Using Change Management to Transform Your Library - March 2017

Using Change Management to
Transform Your Library
Catherine B. Soehner
University of Utah
catherine.soehner@utah.edu
March 8, 2017

J. Willard Marriott Library
Outline
 My background
 Literature on Organizational Change
 Commonalities
 Translation to Real Experience
 Individual Change
Photo by mkarsakov. CC-BYNCSA

My Background

National Library of Medicine
Photos by Elizabeth Skene and Accretion Disc. (CC-BY)

University of California, Santa Cruz
Photos from http://library.ucsc.edu/science and http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

University of Michigan
Photos by Mlibrary and Rachel S. Goldman

University of Utah
Photo by Catherine Soehner, CC BY-ND 2.0

What type of library do you work in?
• Academic
• Public
• School
• Government
• Special – Private Company
• Other_________

Literature on Organizational Change
Unshelved. Used with permission.

Four Articles/Book Chapters
Eckel, Peter, Green, M., Hill, B., & Mallon, W. (1999). On Change III -
Taking Charge of Change: A Primer for Colleges and Universities.
Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education.
Kotter, John. "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.” HBR
Articles, 2007: 1-10.
Hanleybrown, Fay, John Kania, and Mark Kramer.
“Channeling change: Making collective impact work.” Stanford Social
Innovation Review 20 (2012): 1-8.
Judge, William Q., R. Steven Terrell.
“Navigating the White Water of Organization-Wide Change.” Chapter 4,
51-72. In: Carter, Louis. Change Champion’s Field Guide: Strategies
and Tools for Leading Change in Your Organization (2nd
Edition) : John
Wiley & Sons.

Common Features
Eckel, et.al.
•Create the Context
•Lead with Teams
•Develop Change
Strategies
•Engage the Campus
Community
•Deploy Resources
•Provide Evidence of
Change
Kotter; and Judge & Terrell
•Create Urgency
•Form a Powerful
Guiding Coalition
•Create a Vision
•Communicate the
Vision
•Empower Others to
Act
•Plan for and Create Short-
term Wins
•Consolidate Improvements
•Institutionalize New
Approaches
Hanleybrown, et.al.
•Backbone Support
•Common Agenda
•Continuous
Communication
•Mutually Reinforcing
Activities
•Shared Measurement
Hat tip to Estella Lopez for this table.

J. Willard Marriott Library Judge, William Q., R. Steven Terrell. “Navigating the White
Water of Organization-Wide Change.”
…sometimes those leading change become
too focused on
others changing and adapting
without considering how they must
change and adapt themselves.

Self Reflection
Stone, Douglas, and Sheila Heen.
Thanks for the feedback: The science
and art of receiving feedback well.
Penguin UK, 2014.
Oshry, Barry.
The possibilities of organization.
Power & Systems Training, 1992.

Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen
 Recognizing our Blind Spots
 Rejecting Feedback
 Shift from “That’s just wrong” to “Tell me
more”

Blind Spots
Sometimes feedback that we know is wrong
really is wrong.
And sometimes, it’s just feedback in
our blind spot.
--Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen

Rejecting Feedback
I don’t know what’s going on!

Tell me more
Move from “That’s just wrong” to
“Tell me more.”
--Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen

Poll: Blind Spots
How many of you recognize blind spots in
others?
•Yes
•No
What are those blind spots?
Anger, ego, always right, lack of diplomacy, insecurity,
consistently misses appointments, others?

Poll: Professional Identity
Select aspects of your professional identity.
•Competent
•Good communicator
•Conscientious
•Prepared
•Compassionate
•Good listener
•Others?

Barry Oshry
 Typical = Internal Warfare
 People respond based on their place in
the organizational structure

Bottoms
 We see negative conditions
 We believe others (higher ups) could fix
these conditions if they chose to
 And, they don’t
 We hold the higher-ups responsible for
what is wrong
 Leads to a sense of oppression

Middles
 Between two or more people in the
organization who are in disagreement
 Or have differing priorities or perspectives
 One or more parties is pulling us into the
middle
 We slide into the middle of other people’s
issues and conflicts
 We make their issues our issues

Tops
 We are responsible for some operation or
a piece of it
 It is complex
 We suck up all responsibility to ourselves
and away from others
 Leads to feeling burdened

Poll: Your place in the organization
Which place in the organization do you
identify with most?
• Top
• Middle
• Bottom

The Way Out
 Individual choices
 Recognize how we contribute
 Freedom to act differently
Hope = Partnership

Translation to a Real Experience

Article
Kotter, J. P. (2007).
Leading change-why transformation efforts
fail. HBR Articles, 1-10.

Kotter’s 8 Stages
1. Establish a sense of urgency
2. Form a powerful guiding coalition
3. Create a vision
4. Communicate the vision
5. Empower others to act on the vision
6. Plan for and create short-term wins
7. Consolidate improvements and produce more
change
8. Institutionalize new approaches

Background
University of Utah
•Public institution in Salt Lake City
•32,000 students
Marriott Library
•150 full-time employees
•Two IT departments: “Library IT” and
“Computing and Media Services”
•IT departments: total of 43 employees

Is it working?
 Duplicate processes and servers
 Desire to increase our digital library efforts

Feedback
 Open invitation to meet with
Associate Deans
 Small group meetings
 Individual meetings
Photo by: Highways Agency CC-BY

SWOT Analysis
 Weaknesses
o Work across organizational lines is difficult
o Very little transparency
o Lack of coordination
 Threats
o Duplication of efforts
o Desire to build everything ourselves
o Technology is changing rapidly

Step 1: Establish a Sense of Urgency
Photo by Lauren Currie. Used with permission.

Step 2:
Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition
Photo from The University of Utah – Athletics collection.

Step 3: Create a Vision
Photo by Catherine Soehner, CC BY-ND

Observations
 Managers are not always capable of
leadership
 “You’re not listening to us!”
 More communication!
 Blunt conversations are sometimes
necessary

Leadership
A paralyzed senior management often
comes from having too many managers
and not enough leaders…
--John P. Kotter
Photo by Critter, CC BY-SA

“You’re not listening to us!”
We are listening.
We just disagree.

Communicate Even More
 Sense of Urgency
 Vision
Without credible communication,
and a lot of it,
the hearts and minds of the troops
are never captured.
--John P. Kotter

How many of you have implemented a
change very well, did many of the things that
we have talked about, and still found that
there was at least
one person
who continued to
resist the change?

“Resistance is Futile”
--The Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Photo by Nathan Rupert CC-BYNCND

Blunt Conversations
Move from
Selling
To
Telling
--Peter Bromberg

Blunt Conversations
I understand what you are saying. I hear that you still have
concerns. I just disagree that those concerns will be
devastating. And,
Unfortunately for you
I’m in charge.

Individual Change
 Our organizations are made up of
individuals.
 Our ability to work with individuals to help
them succeed is pivotal.
 Often involves conflict.
Photo by Amy McTigue CC-BYND

Types of Difficult Conversations
You are not performing adequately.
I need you to do something you don’t want to do.
I need you to stop doing something you like to do.
Maybe something you feel entitled to do.
Privately confront a resister to change. (Judge & Terrell)

How many of you would rather do anything
else than have a difficult conversation with a
“difficult employee?”

Soehner, Catherine and Ann Darling.
Effective difficult conversations : a step-
by-step guide. Chicago : ALA Editions 2017.

A Productive Difficult Conversation
 Preparation
Get Clear
Gather Resources
Clarify your Message(s)
 During the conversation
State the Facts
Ask
Listen
Engage to Understand
Explore options
Pay Attention
 After the Conversation
Write it up
Keep it up

Preparation – Get Clear
 Why do you need to have
this conversation?
 Why do you need to have
this conversation now?
 What might happen if you
don’t have this
conversation? Photo by Fabiola Medeiros. CC-BY

Preparation – Gather Resources
 Relevant documentation
 Consult other people
 Personal information
Photo by Anne G. CC-BYNCSA

Prep – Clarify Your Message(s)
 What do you need to make sure is clear to this
person?
 Facts of the situation
 Your expectations of them
 Have you considered your emotions?
 Keep message(s) to a minimum
 Be Direct and Compassionate
 Think about potential options

During the Conversation –
State the Facts
Avoid:
 It has come to my
attention
 Always and never
 Imputing motive
Photo by _andrew. CC-BYNC

Ask
 “So, tell me what you think about this.”
 “Tell me more about this from your perspective.”
 “I want to understand your position, so tell me
about your point of view.”

Listen
Photo by Jonathan Powell. CC-BY

Engage to Understand
 Tell me more, repeat back.
 They will immediately clarify.
 The point = the other person feels heard.
 Ask, “Is that right? Is there anything else?”

Explore Options
 I want you to succeed. Let’s work together.
 What options are available that help this person
meet expectations that are still ok with you?
 Options that work best for both parties.

Pay attention
 Limit small talk.
 Limit distractions.
 Use immediacy cues.
 Manage time.

After the Conversation –
Write it up
 Thank you
 The facts and the expectations
 Anything the employee agreed to do
 Anything that you agreed to do
 Correct any misunderstandings
 By a particular date
 Keep Human Resources in the loop

After the Conversation –
Keep it up
 Keep up appointments and write up the content
 Establish a pattern
 Talk to Human Resources
 If continued non-compliance, begin disciplinary
action after talking to Human Resources

Conclusions
 Flexibility is important
 Have a real reason to change
 Communicate even more
 Individual conversations
Photo by Chrissy Wainwright, CC BY-NC 2.0

Thank you
 Ann Darling, Department of Communication, Office
of Undergraduate Studies
 Ann Marie Breznay, Interim Associate Dean for
Library IT, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah
 Melanie Hawks, Organizational Development
Manager, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah
 Teri Olsen, Director of Project Development,
Innovation and Collaboration, University of Utah Health
Care, University of Utah

Questions?
Catherine B. Soehner
University of Utah, catherine.soehner@utah.edu
Photo by U-EET. Used with permission.

Using Change Management to Transform Your Library - March 2017

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Using Change Management to Transform Your Library - March 2017