I attended a Friday pre-conference presented by the well-known consultant duo, Joan Frye-Williams and George Needham. It was interesting and fast-paced – probably because Joan Frye-Williams drank at least 64 ounces of Diet Coke during the course of the day. No kidding!
We started out by answering the question “What, in your opinion, are the elements (attributes, ingredients) of an excellent library?" We sorted each answer according to whether it was a “Principle,” “Outcome,” or “Technique.” Principles are strategic, broad, big picture ideas like “An excellent library fosters a love of reading.” Outcomes are more focused results like “Children feel confident using the library.” Techniques are task oriented functions or activities like “The library offers 7 weekly storytimes for preschoolers.” Strategic planning centers around the principles and outcomes rather than the techniques.
The rest of the program involved learning their 4 step process for strategic planning which is as follows:
Step 1. Service assessment – The library determines what’s already going on in terms of service. Using quantitative and behavioral data, this should be a short process. Look for inconsistencies in what we’re saying we offer versus what we actually offer. For example, if we (or our mission statement) say that customer service is #1, then staff should be providing excellent customer service! Does our promise match our delivery? What are our strengths, room for improvement, unexplored opportunities?
Step 2. Community check-in – This involves the community in finding out what the community thinks about itself and where it sees itself going. We’ll be looking for answers to questions like What are the biggest challenges this community faces? What changes would you like to see in your neighborhood? What are our community’s greatest assets? These are not library survey questions, but rather questions that focus on the future of the community. By questioning the community, and movers and shakers in the community, we can form a community profile, determine common planning themes, a shared vision, and prospective partners. Personally, for me this was a really interesting part of the strategic planning process and I liked this way of gathering information.
Step 3. Decision-making context – This step is hard to explain. Basically the library decision maker(s) share the context through which they make decisions. It is imperative that they help staff/boards/City personnel understand what is driving their strategic thinking. For example, if there are budget or physical constraints, those must be explained. They should reveal what is being used to judge excellence. Also, decision makers should be looking for new opportunities by tracking trends and new techniques, as well as looking for “fresh practices” rather than “best practices” which by nature are already old news. The idea here is that the strategic thinking is the job of the library leaders and they get buy-in and trust by sharing their thinking processes. With buy-in and trust in place, the job of the professional/support staff then becomes creating and carrying out the techniques or "Work Plan" in order to implement the strategy. So, this step, though a bit fuzzy, is really important!
Step 4. Realignment – This last step involves the merging/realignment of what the community brings to the process such as vision for the future, plans, and aspirations with what the library brings to the process such as professional principles, knowledge of trends, tools, and techniques. The common ground becomes the Strategy. They suggest not trying to be all things to all people but having between 6-8 Principles that become the sweet spot for library services.
What was really good about doing this workshop right now is that since we just completed our SSP, I was really able to compare and contrast their strategic process with ours. Especially during the discussion of principles, outcomes, and techniques, I was clearly able to identify those items in our plan and came out with a stronger appreciation and understanding of our plan. That was worth the price of admission!!
Let me know if you have any questions about the workshop.
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