Category Archives: Employees

Can you Keep “Office Politics” out of Your Library?

Posted on November 30, 2012 by cbecker53

The topic of politics has dominated our world, our minds, our news outlets this year.   No matter how invested in the outcome, most of us are tired of it. Office politics is different, of course, but most of us are … Continue reading →

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Coaching–Not Just for Sports

Posted on November 19, 2012 by cbecker53

A good manager must also be a good coach.  Coaching involves identifying an employee’s skills and capabilities, and helping them to use them, which contributes to their ability to perform independently.  It also involves identifying areas that need improvement.  It … Continue reading →

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Is Your Boss a Jerk?

Posted on November 14, 2012 by cbecker53

Libraries are nice places.  And by and large, librarians are nice people.  But we’re human.  So if you work in a library, it’s possible that you may have had a bad boss, or maybe even one who is a jerk.  … Continue reading →

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Are You Now, Or Have You Ever Been. . .

Posted on October 23, 2012 by cbecker53

Are you, or have you ever been, a bad boss?  Many of us have been, at one time or another, especially when first starting out.  But here’s the good news: It doesn’t have to be that way.  You can change. … Continue reading →

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Greetings!

Posted on October 18, 2012 by cbecker53

I recently learned that the Mount Laurel Library (NJ) has had staff positions called “Greeter” since 2005 or so.  If I heard about this at the time, I’d forgotten until Retiring Guy drew my attention to it. How great is … Continue reading →

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What Makes a Good Library Professional?

Posted on October 2, 2012 by cbecker53

I’ve been helping out with a public library system director search process.  I love hiring and interviewing; I don’t know why, I just do.  This process has gone very well, partly because of a very good committee. Anyway, we’ve had … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Customer Service, Decision-making, Employees, Hiring, Leadership, Management, Public Libraries, Recruitment, Selection, Strategic Planning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What Can You Do to Solve This?

Posted on September 17, 2012 by cbecker53

    Here’s a no-nonsense take on Handling Co-Worker Complaints and Backstabbing.  I like the first tip:  “Ask the complainer, ‘What can you do to solve this?’” Dan Rockwell goes on to offer simple suggestions, in a succinct post.  Read … Continue reading →

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Feedback, Again

Posted on June 28, 2012 by cbecker53

Although I recently posted about feedback, today I have another excellent source to share with you on this topic.  Giving Feedback?  Don’t Make These 10 Mistakes by Alison Green pulls together some common traps managers tend to fall into when … Continue reading →

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“How Am I Doing?”

Posted on June 25, 2012 by cbecker53

What a great question!  And when others ask it of you, what do you say?  I ran across this great post The Essential Component of High Performance: When someone asks how they did, I realize I haven’t done well at … Continue reading →

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Empowering Employees

Posted on May 29, 2012 by cbecker53

Came across this thoughtful post this week:  Leaders Need to Understand the Risk and Trust Relationship.  I agree, it is so true:  “How can we get staff to make more decisions on their own, they always come to us for … Continue reading →

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