I attended a program at MLA called
“Unleashing Staff Potential” which was presented by Beth Roszkowski and Megan
Hunt, from George Mason University. The presenters
created a program where staff members dedicate 1 hour per week to a training that
is related to their interests or their job.
Staff members chose their own
training and meet with their supervisors each week for 15 minutes to discuss what they did in the previous week
and what they want to do in the next week.
The training was built into their schedules to ensure that it was done,
and done while they were at work. The
employees were responsible for identifying trainings that interest them and
supervisors also made recommendations.
Their staff is obviously significantly smaller than ours,
and this wouldn’t work as a mandatory program right now, but I thought could be
a useful model for our staff.
If each of our librarians and library associates did 1 hour
of training every other week, or 2 hours per month, then they could
easily make their re-certification goal without having to attend day long
trainings or leave their locations. This
would be particularly useful in departments that may be understaffed or in
smaller braches where staff have difficulty attending classes. If the librarians and LAs did an hour every
week (allowing for vacations and holidays) they could meet the re-certification
goal in under 2 years.
Likewise, staff interested in increasing their skills or
moving into higher positions could use this model to learn skills that would make
them better candidates when these positions become available. Managers who are interested in developing the
skills of their employees might also want to think about this model when
creating performance plans.
Lisa R. Kenyon
SD&T
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