1. Today's Tomorrow
Shared Vision and Collaboration
Anthony Chow, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
August 7, 2012
2. Dreaming of a better place
• My mother and father were born during WWII
• My grandfather was only one of 500 Chinese
allowed in the US
• My father-in-law was a Marine in both Korea
and Vietnam
• All dreamt and fought for and an envisioned a
better future
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3. My leadership perspective
• Quarterback of my high school football team
• Marine Corps Officer Candidate
• Youngest candidate for SF School Board
• Government Training Manager
• Internet Training Manager
• Director of Online Learning
• Director of Information Technology
• Coach
• Taught Leadership at both the graduate and undergraduate
level for the past 12 years
• Most importantly – husband of my high school sweet of 26
years with three great (sometimes difficult) kids!
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4. What will the libraries of tomorrow
look like?
Seattle Public Library
Boston Public Library
UC San Diego’s Geisel Library
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5. How do we know how to prepare for
the future?
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6. Handling rapid change
• The needs of users are growing quickly
– CPCC goals
– Staff needs
– Student/Faculty needs
– CPCC libraries must align with your changing environment
• National trends (IL, Databases, Instruction, Marketing)
• A strategic plan
• Needs assessment
• Constant staff/patron feedback
• Refine as needed (the conversation is half the battle)
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7. People Meeting the Needs
of Other People •Interviews
•Strategic plans
•Data
Orange
County City Goals
Goals
Orange County
Community Libraries Educational
Goals Goals
Library
Administration
and Staff
•Interviews
•Surveys
What are the libraries of
•Focus Groups
•Data
the future?
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8. Happy employees, happy customers
• 3+12+4
– Three secrets of exemplary customer service
• Decide what you want (establish a vision of ideal
customer service)
• Discover what customers want (this is an individual
relationship – different folks, different needs)
• Deliver +1 (consistency, flexibility, personalized service
(get to know them as people)
(Blanchard & Bowles, 1993)
Ken Blanchard
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10. Happy employees, happy customers
• 3+12+4
– Groundbreaking research by Gallup
• 80,000 managers worldwide
• World class managers focus on their employees
• Happy employees, happy customers
• Focus on strengths not weaknesses
• You can’t change people but you can change the job
• Align strengths with day-to-day tasks and job
• Focus on ends not means
• Inside Out approach
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11. The 12 Questions
• 1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
• 2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
• 3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
• 4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
• 5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
• 6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
• 7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
• 8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
• 9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
• 10. Do I have a best friend at work?
• 11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
• 12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
From First, Break All the Rules, What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus
Buckingham & Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999.
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12. 4 Master Keys
3+12+4:
1. Select for talent (not experience)
2. Define the right outcomes (not process)
3. Focus on strengths (not weaknesses)
4. Find the Right Fit (not the “perfect”
employee)
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14. Communication and working well as
a team
• Central tenets
1. Different perspectives help “complete” the whole
picture
2. Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing
3. What works for you will not work for everyone else
4. Seeing “eye-to-eye” means respecting individual
differences emphasizing outcomes and not the
pathways of getting there
5. Continuous improvement – you can learn new
“tricks” no matter how old of a dog you are!
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15. Things YOU can do
• Do not take “it” personal
• Do not talk bad about others – talk differences in
ideas and personalities and not people
• Identify the right outcomes and measure it
• Establish “norms” that reflect individuality not
“cookie cutter” robots
• Accept each other for who they are and not what
you want them to be
• Get to know each other (personally and
professionally)
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16. The cup is always half-full
• Embrace “problems” and
“frustrations” as learning
and growing opportunities.
• Differences reflect diversity
which is very healthy
• Respect others’ perspectives
on things – you don’t have
to do it “their” way and they
don’t have to do it “your”
way.
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17. Things you can do as a team
• Align ends, means, and processes through a strategic plan
• Have fun and socialize a lot with one another (you spend
most of your waking hours at work!)
• Allow similarities and common vision and goals to define
you – not your differences (norm them)
• Individualize your services at the point-of-contact –
listening and talking to them about who they are and not
what they are there for
• Focus on people and not transactions and getting things
done
• Continuously discuss, process, and grow
• “Inspect what you expect.”
• You can’t change people, you can change yourself
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18. The role of conflict resolution in
predicting group outcomes
(Behfar & Peterson, 2008)
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19. What do library administrators have to
say about library leadership and
management?
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20. Interviews with NC library
administrators
Library Administrator Ideal Qualities (n=109)
5%
5%
14%
41% Empathy
Vision
Communication
Flexibility
14% Delegation
Integrity
21%
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22. Administrator Primary Tasks by Library
25
20
Building
Human Resources
15 Service to users/Programming
Setting Vision/Goals
Budget/Financial
10
Collection Management
Represent Library
Meetings
5
Supervise Staff
Business Operations
Assessment
0
academic public school media special
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23. What does it all mean?
• 3 + 12 + 4
• Know what you
want
• Discover what
your patrons want
• Deliver
consistently
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24. Organizational Management
• Needs Assessment
• Strategic Planning
• Analytics and Informatics
• Invest in staff with clear goals and
resources, continuously improve with
internal/external customer feedback.
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25. A Strategic Future
• Contributing to the future success of people
and our nation
• Your success is paramount - You succeed, they
succeed
• 3+12+4
• What is my life’s motto?
“Make your own luck – envision the future you
want and don’t quit until you get it….”
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