MBWA - Yes it works

Today is a day off, and I was indulging one of my newer guilty pleasures: reality television.

On our last trip to Panama, we found the UK version of Undercover Boss on the cable/dish TV one rainy afternoon in the mountains. The premise of the show is that the owner/CEO of a larger corporation goes "undercover" for a week (5 days) doing some of the front-line jobs in order to learn more about how the company is currently providing service. One of the shows from the UK that I remember was about a fish and chips chain, and some of the stores were in English resort towns. After the week undercover duty, the CEO does a reveal to the individual managers and then to all the folks at the facility.

Today, I was watching TLC and the US version of the show. Unfortunately, I could not find a list of the shows and a link to the one which impressed me.

That show was about Hooters, the restaurant chain. There is an article about the show, but it does not talk about what impressed me.

First of all, Hooters makes its own sauces. That plant was "the baby" of the founder of the company. When he died, one of his sons was suddenly, and unexpectedly, thrust into being in charge of the company. The CEO (son of the founder) made a visit to the plant as part of his undercover experience. What he heard from the employees there, including the plant manager who was a family friend, was that morale was not good. This was partly the result of the fact that folks from the management were no longer visiting the plant. The plant workers felt appreciated by the attention, limited as it was, by having the CEO publicly visit the plant and walk the floor.

This "management by wandering around" (MBWA) is what caught my attention. MBWA is a management practice that can be very important, not just in larger organizations. As a manager, even of a single location organization, I found that it was important to get out of the office and see what was really happening. I also found out things that I might not have heard otherwise. When I was in someone's regular workspace they would sometime tell me things that they thought were not important enough to bring up to my office. It also helped me to visually be able to understand the physical spaces or items involved.

When I was in my MBA program, we did talk about this as one part of a style of management. But many librarians do not get any formal management training, so perhaps this tip will help a new manager somewhere.

Success

Earlier this week, I posted a bunch of links. Included was a link to Karen Schneider's post "In Praise of Succeeding." The very next morning I heard a talk by Katrice Albert, whose topic was on cultural competence and diversity (her specialty).

Included in her presentation was a video of Dewitt Jones, a free lance photographer for the National Geographic , who talked about creativity. Listening to the points he made encouraged me to go back to Karen's post.

In my linking to Karen's post I had said: "Early in the essay she says (and I cleaned up the shorthand a little), 'Another blog post I don’t have time to write: how failure is overrated, and often confused with iterative design.' I like that last part....'confused with iterative design.' That is a great phrase, since I am generally a half full glass person. She draws very heavily from her experience in a MFA writing program. It is a great post."

She notes that the conversations about failure are mostly about our getting comfortable with the fact that we won't always succeed. She notes "But let’s be clear that succeeding is personally and professionally more rewarding than failing." [Oh, how true that is!]

She then goes on to talk about the importance of the iterative design process, and group processes. Karen drew on an experience from her MFA program where one student dropped out because, as she said, "This writer liked the idea of 'succeeding,' ... but was not able to handle what success actually required."

In the Dewitt Jones video he talked about the concept of "multiple right answers." This is most certainly true in his work, and he showed examples of how either changing lenses on his camera, changing his position, or changing what he (literally) focused on, would dramatically change what we, the viewers saw. He talked about positioning ourselves in the "place of most potential."

The handout for the presentation drew on these points and listed "nine concepts of everyday creativity." These belong to Katrice Alpert, and she should be credited with them:

1. Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the ... extraordinary.
2. Every act can be a creative one.
3. Creativity is a matter of perspective.
4. There's always more than one right answer.
5. Reframe problems into opportunities.
6. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
7. Break the pattern.
8. Train your technique.
9. You've got to really care.

It is a great list. It can be applied to most library situations. One of the electronic discussion lists I regularly read (and is co-moderated by Karen) is PUBLIB, an electronic discussion list for public librarians. There are (the last I heard) about 7,000 subscribers. The archives are on the web. The topics covered are wide ranging. What often fascinates me is the different ways that librarians solve the problems faced in public libraries. No one solution is always correct.

Karen's post contains some real gems towards the end. (I am glad that I went back and re-re-read it!) One of them is this one: "the failure may not be in the idea, but how it is introduced and managed." She notes that if an organization can only do ten things, the eleventh idea will either supplant one of the prior ten, or will have to wait.

In my life I have dealt with many impatient people. Another gem of a quote from Karen is: "Patience, grasshopper. “Not now” is not the same as “no.” Sometimes a great idea needs to wait its turn..." There is more after that, which you should read.

So, I am grateful to two women whose names start with K who touched me intellectually this week: Karen Schneider and Katrice Albert

Links: Late January - Early February

Stephen Abram provided a link and summary of the Pew report on Americans living with disability and their technology profile. And as often as I have thought and talked about the digital divide, my focus was more on the socio-economic factors. I have not thought as much as I should about the digital divide between those of us who are people without significant life disabilities, and people who have some important life disability.

My friend Jessamyn and I have shared many conversations about the other digital divides. Her perspective focuses on the rural issues (like in her home state of Vermont). She talks about some of the issues here. Many of my thoughts are centered around the urban poor who are often equally disadvantaged.

David Lee King did a great series of posts on how to do better presentations.

I know that there are some libraries which have been doing this for years. The Ferguson Library in Stamford CT was doing it about 10 years ago. American Libraries has a post with some simple "how-to" instructions on running a passport acceptance facility (it can be a revenue stream!).

I always worry when Library 2.0 is brought up and the topic turns to 'discovery.' What exactly is meant by that. I probably should spend some time thinking about it, but Lorcan Dempsey talks about a recent report out of the University of Minnesota on discovery in the library. It is well worth reading. (And by putting it here, I won't lose it.)

Eric Hellman has thought a lot about a "national digital library." He has written a post with a proposal on how such a library could be funded, in the US at least, through tax deductions. It is very thoughtful.

Leo Lo (a recent find for me) has started a series on screenwriting for a librarians by starting with a promotional video. I expect that this will be a very useful series.

Finally, my friend Karen Schneider has written about success. She was reacting to a question about stories of failure. Early in the essay she says (and I cleaned up the shorthand a little), "Another blog post I don’t have time to write: how failure is overrated, and often confused with iterative design." I like that last part...."confused with iterative design." That is a great phrase, since I am generally a half full glass person. She draws very heavily from her experience in a MFA writing program. It is a great post.