How to Be Effective

Keynote address presented by Peter Bromberg. Click on his name to link to his webpage for links to this presentation and others. He is an assistant director at Princeton Public Library in New Jersey, a trained personal coach, and a Library Journal Mover and Shaker.

The full text of his talk is available here. It is informative and entertaining--and well worth reading.
My notes are available here.

The slide show is available above on his website or here.

Effectiveness is the ability to bring about the results you desire.
Two principles affect effectiveness. The first is that we are now encountering an exponential pace of change, unprecedented in our history. The fast pace of technology and its changes raises our customers' expectations of us.
An entertaining look at the pace of change and our shifting expectations because of that pace. Or here.

This exponential change requires the ability to react quickly and decisively. It requires that the organization flatten so that power and decision-making is shared by all employees. Valve is an extreme example of a flattened organization. The key to having a flattened organization is to have a strong vision.

There are still universal and timeless strategies for change and developing effectiveness. We need to choose our thoughts and behaviors to increase our resourcefulness. Sometimes we feel stuck, and unable to see a path forward, a little like this. (very humorous representation of at least someone you know!)

One of the most effective ways to find the path forward is to ask ourselves questions. Time management is really energy management, which is really about attention management.

Ask:

1.       What do I want?

2.       What actions have I taken?

3.       Have I moved in the right direction?

4.       What WILL I do?

When we think about what we want, we often are thinking about strategy, not what we want., but a strategy for getting what we really want.

                Take Action The only way to be effective is to actually take action.

1.       Reflect on what you’ve already tried.

2.       Assess whether those choices moved you in the right direction.

3.       Generate options for next steps.

4.       Make a commitment to take action.

These steps are a highly effective model for action, but only if you include accountability. Tell a 3^rd party about what action you are committing to and have them follow up with you to ask if you did it. Having someone follow up keeps you moving forward and helps you remain in action, focused on your goals.

 

Self-Care is required to be more effective. When we are healthy in body and mind, we are happier, more creative, more energized and more effective.  The body and mind are intertwined, a system that requires taking care of one to take care of the other. Such care increases your available energy level. 

 

We also need a basic understanding of personal behavior.

Emotional Intelligence:

                Self-Knowledge

                Regulate emotions, so you can make choices

                Know others

                Adapt to others

Learn personality types from various assessments, including Myers-Briggs, DISC, Enneagram, and Strengthfinders.

Two highly recommended books for learning about personality:

Type Talk at Work: How the16 Personality Types Determine Your Success on the Job by Otto Kroeger 

The 9 Ways of Working: How to Use the Enneagram to Discover Your Natural Strengths and Work More Effectively by Michael Goldberg

When you understand your own personality type and that of others, you can adjust your behavior to the style of others. You can tailor your approach to become more effective. This is the Platinum rule: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.”

Understanding differences is important, but so is learning more about the ways in which we are all the same. We all share traits, not all of them intuitive. Recommended books that explain  how we make decisions, how we can grow and communicate ideas, how we can manage change and motivate ourselves and others include:

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely  

 Made to Stick by ChipHeath  

Switch: How to Change ThingsWhen Change Is Hard by Chip Heath

Drive: The Surprising TruthAbout What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink 

Learn about your own and others' personality types to that you can follow the Platinum Rule: Treat Others the Way They Want to Be Treated.

Learning the Principles of Engagement will help you better engage library users. They in turn will better see the value in their library. 

At a user experience conference Jesse James Garrett suggested that people can be engaged in four primary ways:

1.       Perception (senses)

2.       Action (body)

3.       Cognition (mind)

4.       Emotion (heart)

The more the library hits on all these modes, the more engaged people will be. Think about the library’s physical space, website, and programs with these principles in mind. You will see ways to better engage your patrons and they will perceive more value in their library.

*Here's an example of how an understanding of the principles of engagement can be used.
Fun can change behavior for the better.

The most important thing to do now is to try these ideas. Decide what you want, commit to action and find someone to follow up with, asking what you did and what you will do next. These ideas are simple, but transformative.