07.30.08
Delegation
I have a problem with delegation. Not with having things delegated to me, but with delegating things to my employees or to other people who should handle things I don’t have time for or the expertise to handle. I have this awful sense of “here, just let me do it” or “that’s okay, I’ll look into it and take care of it” that often mires me in problems and projects I really have no time to deal with.
I can mostly blame myself for the delegation dilemma. It’s been easier to keep tasks for myself because they required specialized knowledge or software authorizations my staff didn’t have (and were tightly controlled by IT staff). Most of the time I get assigned (i.e., delegated) a new project by my boss, I figure out a new routine or process, then I continue to do it for eternity. The new projects and routines continue to pile on and therein lies my problem…
I’ve never thought to delegate routine tasks to my employees nor have I thought of using delegation as a tool to develop them into higher-skilled, more knowledgeable employees. The current arrangement leads them to assume I’ll handle everything really important while they do same old thing year in and year out. That’s poor management on my part. And the really dumb thing about the new routines I develop is that I type up step-by-step instructions for myself, so I don’t forget how to do them if they occur monthly or annually. So I really have no excuse not to train someone to takeover a task, because the training documentation already exists…
I recently read a fabulous book that spoke to the heart and soul of my problems. The title is It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor, by Rebecca Shaumbaugh. Her theory of why women don’t advance to the executive suite isn’t because others hold them back (the glass ceiling), but because they hold themselves back through hidden behaviors (the sticky floor). She says there are 7 sticky floors, one of which is being a perfectionist and not delegating tasks to others. I’m guilty as charged! Delegation is the solution to freeing myself from that sticky floor.
As busy as I’ve been lately, I realize now I should spend my time figuring out new projects and developing new routines, then figuring out which staff are best suited for training so they can take them over, allowing me to spend time developing more new tasks and routines…
04.10.08
Tornado hit my desk
We were under the threat of severe weather all day, although none developed, if you don’t count my what happened on my desk. After dealing with network problems that affected access to our ILS and unexpected employee issues, my desk looked like a tornado hit it. There were stacks of books I had requested for corrections, unfinished statistics, unfinished reviewing of vendor and in-house work, and problems brought to my attention by the director and other employees. As I prepared to leave my office at the end of the day, I was frustrated to my inner core. I wondered if I should try to clean up my desk or leave it as it was and hope for a better day tomorrow. I mean, tomorrow is Friday, so how bad can it get?
I wondered what would my desk look like if a real tornado hit the library after I left. Would I be able to piece together my work or would it be so scattered that I’d never find any of the important stuff? How would I pick up the pieces and determine new priorities after a real disaster struck? I think that thinking like this from time to time allows me to put into perspective extremely frustrating days like today, where I thought I had my projects all lined up, then unexpected events took over and became my top priorities. It helps me to better deal with the challenges of management when events careen wildly out of control, because the problems that develop can’t be as bad as I perceive them to be and really do have solutions. As Robert Burns said: “The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.” A perfect quote to sum up many of my work days. But it’s nothing a glass or two of wine can’t fix.
03.23.08
Getting along at work
I recently read the book Stop Pissing Me Off!: What to Do When the People You Work with Drive You Crazyby Lynne Eisaguirre. I admit I was drawn to this book by the title, but it wasn’t a flippant treatment of how to get along with employees, co-workers, and bosses. Instead, it gave me valuable advice on how to handle many annoying personality types and stressful situations at work.
Lynne begins the book by pointing out that there are annoying people in every corporation, so simply switching jobs to get away from them isn’t the solution. You’ll likely run into their type again. Since most of us spend more time at work than we do with family, we need to find ways to get along with people at work.
She says one of the reasons people have difficulty getting along at work is that in today’s workplace, there are so many differences between people: age, gender, religion, race, ethnic background, and culture. Many people are dealing with emotional problems, medical problems, mental problems, or are taking medication that adversely affects their behavior. It’s up to us to try to understand what could be going on in their life outside of work that could influence their behavior at work. I think this is even more important if you manage people, like I do.
She describes her 1-2-3-Go! technique for dealing with an emotionally charged situation. Here’s how it works (from p. 88):
1. Say something to the person that implies understanding or appreciation.
2. Make a behaviorally specific (doable) request. (It has to be something the person can do or say, or it’s not behaviorally specific.)
3. Add more appreciation and understanding.
4. Go away; do not nag, hover, or whine.
At the end of each chapter, she provides a chart summarizing the relationship tactics explained in the chapter. It’s called Your Relationship Toolbox and it shows how to go from being pissed off to powerful. She shows you how to manage your time and anger, so you can love the job you have. The very last chapter covers what to do if you’ve done all you could, but feel you must move on to a new job. She shows you how to do this without burning bridges in the process.
I highly recommend this book for both managers and their employees. I’ll buy a copy for my personal collection, since it helped me to better understand people in my organization and improved my ability to get along with them. I think some of Lynne’s advice could apply in personal relationships, as well.
03.15.08
Unplanned events
If you’re wondering what happened to me this week, I’m okay. One of my employees had a medical emergency on Tuesday and had to leave work. She hasn’t been able to return to work yet and I’ve spent the rest of the week helping her and her family deal with the situation. I also went to an out-of-town workshop on Friday to hear about digitization projects in Indiana. The combination of events, both planned and unplanned, left me exhausted. If it hadn’t been for the Adderall XR, I don’t know that I could have focused on what was important during such a stressful week. I managed to keep materials moving through the department, have staff fill in for the missing employee, and pay attention during an all-day workshop at the end of the week.
My original plans for the week were to write up my employee’s performance appraisals now that I had organized their folders. I usually hate doing performance appraisals but I was actually looking forward to doing them now that I had a place to put them. My other plan for the week was to compile last month’s statistics, before bibliographic and item records were withdrawn from the system. Yes, it’s a sad fact that in a public library, much of our new stuff is stolen before it ever gets to circulate. It’s amazing how things like cookbooks just walk out the door the same month they arrived in the system, never to be seen again. The week was proof that no matter how much I plan my week, no plan is foolproof or guaranteed.
03.10.08
File management
One day last week, I tried to file my annual performance appraisal (which was very good, by the way) and couldn’t figure out where to put it. Where would I have filed last year’s appraisal? I asked myself. I looked in a hanging file folder labeled PROFESSIONAL, where there were several fat manila files, but it wasn’t in any of them. Hmmm… could it be in the big, black, unmarked binder in my overhead bin? Nope, it wasn’t there either. Where could it be? I know I had one from last year. Surely I filed it somewhere (was it in the to-file pile?). I went back to the lateral file and looked in a hanging file folder labeled PERSONNEL, but it wasn’t there either. Okay, now I’m frustrated! How can I lose a performance appraisal? That’s not something you just leave lying around when you have locking cabinets (unless you’re me).
While looking through my PERSONNEL hanging file (which was overstuffed, by the way), it hit me– I’ve been supervising employees for fifteen years and I’ve never created a decent file system for them. If I had to place my hands on their performance appraisals from last year (which I’m gonna have to do this week), I bet I couldn’t find them. What kind of a manager am I?
I began to panic. A quick search of the bottom of my lateral file drawer turned up theirs– and mine! all lying flat and hidden under a blank mileage reimbursement form. Hmmm….how did those get down there? I don’t remember putting them there (but I know I did). I probably put them there because the PERSONNEL hanging file was overstuffed with folders from long-gone staff who will never darken our doors again.
When I was going through folders looking for last year’s appraisals, I found a photocopied page from an unnamed organizing book. It was stuffed in a folder with job analysis questionnaires and had nothing to do with the questionnaires. How appropriate it was misfiled! I think I found it for a reason… as I believe everything happens for a reason. Two of the main points it mentioned were: 1.) 80% of what gets filed never gets used again ; and, 2.) Only touch paper once (gaaaahhh! I hate that one!). I now believe in #1 and am struggling to believe in #2.
Today, I was waiting on my computer to synchronize files when I realized this was the perfect time to clean out and organize my employee files. Why not? I couldn’t do anything on the computer for a short chunk of time. So I whipped through the folders, creating new ones, moving former employees to the back of the hanging file and even putting their performance appraisals from last year in each of their (new) folders. Wow! Now I feel motivated to begin working on their current appraisals, since those are a little overdue…
