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5856 results in Facet Publishing

Page 121 of 293

  • 29 - Team meetings

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 68-70

  • Summary

    AS MANAGERS OR supervisors of LKS teams you will be regularly involved in formal, scheduled meetings as part of the day-to-day running of the service. These could be meetings with other LKS staff or alternatively with stakeholders or users of your service, examples of which are management meetings, user group meetings or health and safety meetings (ILM, 2007).

    This Tip focuses on group meetings (one-to-one meetings are discussed in Tip 26, p. 61) and we will consider how you can make the most of these meetings by organizing them and facilitating them effectively. Love them or not, meetings are an essential part of managing your teams and provide the opportunity for you to communicate with them to track progress against organizational objectives, complete and allocate work, address any issues or deliver information to the group. ILM (2007) suggest that team meetings have a range of purposes, including communicating information, management control, decision making and solving problems.

    For a meeting to be successful it is essential that attendees understand the purpose of the meeting and a good way of doing this is to agree these beforehand and record them in the terms of reference. Terms of reference provide clarity about the purpose of the meeting, how it will run, where it will take place, who needs to attend and frequency. Establishing a clear purpose at the outset provides a shared vision and identity for the team. A well conducted meeting will be well prepared and people should know what they need to bring and whether they will have any specific roles, e.g. Chair, minute taker or participant. An agenda which includes timings for the meeting, minutes of the previous meeting, an action log and any additional reading should be distributed in advance and any questions for discussion will ensure that attendees can adequately prepare and contribute (ILM, 2007).

    Meetings should be linked to LKS plans, be regularly monitored and should be collaborative and participative. Mind Tools (2016) indicate that a successful meeting will leave people feeling energized, as the meeting objective was accomplished, it was not too long and a clear process was followed.

  • 83 - Time management tools

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 216-219

  • Summary

    Time management tools

    THERE ARE A wide range of tools and techniques that are referenced both on the internet and in the literature which you can use with your teams and individuals to make the best use of time and improve productivity. This Tip cannot cover everything – there are 61 tools listed on the Mind Tools (2016a) website alone – but it will introduce some key techniques and resources to suit a range of needs, circumstances and preferences. This will help you and your teams become more organized, remove stressors and improve productivity.

    If you have an individual who is struggling with managing their workload, feels overwhelmed and misses deadlines, you should help them to identify the work that they have to do before they can start the task of getting organized. It is worth bearing in mind that this preparation phase can be time consuming, so you will need to make sure that the individual has some time put aside to get to grips with what needs to be done. A number of techniques and templates are listed on the Mind Tools (2016a) and Business Balls (Chapman, 2016) websites, which you can use with team members to help them to identify their pressure points.

    The Eisenhower principle

    The Eisenhower principle (Mind Tools, 2016b) is useful to help identify and prioritize all tasks. The name originates from President Eisenhower's approach to task management. In his 1954 speech Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches he quoted Dr J Roscoe Miller ‘I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent’ (Mind Tools, 2016b). This simple technique can be really useful for those who feel over whelmed with the amount of work that they have to do which may impact on their productivity. Initially, create a full list of all tasks activities and then place each task into one of the four categories shown in Figure 83.1.

    Once the most important and urgent tasks have been identified, these can be added to the to-do list and scheduled in order of importance. Other tasks can be scheduled for a later date, delegated to others or removed from the list altogether.

  • 32 - Exit interviews

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 74-77

  • Summary

    AN EXIT INTERVIEW occurs when an employee has handed in their notice. It is an opportunity for you to formally obtain structured feedback from them about your performance as a manager, their working environment and any other issues which may have contributed to their reasons for leaving (Schachter, 2005).

    It is good practice to offer all employees who leave your service the opportunity to have an exit interview before their final day; ideally this should be arranged as soon as they hand in their notice. Most organizations will have a procedure or policy to guide you through the process (Schachter, 2005), so in the first instance contact your HR or Personnel department to find the relevant documentation. If your organization does not provide guidance, use the following tips and resources to develop your own process.

    The exit interview provides the employee with the opportunity to feed back to you retrospectively about:

  • • their experience of working in the LKS

  • • their reasons for leaving the job

  • • their experiences of the working environment

  • • their perceptions of leadership

  • • any ‘tacit’ knowledge or information which they hold which is valuable to your service

  • • any issues or problems that they have encountered whilst working within the service.

    • As an employer, you can use this information to:

  • • learn lessons about why people are leaving

  • • ensure that any issues identified, which are within your control, are included in your LKS plan

  • • improve the recruitment process for new staff

  • • make changes which will benefit the remaining team

  • • reduce high turnover of staff and loss of talent from your service

  • • log and retain ‘tacit’ knowledge of outgoing staff to ensure effective handover and service delivery

  • • reduce the costs of recruitment for the organization (CIPD, 2006)

  • • demonstrate to your team that you are interested in them and prepared to make improvements (Schachter, 2005).

    • Reder (2013) indicates that in order for a successful exit strategy to be incorporated into your LKS a number of factors should be considered. The exit interview is a voluntary option but you should encourage outgoing employees to attend. As with any interview or meeting, it is important to arrange a time and place which suits the employee and ensures they are comfortable, to allow an honest and open discussion.

  • 30 - Sharing learning with the team

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 70-72

  • Summary

    ONE OF THE best ways to learn is to know the subject well enough to share it with others. Often the biggest loss in the workplace is that we send one person to a training event but the learning stays with them and is not shared with the rest of the team. There might be some chat about it but there is nothing structured which helps people to really take hold of the new ideas and think about how they might use or implement them into their workplace. The products of learning not only make teams more effective, the process of learning can be team-building. Teams capture, formalize and capitalize expertise on behalf of the organization and by doing so knowledge becomes shared and less dependent on individuals who may leave the organization.

    Managers have a fundamental role in ensuring that any learning gained by team members should be shared with the team. There are a number of steps which help this process:

  • • Before the event discuss what is expected, both in terms of what the participant expects to gain from the event, but also in terms of how they will share it on return to the team.

  • • After the event discuss how it went. What were the main learning points? What did they feel might be useful to the workplace or team? What ideas do they have about how the learning might be implemented?

  • • Set up a means by which the learning can be shared. Is it appropriate to cascade the learning or elements of it as ‘mini’ events? Is it something which should be shared in a team meeting? How will it best be structured?

  • • Set a period of time during which the individual can assimilate the learning and agree how and when they will be ready to share it.

    • If this process becomes part of the culture of the team, everyone knows what will be expected of them if they were the one lucky enough to be selected to attend. Even if it is just through team meetings, the sharing and discussion which follows can be invaluable. Perhaps have ‘learning events attended’ as a standing item on your agenda so no events get missed.

  • 90 - Visits

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 240-242

  • Summary

    Visits

    UNDERTAKING AND HOSTING visits with other LKSs in either the same sector in which you and your team are employed or a different one are a good means of learning about how each other's services operate. Visits can be a cheap and easily organized development activity. Their value can be enhanced by offering attendees the opportunity, if possible, of meeting with their opposite number for an informal chat.

    Visits can be used for numerous purposes, including:

  • • to discover how a service similar to the one you and your team work within is run

  • • to view a new build or a remodelling of an LKS space

  • • to see how another LKS runs a service or manages a resource which your service is thinking of introducing

  • • to learn about the experiences and roles of LKS staff working in other sectors

  • • as a means of developing wider professional knowledge.

    • Organizing a visit offers a number of development opportunities for an individual or a small team. Factors to take into account when organizing or hosting a visit include:

  • • the purpose of the visit

  • • the number of people participating in the visit

  • • the date, time and location

  • • the name of the visit organizer and the contact at the LKS to be visited

  • • how long the visit will last and what will be included. The itinerary could include a demonstration of a resource or service, an individual meeting with their opposite number and/or a tour of one or more sites.

  • • transport and refreshment requirements.

    • Once a visit has taken place it is important that the visiting participants contact the host service to thank the staff for their time. If there was a specific purpose to the visit, such as fact-finding before introducing a new service, then it is good practice to let the LKS visited know what actions were taken as a result.

    Asking one of the participants in the visit to write up the experience for a blog or newsletter provides a further development opportunity. This could be further enhanced by asking an individual from the visiting group and one from the host service to work together to produce something which could be shared across both services.

  • 52 - CVs

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 128-132

  • Summary

    CVS ARE RARELY asked for within the LKS sector, although there are some exceptions which can include applying for committee positions, some job roles, applications for grants or bursaries and, of course, CILIP qualifications. It is therefore a good development activity to ensure that staff keep their CV up to date and reviewing a CV can form a useful part of the annual appraisal. A standard CV should be 2–3 pages, though an annotated CV running to four pages is ideal for personal use in keeping a record of development.

    You should encourage your staff to think of their CV as a marketing tool to sell themselves. They are the only person who can communicate why they are suitable for the role, funding or qualification they are applying for. If they don't do it themselves no one else will be doing it for them. Worse, another applicant will be doing it and will be successful. Get them to really think about what they have done in the past and to what level. If they managed a project or wrote a guide then they need to say so. The example here outlines the value of maintaining an updated CV.

    Example from practice: Gil Young – LKS professional (academic, public and NHS)

    In 2010 I was made redundant. At the time I was undertaking a qualification which required me to produce an updated CV and continuous record of development. Redundancy is never easy but having documents which had been produced when I was feeling good about things was really helpful. I used them as the basis for job applications, where they proved to be incredibly useful, as they reminded me of all the things I had done and achieved previously.

    Having an up-to-date CV provided me with a template for application forms which could be copied and pasted from. This ensured that my applications were consistent and that important information was not left out when deadlines were tight. The CV and record of development helped me to think positively about myself at a difficult time. On reflection I do think that having current versions of these documents enabled me to get a suitable new job very quickly.

  • 36 - Awards

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 88-90

  • Summary

    Recognition makes employees feel valued and appreciated, it contributes to higher employee morale, increases organizational productivity, and can aid in recruitment and retention. Recognition is a powerful motivator. It serves to reinforce the enthusiasm, commitment, and social conscience of employees and is a great vehicle for conveying the agency mission and goals.

    University Library University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012

    EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION CAN result in increased motivation, improved performance and a more productive workforce; nominating members of your team for awards is one way to do this. Research shows that different rewards, both tangible and intangible, can influence an individual's behaviour (CIPD, 2015). There are many opportunities open to you as a manager to nominate individuals and teams from within your LKS for awards.

    Awards may be local; for example, you could run an Employee of the Month scheme within your library to recognize the good work that individuals are doing on a day-to-day basis or introduce annual awards for customer service or innovation, such as those offered by the University of Colombia (2015). You could use this as an opportunity to praise individuals for completing work on a specific project, or alternatively to recognize their skills or dedication to their job. Some organizations have annual awards ceremonies for all staff who work there (not limited to LKS staff), which may be organized around organizational values or objectives, e.g. Most Productive Team. Finally, you may be able to enter an individual or LKS team for awards presented by external associations or organizations.

    In their Task Force which investigated staff recognition schemes with a view to implementing a local initiative, the University Library University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2012) recommends that rewards offered should be:

  • • sincere

  • • meaningful

  • • adaptable

  • • relevant

  • • timely.

    • By nominating members of your team for awards, you are recognizing the good work that they do and demonstrating that you value their commitment and appreciate their contribution to the delivery of services, which can be great for motivation and productivity. If you nominate members of your team for awards within the organization, it will raise the profile of the individual or team and showcase the good work that they do. It can also serve to raise the profile of LKS generally, by sharing information about your work, which may not always be recognized throughout the wider organization.

  • 1 - Understanding how people behave, learn and develop

  • from Section 1 - Theories
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 1-4

  • Summary

    AS A MANAGER you want your staff to enjoy their work and fulfil their potential whilst actively contributing to the aims of the team, the service and the organization. The first step in achieving this is to understand how and why the individuals that make up your team behave in the ways they do and the implications this has for how they like to learn and how they interact with others. As a line manager it is important that you have an understanding of how your own preferences will influence your management style and how to modify your natural preferences to manage those who might be very different from you. To enable you to develop this understanding this section of the book outlines some of the main theories around how people behave, learn and develop.

    There are many theories about how we learn, develop and behave, with a great deal of overlap between them. Without a doubt everyone has one or more ‘preferred’ style(s) which influence the way they think, behave and learn. It would be easy to say that our backgrounds and experiences influence the way we develop but the latest neuroscience research makes it very clear that our minds have a high level of plasticity, which means that whatever has been our preferred style can be changed. Indeed, we know that as we grow and develop we change but we often don't realize how much we can influence that change for ourselves.

    Many of the personality/behavioural type analyses are developed from the original work of Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), whose model, ‘Psychological Types’, developed in 1921, was based on the theory that each person has an innate urge to grow. Part of that growing process is to learn how we operate individually, develop the parts of us that we need to learn more about and learn about the people around us. His model works on the theory that the brain has three axes:

  • • Feeling–Thinking

  • • Intuition–Sensing

  • • Introversion–Extraversion.

    • From these we can find out which are our dominant thought processes and styles. Jung identified eight ‘types’, from which many others have developed more detailed theories and a range of methods of assessing primary styles.

  • 69 - Personal development plans

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 176-179

  • Summary

    THE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT plan (PDP) is a short, clearly focused document outlining individual learning needs in terms of skills, knowledge and experience. It is usually an action plan for a specific time period (usually a year) documenting key goals and stating how they will be achieved within existing resources and with clear timescales. The PDP should help staff to fulfil the requirements of their jobs but may also include longer-term goals for career progression.

    Whilst each PDP will be unique to the individual, it should also incorporate the aims of your library service and organization, especially when embedded within the appraisal. As well as a PDP prepared for an appraisal, individuals may also be expected to create a plan to underpin the Chartership process (CILIP, 2014a). The PDP should be balanced between individual aims and organizational goals to ensure commitment and engagement from all concerned. There are many formats for PDPs and it is likely that your organization will provide a standard template which you will be expected to use as part of the appraisal process. Generally, a usable PDP will outline key learning and development needs, SMART objectives against each area, clear timescales and how completion will be evidenced.

    Identification of learning and development needs is the basis of a workable PDP and should be clearly defined at the start of the year. The PKSB (CILIP, 2014b) is a useful self-assessment tool (available to CILIP Members only) which covers a range of technical, professional and generic skills required by library, information and knowledge management staff. Alternatively, a standard set of questions may be used to identify individual requirements, such as these outlined by the CIPD (2014):

  • • How do you identify your learning and professional development needs?

  • • What are the three main areas or topics you wish to develop in the next 12 months and how will you achieve these?

  • • What are the key differences that you plan to make to your role/organization/clients/customers in the next 12 months?

  • • When will you next review your professional development needs?

  • 99 - Writing procedures

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 263-266

  • Summary

    Writing procedures

    PROCEDURES PROVIDE DETAIL about established processes which are clearly presented and adopt a step-by-step approach. They are crucial documents which outline exactly what needs to happen and how this will be done, thus ensuring that tasks are carried out in a consistent fashion and in a predefined order (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Most LKSs will have a range of procedures governing their work. These are essential documents which ensure that business can continue in an uninterrupted fashion, enabling any team member to pick up a task at any given time. Procedures are useful for complex tasks that include a lot of stages, activities which are integral to the effective running of the service and occasional (e.g. annual) tasks which are not part of the day-to-day routine.

    Well written and easy to follow procedures are essential for streamlining processes, ensuring that services run efficiently and sharing information with the wider team. Therefore, having staff who are able to write well and develop clear guidance documents is vital. Team members who are good at writing procedures can also use this skill to create user-focused documents, such as guides and instructions, which enable library members to get the most out of your service.

    Templates

    A standardized template will ensure that all documents are produced in a consistent format and will help you to control the quality of your documentation. This will be really helpful for team members who are new to the process of writing procedures. There is no single format for a procedure, so it is important that whatever you choose works for your service; typically, a template will include some or all of the following:

  • • title

  • • author name

  • • date approved

  • • approving group or person

  • • review date

  • • version

  • • introduction

  • • purpose of the document

  • • roles and responsibilities

  • • glossary of terms

  • • the content – step-by-step procedure

  • • references

  • • appendices

  • • changes or amendments.

    • To ensure good governance practices are adhered to, procedures will also include page numbers and a footer which includes the document title, date approved and version. Figure 99.1 presents a flowchart for the process of writing procedures.

  • 41 - Collaborative working

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 103-105

  • Summary

    REGARDLESS OF AN individual's level in an organization, at some point in their career they will have to work collaboratively. Within a LKS there will be opportunities for your team members to work with library staff from other teams, LKS staff from other organizations and your users. Nonthacumjane (2011) states that the expectation that LKS professionals will work in multidisciplinary contexts means that teamwork is one of the key skills for practitioners. The ability to work collaboratively as team leader and/or team member will ensure that working groups complete projects successfully and contribute to the achievements of the goals of the service and the organization (Nonthacumjane, 2011). This may be a challenge for those who enjoy working independently. However, it is a good opportunity for you and your staff to grow professionally by learning from other people's experiences and expanding existing networks.

    Communication

    Ensure that when individuals are involved in collaborative projects, communication is maintained, as without it things come to an abrupt standstill! When working with different groups it is vital that everything is communicated as clearly as possible. This is particularly important when working with a group for the first time where the members have no prior knowledge of each other's working practices. At the beginning of the process it is imperative to outline the objectives of the project, assign responsibilities based on skills and experience and agree the preferred method of communication. It is important that communication is proactive. If your staff advise that someone is not responding, encourage them to follow up the contact and not to worry about being impolite.

    If things are not going so well, or if there is an unexpected change, remind your team members to keep focused and remember why the collaboration was started in the first place. Once this is done, they will find it easier to think of the bigger picture and begin allocating work. They will need to be flexible and use their organizational skills to ensure that they are able to adapt or change any existing plans.

  • 85 - Training courses – commissioning

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 222-226

  • Summary

    Training courses – commissioning

    IF THERE IS a development need which is common to a significant number of staff then it might be more time- and cost-effective to commission an event.

    This could be with an internal trainer or an externally sourced provider. Commissioning training can result in a very high standard of development for staff but can be expensive and time-consuming to plan.

    Planning

    If you decide to go down the route of commissioning training there are a number of things you will need to consider, the first of which is to clearly identify the training need and how you feel it can best be addressed. Only go down the training course route if you are sure this is the best way to proceed.

    Secondly, you need to decide who will deliver the training. Do you need someone who understands your organization and/or sector or is specialist knowledge of the topic more important? For example, if you are looking to commission training on marketing do you want someone with a marketing background or someone with a LKS background who has done marketing as part of their role? If you are commissioning someone you have not used before then you will need to get references from people who have used their services in the past and follow these up.

    Once you have identified your trainer you will need to work with them to agree the aims, objectives and content for the course. This can take time, as you need to be absolutely clear about what it is you want individuals to take away from the training and what changes you want to witness in terms of knowledge, skills and behaviours.

    Cost

    If you are using an external trainer there will be a cost involved. It is good practice and helps avoid any misunderstanding if you ask the trainer for a full quote which includes a breakdown of planning and delivery costs, travel and other expenses, plus the costs of any supporting material. Some trainers will be VAT registered and some will not, and this needs to be made clear in the quote. In some organizations you may need to source a number of quotes from different trainers to meet your procurement requirements. If you want to use a particular trainer but find they are too expensive do not be afraid to negotiate.

  • 64 - Minutes of madness

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 165-167

  • Summary

    Minutes of madness

    MINUTES OF MADNESS can be an effective means of encouraging staff to present. The principle is that the presenter speaks for one minute on their topic. In many cases a timer is used and the speaker is cut off when the minute comes to an end.

    Minutes of madness can be used for numerous purposes. These include but are not limited to:

  • • poster presentations at conferences

  • • feedback at team meetings

  • • sharing achievements

  • • introductions

  • • session pitches

  • • awards.

    • Although only a minute long these presentations can be a very effective development activity, not only for developing presentation skills but also for encouraging networking, team building and marketing services. It can be a useful means for getting staff to understand what is important in the message they want to deliver by identifying what is core to their message.

    To work well a minute of madness does require preparation (see Tip 70, p. 179). Practice is particularly important if a timer is going to be used and the speaker will be cut off when the minute comes to an end. The speaker needs to be sure they have delivered their message before this happens.

    Example from practice: Library and Information Science Research Coalition (2012) Conference

    Stella Wisdom chaired our whirlwind tour through the 13 quick-fire presentations, in which participants had just one minute to share their experiences of stepping out of their own research comfort zone.

    Session Format: Those that signed up for a slot related to the audience how they have explored the use of research methods from other disciplines, worked on research projects with others with completely different research backgrounds, applied LIS research techniques to new research areas, discovered new ways to disseminate their work, or found a new network of relevance to their research efforts. Some took the opportunity of a slot in this session to put out a call to invite others to join them as they take their first steps out of the comfort zone. Each had just one minute to make their points, which was strictly enforced by Stella Wisdom and her horn. They were accompanied by a single slide providing their name, the title of their talk and their contact details so that members of the audience could get in touch to follow up on any points of interest or overlap.

Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016
  • This book offers innovative tips and tried-and-tested best practice to enable library and knowledge workers to take control of professional development regardless of the budget and time available to them. Continuing professional development (CPD) is a key component of a successful and satisfying career. Part of the Practical Tips for Library and Information Professionals series, this book offer a wide range of ideas and methods for all library and information professionals to manage the development of those who work for and with them.

  • 93 - Writing blog posts

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 245-247

  • Summary

    Writing blog posts

    SETTING UP A personal blog is a great way for your staff to raise their individual profiles, and can be particularly beneficial for continuing professional development activities such as Chartership. Blogs can be used to start discussions and raise awareness on topical issues, can act as a reflection tool to help with learning or will help to develop personal learning networks. Many LKSs now have their own blogs to promote and discuss their service and collections, so any skills in blogging that your staff develop can be used to develop your LKS content. It is an easy way to create original content which can be shared on other social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.

    Content

    Ensure that the writer is interested in the content; if they are bored writing about something this will be clear to the audience. For your LKS blog, you can make it more engaging by having different individuals within the team write contributions, although you may need to set some ground rules to ensure that the ‘voice’ used doesn't differ too widely and there is some consistency. You need to be aware that everything which is posted on your LKS blog is visible to a wider audience, so it is worth deciding on a style and sticking to it.

    For personal blogs, advise your staff or colleagues to reflect on something that they have learned. This could be a review of some training they've attended or a conference, but most importantly they must tell their readers how they will apply the learning to practice. It can also be good to reflect on mistakes or failures, particularly if a mistake enabled them to learn something, and this would also be useful evidence for a professional portfolio if individuals are considering Chartership, for example. Readers like to know about the time something went wrong and what individuals will do differently next time or any changes which were made and their impact.

    Any blog should be regularly updated with new posts, as this will keep it dynamic and engage the audience. It is also essential that individuals are writing about something they are passionate about, as this will come through to the reader of the post.

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