that are focused on learning
something new – those tasks
that even you yourself goes “if
only I had time to do xyz”
EXPLORING WITH
EXCITEMENT

34.
TED TALKS
Listen to 5 talks and summarize what you learned

35.
PLAN
Remind your team that:
Community Is Key

36.
With any leadership approach,
being consistent is always a
challenge of its own. While you
or your team may not be able to
accomplish every task, the
challenge is to try .
CONSISTENCY

37.
Software Tools
• Tools for Engagement
• Slack
• Teams
• AI Tools For Idea Thinking:
• Context Minds
• Chat GPT
• Places to house it all
• Canvas LMS
• Heartbeat

38.
AI Tools
Context Minds Chat GPT

39.
Slack Features
• Channels and Direct
Messages
• Allow for
Organization of
Conversation Threads
• Keep Individual &
Restricted Group
Messages Private

40.
Integrations Galore!

41.
Integrations!
• If integrations or plug-
ins don’t exist, leverage
custom programming
to build your own
integrations from your
work apps.
• Open API & Email to
Channel Integrations
allow for many apps to
be connected to Slack.

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Do you use one?
What is an LMS?
LMS

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These are crucial tools to use within your LMS
Core Modules
Administrator Modules
These are so for tracking individual progress or
monitoring trends for the whole group. Statistics and
data should be looked at to make informed decisions.
Learning Modules
These would comprise
of anything from study
materials or other
exercises. Within this
is course management
and when to
administrator
courses/assignments
and tests.
Communication Modules
These would be
anything from Forums,
Wikis, Chats, Emails,
Discussion Boards,
Posting of
Announcements, or
running a ”webinar”

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Lots of Planning Is Needed

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What you should expect to find in a typical course
Basic Layout
Modules Think of modules as containers of information. They can be grouped by
“topic” or by “Week/Month”.
Each Module should contain the same structure. They should contain
some assortment of Learning Resources and Submissions.

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What you should expect to find in a typical course
Basic Layout – what is in a module
Learning
Resources
• Study Guides such as PDFs
• Reading Materials
• PowerPoints that highlight information
• Recorded Lectures or Videos
• Plugins to 3rd Party Sites that provide some level of training and report
back scores/status

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What you should expect to find in a typical course
Basic Layout – what is in a module
Submissions Assignment/Activities/Assessments
• Submission of documents (Paper, Presentation, Videos, etc.)
• Discussion Boards for group collaboration or communication
• Announcements posted by instructor (usually for a “call to action”)
• Other Social Learning Activities: Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, Journals,
Surveys which allow for more peer-review

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BigBlueButton

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Kaltura

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There are lots of ways to deliver content to people…
Why Use an LMS For This?
An LMS can increase
employee productivity
by giving them
something to do during
downtime.
Productivity
Real Time Access
Morale
Cost Savings
Data Driven
Can provide real-time access anywhere
around the world*. Also allows for
standardization of materials and a single site
for all resources. Content MUST be clear and
consistent.
Encouragement of sharing and
collaboration through the use of a
learning platform. Builds
confidence amongst the team.
Can also be used to gamify the
workplace.
Can decrease training costs
through the “rinse and repeat”
method of training.
Monitor people’s progress
and skillset for core work
functions, promotion
opportunities, and core
competencies overall for the
team.

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How this can work for you
LMS Benefits
Competency Management
Identify core skills for each
position, and coach and train
to it.
• Phone System
• Putting Book Into System
• Circulation Process
Soft Skill Training
Diversity Training,
Communication Strategies,
Disaster Preparedness.
Role Management
Define roles and the
responsibilities needed for
the job and build modules to
teach to those. This can also
track maturity of an
employee…as in they have
accomplished X amount of
training by X date.
Career Path
Start allowing access to
modules to expand their skill
sets – teach the skills
needed before the
promotion.

52.
Canvas
• One of the most
popular Open-Sourced
options
• SaaS and self-hosted
open source options
• F r e e S a a S o p t i o n s t o o !
• https://www.canvaslms.
com/try-canvas

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Driving Your Vision

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Communication on Benefits
• Training Opportunities
• Promotion Support
• Survey “What do you want to learn more about”
Create Learning Buckets
• Which organizational group complete which
functions?
• Do you have existing training now?
Benefits and Creating Learning Buckets
Applications
Setting Up A LMS For Your Staff

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• Build test banks consisting of at least 20 questions.
• Each refresher should include at least 10 questions – pulling randomly from the test bank.
• Define a failure as scoring less than 80%.
• Everything should be due by the end of the month. No exceptions. If they don’t, its an assumed failure.
• If they fail, they must take either an in-person training or self-driven training and then complete the assessment with
the full test bank.
• If they fail multiple tests within a month – warning. If they fail multiple tests over multiple months – corrective action.
• Give people two chances to take and pass the test. Don’t show answers if they fail, but show what they got wrong.
• When they take it a second time, they will be presented with some different questions. Ensures they re-studied.
How to Launch Properly
Applications
Ideal Processes for Best Outcomes

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Use of Makerspaces
• Build a course with training content and partner with an in-
person training. The assessment could be based for
safety, understanding of the technology, and acting as a
owner. This helps validate “they know and accept the
rules and responsibilities of use”
Continued Education
• Build courses for job aids, how to use XYZ, etc. This will
allow less staff involvement unless a hands-on need is
identified. It can also open doors for people who are
uncomfortable asking for help and this gives them an
opportunity to learn independently.
How Can Patrons Use a LMS?
Applications
Patrons

57.
Heartbeat.Chat

58.
Discussion and
Questions
• Email: BPichman@evolveproject.org
• Twitter: @Bpichman