Don’t miss Ken Haycock’s new blog focusing on all aspects of library leadership:
http://www.kenhaycock.com/kens-blog.html
Here’s a bit of a recent post on “Building A Better Manager:”
How do you determine what makes a great branch manager? The results would be fairly obvious, I suspect… along the lines of have a clear vision and strategy for your team, help staff with career development, be productive and results-oriented… All standard stuff.
Well, Google found the same results but they took a more methodical approach. How many of us stop to actually analyze those performance reviews, feedback surveys, and nominations for manager awards? Google correlated phrases, words, praise and complaints. They found, through their Project Oxygen, that, for example, technical expertise was less important (indeed, dead last) than being accessible.
It would be interesting to undertake a systematic study of an urban library to see if their results would be any different from Google. Imagine the potential for strategic human resources management, including selection and staff development.
I was lucky to work with Ken a bit this year and have learned much from him. Please add his blog to your reader.