Author: Kathy Husser (Tempe)

Kathy Husser is a Tempe librarian and educator who enjoys travel and learning about our global cultures. With post pandemic traveling open up more and more, Kathy wants to share resources for family friendly getaways and fun trips to meet your vacation needs. She enjoys gardening, the outdoors and cooking too!

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career Library Jobs Library Leadership

Increasing Morale

library-leadership
Customers inside a busy library with engaged employees

With employee engagement estimated to be at all time low, meaning only 15% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work, increasing your team’s morale and involvement is so important to keep moving forward on a positive path for 2022. Here are a few tired and true methods to get your team’s mood lifted and fun happening to increase productivity and happiness.

Celebrate Everything

Whether it is monthly birthdays, new babies, graduations, or promotions, celebrating events builds connections and strong bonds with your team. Furthermore, increasing these relationships and building trust with leadership is the first step to increasing morale in work teams.

Not only does celebrating at work recognize people, but you will also learn more about employees’ likes, family life, and hobbies. Furthermore, building strong, trusting relationships is vital to a healthy work culture. Finally, increasing employee engagement is important in creating those foundational leadership steps with your team.

Dress Days

Even with remote work, dressing up with a certain theme in mind or in special attire can have such a positive impact.   Morale will increase and conversations will start with your colleagues about your attire. Think about establishing an entire week, Monday through Friday, as special dress up days. Name the week, “Spirit Week” or Wacky Week of Dress Up.”

Whatever gets employees geared up for fun! For example: sports teams on Monday, crazy socks on Tuesday, or your favorite TV or movie themes on Wednesday. You get the idea. Get creative and have some fun.

Finally, make every day in the office a celebration! You should consider hosting a week of special lunches with activities tied into your theme. You need to think about virtual work arounds if everyone is not together in the office. Your creativity is the limit!

Host a Staff Day

As discussed in January’s post, host a special day (or even a half day) devoted to professional development. Bring in free speakers from the surrounding community library or from other departments to speak.The topics should be chosen to make an impact on your staff. You need to think about pending health, safety, or new library policies to be introduced.

Consider introducing new technology, especially in our virtual world. This would be a great start, to then follow up with smaller trainings. Your team needs your leadership to be more involved and excited about work. Conduct a survey and understand what people want to learn before planning the day

You will discover a lot about your team, and they will thank you for creating the tradition of a designated Staff Day. For more career tips follow me at KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career Library Leadership

Keys to Success

Single hand holding a small book in a library.
Read up and start opening up your mind.

Are you stuck and just can’t seem to reach your goals? Do you feel overwhelmed and can’t move forward? Here are a few proven keys to success to reach your potential and goals. Let’s do this.  Life’s too short not to be all you can be!

See the Successful Moment

Research has proven that visualizing your success in your mind’s eye is key to getting there. What I’m talking about it is keeping your focus on the task or objectives to achieve to your goal. Just like the sprinter or skier can “see” themselves winning the race, you can too. Think about the steps needed to reach a successful goal and see yourself reaching it. It’s really that easy.

Keeping Emotions in Check

Another key to visualizing success is to keep your emotions in check. Just like overconfident athletes or celebrities have done, don’t celebrate BEFORE your win. Keeping a cool, calm head during a situation is the best path for a successful outcome.

Keeping your focus and a calm demeanor will take you much farther toward achieving your goals. It also keeps you resilient if things don’t go your way.  Finally, if I could only offer two tips, it would be focus and regulating your emotions for effective performance.

Mentors

In addition, finding a trusted mentor along the way for support is also important. Having feedback from another expert in your field or sport is very valuable for implementation and achievement. The integrity of your mentor and the relationship you have with them is also very valuable.

Be leery of people wanting to get too close to you too soon. You will know the right mentor and find a common connection easily. Your conversations should be natural, and there should be “give and take” for a mutually beneficially mentorship.

Find an Outlet

Just like star athletes need down time, so do you! Don’t allow work or other professional interests to rule your life. You need balance. Finding an outlet to relieve stress from your day-to-day work or training is very important. For example, a pet, a hobby, or other passion project will provide necessary balance in your life. Balance allows your mind freedom to wonder and “take a break” to rest up for the next challenge.

Using these techniques to visualize and achieve your goals is not easy. However, practiced every day, it’s very doable! Follow me for  more career and lifestyle advice at: KathyHusserTempe.com

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career Library Leadership

Library Budgets

Customers in a busy library
Have a pulse on what customers want in the library.

Why a budget article in June when the budget is most likely done for the fiscal year?  I want you to think about all the changes and budget shifts likely to come in the next six months. Covid is still present. Therefore, library budgets must be constantly prioritized. Here are some strategies to consider for your next budget process.

Staffing

Pre-pandemic foot traffic has not come back to libraries. In-person programs are still unsafe in some communities. A library leader must be thinking about utilizing their staff more efficiently, since libraries are in-person services.

You might ramp up virtual storytimes or teen programs. Consider reducing public hours to consolidate your labor budget. The minimum wage has increased in many states, so a shrinking budget is a reality. Get creative to have staff cross train and don’t rehire for vacant positions.

Collection Budget

With Ebooks and streaming movies exploding in use last year, increase your digital collection budget. This means you will most likely need to reduce your physical collection budget. This is a decision not taken lightly, due to access of computers, reading needs, and the demographics of your community. Think this through carefully.

However, taking small steps to increase digital offerings will increase your library team’s efficiency and safety. Ask other like-sized library systems their recommendation to get a feel for what your customers really want and need moving forward.

Rethink Equipment Needs

With the decrease in foot traffic, can replacement equipment be put on hold? Does the automatic sorter really need to be replaced or can it hold out another year or two? Put on your negotiator’s hat and work with your vendor to devise a budget that works for you.

In addition to equipment, think about scaling back on physical book supplies for mending and cataloging. Does the library have an outreach and events team with a budget? Economizing in every area will go a long way to balance the budget for the future.

Extending Library Services

Hear me out on this one. Libraries are unique and every community is little bit different. You need to consider internal partnerships that can share library staff (and salaries) and benefit your town.

This could be homeless services, mobile literacy services or senior care needs. Get creative to devise a plan that will utilize your library and staff and extend the library into the community.

Follow me on my personal site for more tips on living well at: KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career Health

Get More Time

Cropped Kathy Husser.png

Does time seem crunched as we get back to new routines in work and at home? Gaining more time is easy by changing habits and repeating them. Read on for ideas to streamline the new normal and gain more time for you! 

Get More Time Back at Work

 Manager tested tips to gain more time at work are as simple as blocking off your calendar or making task lists. Other time saving tips need more behavioral change from you to make the change and form a habit. Planning ahead the night before or tackling more challenging tasks first thing in the morning will give you a sense of accomplishment. Starting the day off with a win, no matter how small, will set you up for success.

Furthermore, plan for the unexpected everyday especially at work. What this looks like is making sure you have at least 15 minutes between meetings even online. Those buffers will help if you have unexpected responsibilities come up or need to take a call.

Feel More Relaxed at Home

At home, provide a buffer of time between commitments for the unexpected traffic jams or other mishaps. Tasks like picking up the kids or dentist appointments will leave you feeling more relaxed when you allow more time. In other words, over-estimate travel time, waiting in line, etc.  Also find the positive in your task, making it more enjoyable and less burdensome.

Finally, slow down and provide your attention to each task at hand, one at a time. Multi-tasking does not work since each responsibility gets half of your full attention. Even if you need to de-stress and take a quick walk outdoors to calm down, do it! Taking a few extra minutes to regain focus is much more important than driving recklessly or making a decision under duress.

Practice Saying No

Just because someone asks you to do something, does not mean you have to say yes. Practice saying no, to extra commitments that don’t bring you joy or help you with other goals. Some tasks like carpools and school are “must do’s.” However, that extra project at work, bake sale at church or dog sitting for neighbors can be negotiable.

Setting healthy boundaries will keep your most valuable resource, your time, more your own.  Try out a few “No’s” over the next few days or weeks and see what happens. You will thank yourself.  It becomes easier the more practice you give yourself.

Follow me for more tips on living well at KathyHusserTempe.com

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Librarian & Entrepreneurship Library Leadership

Library Partnerships

Graphic with the words Libraries are for Everyone

Entering the third year of the pandemic, no one saw the library industry changes coming. With in-person programs and events still uncertain, how do library partnerships evolve?  Read on for tips your team can use to thrive with change. During and after Covid, libraries will need to bounce back and be relevant with programs more than ever before.

Virtual meetings

As the pandemic drags on, your library should be in regular contact with your community partners. Zoom and Teams should be your best friend, to connect with leaders and your stakeholders. School Districts, Civic and other organizations have varying levels of safety protocols. Always error on the side of caution and meet up virtually with your partners.

Keep in touch with mutual goals, benchmarks, or patron data that might need analyzing. “Back to normal” might never happen, so keeping abreast of your partners’ new goals and interests is key right now.

Attend annual events safely

If the virus is not a threat in your community and you can safety attend in-person annual events, do it!  Nothing takes the place of “face time” and meeting with your partners. This also applies to new partners your library was cultivating before the pandemic.

Keeping the pipeline full of potential new partners with similar community goals is vital especially now. Think beyond your normal partnerships and look at new bonds you can form.  Is there a new literacy organization or an arm from the American Rescue Plan that would work with your library’s strategic plan? Now is the time to get creative and seek these groups out.

Seek Out New Partners

Like pre-pandemic, your team will still need to reach out and connect with new schools, faith-based organizations, and other partners. With the building quieter and less foot traffic, meet with internal departments in your city or university to find common ground.

Does the city need a new recreation space or social service? This might be the lifeline the library needs to provide a needed service for the community. Libraries are now providing onsite Covid testing and take-home tests. Don’t leave anything off the table if your library can support a needed service now.

Getting a jump start on new partnerships and maintaining current ones should be library leadership’s priority. It’s never too late to have alternative plans ready if your senior leadership needs the library to expand services. Be ready and be prepared, especially during this time of post pandemic usage.

Follow me on my personal site at for tips at: KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career Health

Decision Making

Cropped Kathy Husser.png

Ever wonder how some people make big life changing decisions so easily? Do you struggle taking the first step for a life-changing decision?  Read on for tips to make the decision-making process a bit easier and less daunting.

Do Your Research

Doing your research should be the first step in any decision, big or small. You don’t need anything complicated but learning the facts regarding your decision is very important. For example, understanding the cost of your first pet, before you adopt one. Learning about the company before you accept that job offer. Some things you are not able to learn, until you are in the situation, such as work culture.

However, asking questions of various contacts in the network of your decision is research.  Do as much as possible for a well-informed decision.

Consider Your Expectations

Next, what are your expectations for the outcome of your decision? What do you envision after you make the decision to change jobs, have a child, or move across country? You need to keep your expectations in check. You also need to realize that nothing will be perfect after your decision is made.

Blind spots are just that, you don’t know what you don’t know. Understand that your support system is so important to have objective eyes on your situation.  You need to receive feedback for a “reality check” before you make that decision. Be open to receiving feedback from those you trust.

Stuck?

If you are not able to make a decision, then don’t. No action is a decision, and the status quo is sometimes better than making an even worst mistake. You might be experiencing a greater block, such as depression. Making no major decisions while in this state is recommended since you are unable to distinguish facts from feelings.

You might need to seek out a counselor for help. Getting enough sleep, avoiding alcohol, and learning about your vulnerabilities will help you understand your mental state.  Seek out help before you act upon a decision. Finally, understanding that you are not in the right frame of mind to decide is so important before any choice. What big decision have you made this year? Share your thoughts at: KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career Travel

Remote Working Vacations

Yellowstone Lake - Nature is rejuvenating
Wishing you calm and happiness this season

With Covid still present worldwide and work being more flexible, think about taking a remote working vacation this year. What better way to take advantage of your time and see the world while enjoying remote work.  Below are the top spots to enjoy a trip and still easily work remotely. Even if you’ve never tried a working vacation, the pandemic has shown us, “never to say never.”

Think Big

With the ease of Wi-Fi connectivity worldwide, your imagination is the only thing stopping you from your next holiday. Of course, larger cities in the United States such as Phoenix, San Diego and New York rank very high in Wi-Fi reliability. So now think about overseas locations that would provide a life changing vacation and still allow you to work.

German based company, Holidu has ranked the best cities, so check out your dream trip before summer rolls around. Bangkok, Thailand and Barcelona, Spain rank high for overseas vacation workers. So, take the time to check out other destinations that meet your needs.

Time Balance

This goes without saying, that you’re on vacation but you are working, so balance is key. Think ahead about how your typical week will be planned out. With time zones, will you be checking email at 2AM or have enough time during your day. Think through current large projects, budget deadlines or other timelines that need extra attention.

Book a trip during a time that won’t require extra work or constant attention while away.  Have a list of activities to check out before you leave.  You are in a new city or foreign country so take advantage of your time and see the sites.

Legal Guidelines

If you are thinking you’d like to stay longer than a few weeks in your vacation locale, ask your company. There are tax implications, residency issues, and visa requirements if you work longer than a few weeks. This varies by country and most importantly by your organization’s HR rules. Know ahead of time how long you can stay before you encounter any legal issues or tax questions.

Asking a few questions of your employer before you venture out is a great way to start a new trend in vacations. Take advantage of remote working and see the world at the same time. Safe Travels! Check out my personal site for more travel ideas: KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career Library Jobs Library Leadership

Strategic Plans

Have an agenda and your goals will be accomplished
Have a plan and keep refining for success.

SWOT analysis was covered in a previous post as the first step in creating strategic plans. If you are new to library planning or directorship, read on for simple tips to get started in strategic planning.

Six Components of a Strategic Plan

The six components needed for a robust library strategic plan are:

  1. A Vision Statement – usually taken from your organization, university, or city
  2. Core Values – your organization adheres too and embodies for your community
  3. Culture and Behaviors – need to be intertwined in the plan from the overarching values
  4. Themes from Data – need to be addressed from focus groups and surveys
  5. Timeframe Established – with deadlines to gauge results and outcomes of the plan
  6. Metrics – to provide feedback and business results for the effectiveness of the plan

Gain Support

Gaining the support of Human Resources and senior leadership is so important. This will enable your library to further explain the “why” behind the strategic plan. Your library will gain valuable partnerships. Furthermore, your success will determine having the backing of HR and your staff to see your vision behind the objectives. You need to start a year in advance with informational meetings with managers and partners involved.

Partners 

The Library Friends, Board and managers need to have all the information and the projected timeline for the plan. Again, you need to gain support before you invite focus groups or engage with the SWOT analysis for staff.

Your first job is to engage your senior leadership, so they understand the importance of your intended road map. Having an objective for EDI, professional development, community goals is important.

Data Mining

After gaining support and hosting focus groups and surveys, you need to develop a committee to mine the data. You will gain valuable knowledge about needs, wants and goals for your plan. Next, develop objectives, timelines, and metrics for the plan objectives. Taking the necessary time to dig into the weeds is important. Data will be different depending upon the goal and result.

However, don’t let personal interests or “sacred cows” drive the strategic plan. Your leadership is most important here, to establish measurable outcomes that impact your community.

Follow Up and Feedback

Finally, after your strategic plan is approved, you need to implement and measure the results. These last steps are as important as the planning stages. You need to measure your objectives.

Questions to consider:

  • How did new software impact our customers?
  • Was the extra expense in personnel provide improved (and improved) access?  Measure it.
  • What was the outcome of the increased Wi-Fi in the building? Include raw data and narratives.

Again, feedback and results will need to be analyzed for success and moving forward. A strategic plan, especially during Covid, is a fluid document. Remaining flexible is my best advice.

Furthermore, a Library Director needs to have the vision and leadership to handle anything. A strategic plan gives you that roadmap to help lead and plan for the future. Best of luck!

Tell me how your strategic planning is moving forward during this challenging time. Please share your successes at: KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career Library Leadership

SWOT Analysis

Leadership written in blue and hand writing the word visible.

 

S.W.O.T. Analysis in business is an important road map to keep an organization on track to achieve goals. What about nonprofits, like libraries, how do you create a simple S.W.O.T. analysis to help plan? Read on for a framework and effective ideas to get you started.

S.W.O.T. Analysis Provide Gaps

The first step in any project or plan is determining the gaps in where you need to go versus where you are now. Simply stated, performing a gap or S.W.O.T. analysis will help determine the course of your plan. Questions to ask your leadership team are:

  1. What are long term goals needed to achieve?
  2. How will the organization get to the results?
  3. What are the strengths of the organization?
  4. What are the threats to achieving those goals?

Furthermore, these simple questions, asked of your senior managers, stakeholders, and community partners will set the stage for the next step. Interviews and focus groups also help facilitate healthy conversation and generate new ideas from many areas.

Analyze the Feedback

Take the data from your analysis and mine for common themes. Data, along with the feedback from those involved in the plan will form the framework. Having a few key stakeholders or small committee that can enact the plan, should be the data miners.

In addition, these folks know the limitations of the organization and the resources available. Gain political support, if resources are tight. This helps you determine a draft plan to help with potential initiatives and outcomes.  However, no idea is out of the question, so get creative using the feedback.

Write it Down

When the direction of the analysis is determined, then mangers need to decide on objectives and strategies to create a map for the results. Sometimes this looks like a laundry list of items to check off.

And other times, the plan is inspirational and carries work culture themes, morale and development goals. The beauty of a SWOT analysis is that no one, is the same. You determine the course along with your stakeholders.

I’ve worked for libraries and businesses with 32-page plans and others with 2 pages of step-by step-needs. There is no perfect length or format.

Create Deadlines

Finally, the results need to have a timeline. Even inspirational plans will have objectives to meet the goal of increasing morale. For example, by December 2022 the team will have published and approved a “Culture Code” of respectful behaviors for our customers and colleagues. However, defined deadlines and goals are more likely to be achieved if people are held accountable.

Finally, it’s up to you as a leader to determine what needs to happen and what will work for your organization. Start the year off right and start formulating a strategic plan  from your SWOT analysis for your work group. Look for the next published article for more details on an effective library strategic plan.

Check out my personal site for more useful tips on living well at: KathyHusserTempe.com

Categories
career

Remote Working

Have an agenda and your goals will be accomplished
Have a plan and keep refining for success.

Staying focused and engaged while working remotely might be a challenge to some. Others find remote work the best advantage of navigating a global pandemic. Read on for easy habits to make remote working manageable and encourage a healthier lifestyle for you and your family. 

Be Mindful

Being mindful is a simple concept, and basically you need to be in the moment. Easier said than done sometimes, especially if you are also homeschooling or have other responsibilities. You need to complete one commitment or task at a time. Be mindful of priorities throughout your day. In addition, turn off your brain at night. Being mindful and doing a “brain dump” at night is essential. I’m talking about emptying your negative thoughts each night before bed. This will go a long way for a healthy mind and body for the next day.

Find a Passion

Is your job your passion?  You are not alone; many people say, no, not really! If you need a passion or purpose to wake up in the morning, find one. Many workers at home are finding other outlets to offset the lack of a passionate connection to their work. Think about art, a pet, or some even work two jobs.  This sounds incredible, but many have success at two jobs to help with remote work engagement and financial security. I am not asking you to go find another remote job. I am advocating that you need another outlet for happiness other than your work. Go out there and find it.

Set Boundaries

Going into an office, your work hours, business tasks, and lunch breaks are dictated. Depending upon your company, you are the one to decide when tasks and emails get done. Setting healthy boundaries for your work hours, answering emails, and taking time for yourself is crucial. No one at home will tell you when to eat, take a break, or get off email. You need to decide a sound schedule and stick to it. Self-care is so important as we have less socialization with remote working during the pandemic.

Be Flexible

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that remaining flexible and open to new opportunities is beneficial. Having clear expectations from your employer is needed. However, resilient workers who are positive, and see problems as challenges are happier. You make more sound decisions, and you can handle difficult situations better when you’re flexible.

Take some time and find new ways to help grow in your remote job and let me know how it’s going.