Name of Organisaiton: Thurrock Library Service
Type and size of organisation: Library Service - 47 FTEs
Project Aim - Our overall aims and objectives were begin the process of involving staff at all levels in the decision-making processes relating to service delivery. I hoped that this programme would provide the stimulus for beginning the process of cultural change needed to accomplish this involvement.
Process - The team was selected from different levels within the organisation and consisted of myself, Chief Librarian, a senior manager, a middle manager, a library manager and a frontline member of staff. The library manager was selected as someone who is often critical of how decisions are reached within the organisation and it was felt that it would benefit her and the organisation if she could be encouraged to be an instrumental part of the process rather than criticising from the sidelines. The selection of the frontline member of staff followed a similar scenario. The whole team met four times over the period with the core team meeting an additional three times. All staff were encouraged to complete a questionnaire. The answers were interesting and in parts worrying and this informed our decision to hold a staff development day for all staff that would focus on them finding solutions to the areas they were clearly concerned about. (The broad results and comments are attached). The staff development day was held on a Wednesday, when all but three libraries are closed. These three libraries were closed that day to give all staff the chance to attend. In the event, 45 staff attended plus 6 facilitators. This represented a very good percentage of the possible participants and was very pleasing as the only staff we could oblige to attend were those who would have been working in open libraries. The day was focussed on discussions of the issues raised by the responses to the questionnaire and required to staff to staff to identify solutions and then prioritise the things that they wanted to action. The evaluation sheets for the day were overwhelmingly positive with most staff appreciating the opportunity to discuss matters with staff from other libraries and reach common solutions. The day ended with them voting for the action they wanted to take forward first. Those who voted for his priority were asked to sign up for a further workshop to progress it. A diagonal slice team will be selected from the list.
Outcomes
Given the dispersed nature of the library servcie, it is difficult to assess whether any of the benefits felt at the staff development day have embedded themselves. Once we begin to action the selected priority, I trust that we will see a greater engagement of frontline staff in suggesting service improvements.
All of those who took part in the teams have benefited to some degree. There has been a real change of heart in the frontline member of staff who is now much more ready to challenge negative comments from colleagues regarding management decisions. Five members of staff benefited directly from learning facilitation skills.
The use of diagonal slice and core teams is not something we were familiar with and it has proved interesting and beneficial to work in this way. It is difficult to select staff who will benefit and be able to make a contribution but this will not prevent us continuing the process.
Working with other organisations did not form part of this project for us.
Future Plans - We intend to bring together a diagonal slice team from those who signed up at the end of the staff development day. This team will formulate a plan for delivering the priority and will take responsibility for managing its implementation. In addition, we will continue to use the diagonal slice model as a way of involving staff at all levels in decision making.
Other - my advice would be not to underestimate the difficulty of bringing together staff from different levels of the organisation and motivating them with the belief that they can and should be responsible for making service decisions. Equally, in a dispersed organisation like a library service, it is difficult to assess the true level of buy-in and commitment to changing decision-making processes. There are those who do not wish to be empowered, they welcome being told what to do. Their views have to be accommodated and respected. It is also challenging to change perceptions of learning. There are still many staff who equate learning and formal situations and do not acknowledge that we all learn all of the time whether we acknowledge this or not.
Ann Halliday
Chief Librarian, Thurrock Library Service
July 2006
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