How I Conquered Conflict

On Thursday I attended a training session called "Conquering Coworker Conflict." Although the content seemed to be more directed at strategies for dealing with challenging users, there were some gems that would be helpful in any situation of conflict. In fact, I had an opportunity to test out some of these strategies this weekend, when I had a little argument with my sister (ok, I thought it was little, she was threatening to pack up and leave which indicates that to her, it was rather big):

• Avoid justifying your right to be upset. This makes sense to me because every time you think about your justification, you are talking yourself into continuing to be upset! It was actually by not following this one that I started the argument in the first place. My first instinct was to keep my mouth shut, then some little gremlin in my head screamed, "This isn't FAIR! I have a right to be upset!" That's when the trouble started.
• If things get in a stalemate, call on someone else to try another way of communicating. This could be a colleague or a supervisor. In my case, it was my Mom, who, by talking with my sister, was able to identify exactly what I had said that had touched a nerve, and calm my sister down so she could listen to my apology. In a situation with a library user, referring to a colleague might just give the "refresh" that's needed to solve the problem.
  
• In any situation, you have the power to make things better. You also have the power to make things worse. First I made things worse. Then I made things better.
• Put yourself in the other person's shoes. My sister had been up throughout the night with a sick toddler, then the thing I criticized her about was probably something she was already feeling kind of bad about. Once I realized this it wasn't so hard to create a way we could both save face.
  
• Create an opportunity for the other person to save face. In any kind of conflict, rather than trying to "win" by continually zinging the other person, if you create an "easy out" for the other person, the conflict can be solved. This is how I made things better.

The library is trying to bring this session back so that many more staff can attend. I'll be sure it's scheduled at a time when the majority of Access Services staff can make it.

And, my sister and I have patched things up. We've been through worse blow-ups and we'll get through this, too. It's probably not the last conflict we'll face but at least I feel I have a few new tools to conquer conflict!

Delightful Customer Service

A couple of weeks ago something terrible happened: my cell phone broke, making it useless for anything other than answering it. No outgoing calls (unless I knew the number, but I don't even know my own number), no email and worst of all, no texts. As a working mom, I use my phone for a lot more than uploading pics to Facebook--it's how I catch up on work on the subway and how I keep in touch with my son's babysitter (she's 17, so texting is our primary form of communication).

I thought I'd have to replace my phone, which wasn't something I was up for, and was happy to learn that certain stores will do this type of repair. One store, on 32nd street isn't too far from my dentist, so last week when I was early for an appointment I stopped in. I explained what was wrong and said that the phone was part of a family plan under my husband's name and that I hoped that wouldn't be a problem. The woman assisting me wore a name tag that indicated she was Kiana, the store manager. Kiana asked me if I knew the last four digits of his social (um, I don't even know my own phone number) and I said that I could probably find it out if I called him. I used their courtesy phones to call my husband, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't pick up since he was bringing our son to school.

After 4 tries I explained that he wasn't available. She asked for my phone and about 2 seconds later, it was fixed! She suggested that to avoid future inconvenience my husband could add me as an authorized user to the phone plan. I thanked her and joked that I now had thousands of voice mails and texts to catch up on and she invited me to take a seat in their waiting area if I wanted.

At any point during this process she could have turned me away. She could have even turned me away nicely and been entirely within her rights. Instead, she bent the rules a little bit to help me out. It absolutely made my day!

Disney

I have a confession to make: There is an email that's been in my in-box since July 21, 2010. It's from the Disney Institute, and it asks me, "Are you ready to D-think your organization?" The D in D-think looks like the one from Walt Disney's signature. I can't bring my self to delete it.

Disney is a company known for excellent staff development and superior customer service. They offer a one-day seminar (held at the Disneyland resort) entitled "Disney's Approach to Quality Service." Lest you think that this is aimed only at theme park employees, the first line of the course description says:

No matter where you dine, shop, or travel, there’s always one thing that you always expect to find: quality service. So, why should your customers [or users] expect anything less?

If I could waive my magic wand and say, "Bibidy Bobidy Boo," I would zap us all to Disneyland to take this course.

I was reminded of this email that I can't part with because of the reference to one of Disney's strategies in the book, The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton,which I'm reading for a class. First off, this is a great little book on workplace civility that I highly recommend. Well, the Disney reference talks about dealing with irate theme park guests. Basically, the passage suggests that, when dealing with angry or upset people, the best strategy (both the most effective and the one that will keep you from going crazy) is to neither blame yourself or the upset (or irrational or hostile) person:

Years ago, a former student of mine took copious notes during her new employee orientation classes at Disney University. Her instructors emphasized that although 99% of guests are nice, the real test is when you are encircled by an angry family of eight who are all hollering at you about all the things that have gone wrong. The new [employees] were instructed to avoid getting angry at or blaming the nasty guests. They were asked to imagine all the awful experiences the family suffered that whipped them into such a hostile state (e.g. to imagine that their car broke down or they just got soaked in the ran) and to not take their anger personally (as it isn't your fault).

Cast members were also reminded to see the abuse as something that wouldn't last long (because most other guests are nice) and that it "didn't need to ruin your day" because, if they "just kept smiling" and treat people as VIPs," it will create friendly interactions with other guests, and might even turn the family that is hollering at you right now into nicer people. (Kindle location 1601)

So, there's a little piece of Disney wisdom. As I was reading this I was thinking about my own experiences on the front lines, with not only library users but also ice-cream buyers and Macy's shoppers. About 10 years worth (and at Macy's there's no such thing as an off-desk project, although I must admit that when I scooped ice cream I often volunteered to dishwash to get a break from the front line), a lot of which wasn't exactly exemplary service. Take it from someone who used to be pretty surly: Things are a lot more pleasant for the service provider if you don't take it personally and treat users like a VIP.

Communication, Transparency, and Holistic Service

As supervisor of Offsite Storage, a department that works regularly with so many different part of the library, I’ve always had to do a lot of communicating across the divides. Since becoming a part of Access Services, this aspect of my job has become even more pronounced.

I think this is largely due to Offsite Storage becoming more high-profile during the planning of the 2010 Renovation and its resultant need to coordinate related workflows with a larger number of faculty and staff members than ever before.

But I have also come to see it as part of a larger context: the push toward a new “Holistic Service Model” as discussed at the last Division of Libraries meeting a few months ago.

One of the themes that comes up a lot when discussing the “Holistic Service Model” - and which also came up a lot during Access Services' year-long Service Excellence Initiative - is transparency.

Personally, I find that good communication goes hand-in-hand with transparency. Good communication should be as clear as possible in its aims and in the information it is providing. However, this is much easier said than done!

What seems clear to one person might be totally confusing to another. It can be hard to step outside yourself and your own experience, especially when you’re deeply entrenched in the nitty-gritty. This is something that most of us have probably struggled with at one point or another, either at work, at home or in the outside world. It's also something that can always be improved upon. Sometimes all it takes is just that little extra bit of self-awareness and kindness.

Also, making it known that information is out there for all to find - on the Wiki, for example - is easier... done than done? What I mean is, no matter how well-organized and accurate a Wiki page may be, you can never be sure that its intended audience will take the time to consult it. Sometimes this sort of knowledge-gap can be fixed by a simple private e-mail or phone call, too.


I guess I'm taking the long way 'round to saying this:

The “Holistic Service Model” isn't just about making things better for library users, but for ourselves as well. I like to think of Offsite Storage as a good testing ground for this philosophy, since we don't usually deal directly with users but are nonetheless always interested in ways to provide better service - via coordination, communication, transparecy, and plain old friendliness! - to coworkers and colleagues. And I like to think that by doing so, we are indirectly improving upon service to all users anyway!


Now if only I could succeed in setting up simple and transparent mini-workflows during my upcoming maternity leave... :)

A few Random Thoughts from Vacation

Yes, it's my first day of "vacation." I'm taking off a few days to move, and as it turns out, today isn't one of them. I came into the office this morning to tie up a few loose ends and make sure I didn't return to my usual disaster-area of a desk. Here it is the early afternoon, and I still have 2 things on my to do list.

I'm glad I was here, though, because Gary just popped his head in my office to ask if it was OK to waive $250 in fines. The user's mother got in touch with us to take care of these fines. The user is on a medical leave from school. I'm assuming the mom didn't show a doctor's note, which is why Gary ran this by me. What I loved about this was that Gary said, "I have no reason not to believe her." Right on, Gary. Waive those fines!

On a sad note, yesterday Moxa closed. The business was subject to a large rent increase and although Dave and Georgia tried to negotiate with the landlord, it didn't work out. They decided it wouldn't make business sense to stay in that location. They are looking for another location in the neighborhood, but until they find one, I'll need to find a new coffee place. Someplace with good decaf (usually it's cold in this city) that gives a discount for reusable mugs. You all are the coffee shop experts now. Any suggestions?

Access Service Excellence and Freedom of Information

For the last seven or eight years, I have spent most of my winter holidays in Eastern Europe. The countries of Eastern Europe are interesting and beautiful for their ancient pasts and natural features, and also for their more recent history as former communist countries.

I don't want to get into my own politics here, but I will say that regardless of my feelings towards Communism in theory, I - like most people - do have a problem with how it has been applied in practice in most places so far, where corruption has run rampant, and people have been forced into nominal equality through fear and through the governments' limiting of access to knowledge and information.

This winter, I visited the Baltic States. One of the places I saw was Grūtas Park, in southern Lithuania. Here is a picture I took of the small "Library" display inside one of the Park's indoor museum areas:



I've seen a lot of libraries, but this "representational" library, with its propaganda and purposefully limited selection, made me think a lot about how the Soviets were so successful in the sciences, and in the technical arts, but did not allow for much individual expression, and blocked any studies that might have a negative affect on peoples' view of the State. This included all sorts of arts and literature, as well as things like sociology, psychology, you name it. And how can any culture truly be deemed successful, or at least advancing apace, when it does not have those things?

So, what does all of this have to do with Access Services? Everything!
Something so fundamental to our work, but that is nonetheless easy to forget in our day-to-day working activities, is that we are professionally responsible for facilitating access to knowledge and information.

In 2010, we tend to take free access for granted. We have the internet, we have a vast network of libraries; we have among our patrons undergraduate students who had not yet been born when the Soviet Union was dissolved!

Now that we all feel very old (ahem!), we should think about what this means for us, especially in terms of Service Excellence. As we serve our patrons, helping them get the materials that they need, we should always keep in the back of our minds the idea that this freedom - both the patrons' freedom to seek knowledge, and the library workers' freedom to help grant access to that knowledge - was not always thus, and in some parts of the world remains elusive still.

So, that's my two cents. Now, where will I go next year....

Service Understanding/Understanding Service

During the January all-Access meeting, Sharon Thomas brought up an interesting point: she said she thought that providing service in a library is different from providing service in a coffee shop. At the time I asked her to "hold that thought," and indicated that I'd like to hear what she had to say on that at the next meeting, after she had observed at a coffee shop.

Well, both Sharon and I forgot about this, but we did have a chance to talk last week. She explained that she felt that when someone goes into a coffee shop, both the customer and the staff share an understanding of the interaction. There's not a lot of variability in what's expected by either party. But, using LP as the example, an alum of NYU may approach the desk with the understanding that as an alum s/he can still use Bobst. This is quite different from our policies, and conflict arises.

This blew my mind. Honestly, the idea of disconnect in common understanding never occurred to me, but of course this is an issue. When I go into McDonalds, I pretty much know what I'm getting myself into. I know what they have to offer and that's why I walked in the door. People walk through our doors misunderstanding what we offer on a daily basis. It would be like someone walking into a McDonalds and looking for a filet mignon on the dollar menu. A contract exists between server and served, and at a restaurant or store it's pretty much clear to both parties. In academic libraries, not so much.

So, what can we do about this? Certainly, simply being aware of this disconnect will help us all to bridge the gap i understanding that can challenge service excellence. As we all uncovered during our coffee shop observation, avoiding jargon, being open to questions and improving our communication with users on our signs, brochures, website, etc. can go a long way. We all have a responsibility to suggest areas of improvement when we see them. How can we help to build common understanding between library staff and library users?

Who made my day?

Posted on Twitter:

"I cut your late fines in half because you like Down." - guy working at NYU @bobstlibrary. Where academia and metal meet, there is love!"

I LOVE this tweet for a several reasons.

First of all, the library administration--from supervisors clear up through the Dean--encourages staff to waive up to $50 in fines just to make someone's day. Even if there isn't a compelling reason. I feel that this particular freedom is underutilized by circ staff as a tool for creating good will, so I'm glad to see that it was used, very successfully used, in this instance.

I also love that it got out there on Twitter, creating a ripple effect of good will. This patron has 166 followers who all know that not only is Bobst understanding about fines, we're cool! (OK, as an old fart librarian maybe I shouldn't be so quick to claim coolness,, but the person who waived these fines is definitely cool, and that person represents the library. There's some "coolness by extension" there.)

Lastly, I love this tweet because my boss monitors what people tweet about Bobst, so it makes me look pretty good in my superior's eyes.

Who was this "guy working @ NYU bobstlibrary?" who made my day? It was Wes Wambold. Well done Wes. Thanks for making this patron's day and my day.

Adventures in Library School, Part One

So, I've decided to become a librarian...

I recently started the Master's Program at the Palmer School at Long Island University. As many of you probably know, they have a remote office in Bobst Library and offer classes here in the building.

I came into the program thinking, "Oh, I've worked in libraries for a while, this will be a breeze." While, so far, the work is introductory, I am actually learning a lot.

In my "Intro to Library & Information Science" class, the instructor gave a lecture on the permeability of library knowledge in other occupational fields. The main theme of the lecture was that librarianship does not limit you to working in a library. Much of the theory that applies to librarianship can be applied to jobs in the business world, sociology, journalism and elsewhere. In addition, there is the "knowledge industry," those companies that produce and service everything from library furniture to online databases and library systems like Aleph & ILLiad.

One is not confined to libraries by obtaining a Master's in Libary Science. Though jobs outside the library world do not interest me at the moment, it's nice to know that the job market will be flexible to accomodate my degree and that changing careers will not be outside the realm of possibilities.

In my "Reference Sources & Services" class, we're learning the basics of what it means to work as a reference librarian. Almost half of the textbook deals with the customer service aspect of the job, as well as staff performance, evaluation, development, and continual learning.

It is comforting, in a way, to have a textbook reinforce the things I learn at my job. It's also nice to know that when Access Services implements things like the Service Excellence Initiative or various ClimateQual-related activities, it is a mark of what a good library should undertake.

A library's virtue is in its ability to share knowledge, not only with patrons but also among all tiers of library employees. By trying to improve our services, we are evaluating our workplace and our "work selves," something in which a library should constantly engage.

I'm also bringing a lot of what I'm learning into my collaboration with the Access Services Advisory Council, which is currently working on a project for the Service Excellence Working Group. My library classes have informed my approach to the project, and the Council, of course, has already done amazing work. As we gather information from our colleagues and analyze it, we are on our way to preparing a cohesive and thorough report that accurately represents the concerns of each Access Services division.

I plan to post more as I come across interesting library school-related bits of information. For now, I'm glad I've taken the plunge.

Can we make the library a more welcoming place?

Congratulations on another incredibly successful Book Circle. I was so glad that I was able to attend. What I found there was a cozy, intimate, welcoming atmosphere full of great conversation. What a great event sponsored by the Access Services Advisory Council and made successful by everyone who attended. Yet another reason why I'm really proud to be part of Access Services.

I just returned from a vacation that included a really long plane ride and no household responsibilities (I do love my in-laws) so I actually had some time to read for the first time in a long time. I'm reading a book called Setting the Table, written by restaurateur Danny Meyer of the Union Square Cafe. If you've never been to USC, I highly recommend it. By New York City standards, it's a high quality restaurant (Zagat top 10) that's pretty reasonably priced. But, what sets USC apart is its service, or what Danny Meyer calls hospitality. It's a very relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. Making the distinction between hospitality and service, he writes:

Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery makes the recipient feel. Service is a monologue--we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on one's guest's side requires listening to that person with every sense and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top. (p. 65)

If library service is the technical delivery of a product, we certainly have excellent service. We know how to place claim returns, create reserve links, create guest passes, shelve books and borrow materials from other libraries without problems. There is no question that with all of the demands on us, we are getting the job done. But there is another level of service that we have yet to conquer, and that's hospitality. Delivering hospitality is what stands between providing good service and providing excellent service.

Tomorrow, we roll out our Service Excellence Initiative. Unlike other one-off customer service training classes, this is a semester long series of experiences designed to get all of us thinking about how we can provide welcoming, hospitable service. How we can listen and be genuinely empathetic to our users. I know this is possible because Access Services has created an exemplar of a welcoming, hospitable environment in the Book Circle, so we simply need to extend this to our communications with users and co-workers. This will be a shared goal that we will all work together on through the Spring semester. Eileen, Eric, Deb and I, aided by the rest of the Access Sups and the Access Services Advisory Council, have devised a program that will be both fun and informative and we look forward to experiencing this process together.

Manners, please

I just had an experience at Moxa that I had to share with you. The person in front of me in line was really quite unbelievably rude! It wasn't that she was hostile, or angry or overly demanding. She just didn't add any of the niceties of polite conversation that even my two-year-old has mastered.

She approached the "Moxa Guy" (those of you who buy coffee at Moxa know who I'm talking about--the black haired guy who is always there, who owns it, I think) and said, "I'll have a large coffee with milk." Then she said, "and I'll have a chocolate croissant." When Moxa Guy brought her croissant on a plate, she said, "oh, no, that's to go."

The whole time I was thinking, "could I PLEASE have a large coffee? May I PLEASE also have a croissant? SORRY, I should have asked for that to go. THANK YOU." It was all I could do not to correct her (see above comment about being the mother of a two-year-old).

What was truly amazing was that Moxa Guy was totally unflappable! He just took it in stride, knowing that it wasn't his job to teach this woman manners. His job was to fix her coffee and croissant, and while I'm sure he finds it a whole lot more fulfilling and pleasant to do so for people who are friendly and polite, he treated her with the same high service standards that he treats the polite people with.

Here's the kicker: when this woman opened her wallet to pay, I noticed she had a Friends of Bobst card. I'm not making this up. It drove home the point that while we occasionally get inappropriate or hostile users, it's much more common that we simply get impolite ones. And, just like Moxa Guy, it's not our job to teach them manners. It's our job to assist them with their library use...even if their mothers didn't teach them to say please and thank you when they were two.

Communicating: speak clearly, listen carefully

For my first post here on the Access Services Blog I am going to talk a little about a class I attended a few weeks ago called Managing Communication Successfully.

In case it’s not obvious the class was about improving ones communication skills. I quickly learned that improving my skills was not just about learning to speak better but also learning to listen better. There are two sides to communication: speaking and listening. During any given conversation we usually participate on both of those sides and should be aware of the barriers that may prevent clear communication.

A few Communication Barriers are:
Unclear message or instructions
Poor listening skills
Languages and cultures
Communication styles
Stress and emotions
Noise
Making assumptions
There are of course many more that we have all experienced.

The class did not just dwell on the problems of communication though. We also discussed constructive ways to improve our communication skills. Both speaking and listening.

Deliver clear messages.
Be succinct
Be specific
Be generous

Ask open questions that encourage longer answers.
Open question: What help do you need? (This prompts a dialog.)
Closed question: Do you need help? (This prompts a one word answer.)

Listen actively.
Face the speaker and make eye contact
Focus on the person’s words and non-verbal language
Ask questions related to what the speaker has been talking about
Empathize

Many of us working in public service positions don’t even think about how much our jobs are really about communication. From writing emails to coworkers to speaking directly with a patron to assist them we are participating in some form of communication every day. Being able to speak and listen well not only makes us good at our jobs it can also make our jobs easier.

(just for fun take an online test about your communication skills at: http://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/2151)