Action Group Updates
LOSDC Leveraging Strengths 2011 Strategic Action Goals
May 12, 2011
“Ubuntu ~ enable the community around you to improve”
-Nelson Mandela in video shown at LOSDC Understanding Differences session
The Library Organization and Staff Development Council, through our Leveraging Strengths Action Group, will lead an effort in 2011 that will produce noticeable results in individual, supervisor/supervisee, group, and organizational awareness of our unique strengths and ability to use them.
Success will look like the following, as assessed in December 2011 using our April 2011 baseline survey:
Individual self-awareness of strengths
· Increase All of them from 10% to 20%
· Increase Some of them from 31% to 50%
Staff members’ use of their strengths on the job
· Increase Most of them from 60% to 90%
· Increase Always from 4% to 10%
Effectiveness of the supervisor/supervisee relationship through awareness of strengths
· Supervisor awareness of supervisee strengths
o Increase All of them from 4% to 10%
o Increase Most of them from 20% to 50%
· Supervisee awareness of supervisor strengths
o Increase All of them from 1% to 10%
o Increase Most of them from 31% to 50%
Help groups better understand each other’s strengths
· Respondents’ team members knowledge of their strengths
o Increase All of them from 3% to 10%
o Increase Most of them from 20% to 50%
· Respondents’ knowledge of team members strengths
o Increase All of them from 2% to 10%
o Increase Most of them from 27% to 50%
Additional indicators of an increased use of strengths to be assessed in December 2011
· Increased use of strengths to create more effective groups ~ 50% of Library committees formed in October/December period considered strengths to balance different types of strengths.
· Increase staff feeling of engagement at work ~30% of staff should feel an improved feeling of engagement at work.
We conducted a pre-test in April 2011 which was completed by 61% of KU Libraries staff (102 out of 167). Most of our goals are targeted towards increasing these figures. We will do a post-test in December 2011.
We will obtain these goals through:
o Support introductory sessions to help staff identify their own strengths. This will involve support for KU HREO courses as well as sessions formed within the KU Libraries.
o Provide facilitated follow-up sessions to the initial workshops. These will be provided to Library units/teams who are interested in working on this as a team. In addition, we will provide these to other individuals in groups. We will work with each group to create and facilitate two to three monthly sessions with specific goals in mind.
o Develop sessions specifically for supervisors on how to support use of strengths by supervisees.
o We have begun to create an award winning LOSDC Leveraging Strengths Action Facilitation Group that will develop and nurture effective learning environments for our follow-up sessions.
o Provide resources to interested staff through a regularly updated Strengths LibGuide.
o Develop the sense of community and reinforce interests through a wiki where interested Library staff can share stories on their strengths.
o Dream up, develop and put on an appropriate session during the year to help the strengths program.
o Every action will have an assessment piece to help us better understand what works and what doesn’t.
LOSDC Leveraging Strengths Action Group: Mike Broadwell, Kim Glover, Curtis Marsh, Shawn Wade, and Lars Leon (chair).
Staff who are developing their knowledge with us to help with facilitation: Lanis Atwood, Bayliss Harsh.
Key consultants on campus: Kathleen Ames-Oliver and John Wade
April 8, 2011 Update
Pre-test grant survey ~ We had around 60% of all library staff respond to our survey. Thank you! We’ll share percentages with staff as part of our 2011 strategic plan.
2011 Strategic Plan ~ Our Action Group is about finished with our Strategic Plan which includes measurable objectives and the steps we see that need to be done to accomplish our goals. We will share this with staff by May 1.
Communication ~ General updates will be provided to all library staff through content included monthly in Monday Musings. Additional information will be maintained on this libguide. Staff who are participating in the follow-up sessions and/or are interested in learning more will have the opportunity to receive more regular, detailed information.
Initial workshops ~ A number of staff have completed some introductory workshops with KU HREO. In addition, our action group has sponsored our first Library team willing to help us test out this process on a group. Kim Glover and Mike Broadwell have also been working on a workshop for unclassified professionals as a professional development opportunity from LFPA (see below for more detail). We will support both attendance at future KU HREO workshops and coordinate some in the KU Libraries. We are waiting a little for the grant funds to be available and so our Action Group is prepared for library teams that want to proceed as a group.
Follow-up workshops ~ ---Our Leveraging Strengths Action Group is working with Kathleen Ames-Oliver and John Wade to develop our follow-up sessions with staff to help them think through applying what they learn in the intro session. This will include team/unit specific work as well as support for individuals from units that are not participating as a team in the process yet. This work will include helping supervisors and supervisees further develop understandings between them. Our Action Group is currently using April to prepare the content and ourselves to facilitate these sessions. We anticipate being able to start these sessions in May.
Resources available on this LibGuide
Initial sessions for unclassified professionals detail (Kim Glover)
Here is the scoop. I was tasked with coming up with a professional development opportunity for unclassified professionals as their LFPA rep so I sent out an e-mail asking unclassified professionals if they would be interested strength training. I got an overwhelming response that yes, they would be. We scheduled the training during spring break but not everyone could come so we sent out an open invitation for all groups and others signed up. Unfortunately our facilitator was really sick at that time so we had to reschedule for the two upcoming dates April 11th and 13th. We only have 20 books with the test code (provided by the dean) and they are all spoken for now.
Lars Leon
LOSDC Leveraging Strengths Action Group Chair, 4-3073, lleon@ku.edu
