08.21.08
Frantic days, exhausted nights
My to-do list and projects lists are expanding at a mind-boggling rate these days. It seems as though I just get a few things done and checked off my lists, then five more tasks magically materialize to replace them. I’m juggling more balls than a circus clown on speed. I have tasks and reminders scribbled on scraps of paper, recorded in my Outlook tasks, and listed on my Excel spreadsheet. Some are overlapping while others are listed only once– and subject to being lost among the growing piles on my desk (again!). Will I ever return to the peaceful days when I sometimes grew bored with routine tasks and long gaps between special projects? Most days now there’s hardly time for me to catch my breath, much less daydream.
I haven’t written much in this blog lately because I’m finding it impossible to relax long enough so I can think, which enables me to write, which enables me to think some more. My brain needs periods of quiet and introspection in order to digest and absorb the dozens of random thoughts running wild through it. Writing helps me to lasso those thoughts into an orderly herd, so I can lead them to productive outcomes at work. Without introspection and writing, those thoughts get jumbled up and tumbled up, stepping all over each other in their frantic dance. If too many of them are dancing about in my brain, no to-do list or priority list can tame them. The end result– my brain freezes up and I accomplish nothing. I feel like a scratched track on a CD– skip, skip, skip– no forward movement through my day.
I collapse into bed every night, despite having so many thoughts buzzing through my head up until it hits the pillow. I find myself hungering for the weekends, hoping I can rest and renew my energy, both physical and mental, before I face yet another hectic week. I often wonder how long I will be able to keep up with this breakneck pace of managing so many new projects, most of them with no end in sight. I know I should be thankful for my job when so many people are losing theirs in this economy. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to appreciate what you have when you’re so close to the beast that you can’t see the whites of its eyes.
08.06.08
Change is difficult, but not impossible
My technical services department has faced more changesin the last ten months than we’ve had in most of the fifteen years I’ve worked there. Since last September, we’ve tried to retool our work flow, cross-train staff, move materials through the department faster, outsource some work, and evaluate the work of our outsourcing vendors. Then this summer we lost a staff person to retirement, we’ve started RFID tagging all new materials, we’re evaluating digital project management software and later this month, we’re going to be changing hundreds of the internal codes we use to identify our shelf locations.
Amidst all of these changes, I’ve tried to simplify our cataloging and processing procedures, but with limited success. A consultant and three outsourcing vendors have told us our cataloging and processing procedures are complex– and they were right! But changing old ways of doing things is tough, if not downright impossible at times. My challenge is to define the problem areas, research possible solutions, and determine costs for continuing doing things as we’ve done them. Before stopping or changing any of our procedures, I need to ask our public services staff for their input on making specific changes. There’s nothing worse than making a decision without good information to back it up, then reversing that same decision because it wasn’t well-thought-out to begin with. It can be embarrassing– and definitely not good management practice.
The final step is selling my staff on the proposed changes. This is the ultimate challenge, especially when they probably feel like nothing is sacred any more. I know my own first thoughts when hearing of impending change are: ”What’s wrong with the way I’m (we’re) doing it? It works fine the way it is. Why change?” I know these thoughts run through their heads too, so I’m trying to be sympathetic to their discomfort and fears surrounding change. But I believe they may be more willing to implement changes if they understand the reasons behind them.
One thing’s for sure– the only library science management class I took never mentioned I would have to develop research, sales, and persuasion skills if I was going to be an effective manager. Nor did it mention I would need a dash of psychology sprinkled over everything in order to manage people and processes. Change is difficult, but not impossible.
