MLA Conference Positive Approaches to Organizational Change

Speakers Leo Agnew, M. Jean Darbyshire, and Keith Russell

Session discussing Organizational Development (OD)

Ground Rules
-Confidentiality
-Speak up
-Stay on Point

Parking Garage Concept
-Long-term parking, issues that we would like to deal with in future meetings. Long-term issues

Techniques Used
-Radical Inquiry - 3 stage process
--What happened, What is the impact, Now what do we do about this
Used with employee/employer situations

-Elevator Presentations
--short presentations that can be given in the time you ride an elevator

Principles of Practice
-Values-based
--think of others as we go through these values

Get more accomplished if focusing on the positive
Start with the positive and if that doesn't work, go to plan b

Start off to do everything possible to make sure that your organization is healthy. If there is something that needs to change, note it and make decisions on how to change it if it really needs to be changed.

When there are problems or issues there are three things
-People
-Processes
-Problems

With those there are
-communication
-documentation
-accountability

Ladder of Inference
-Select data from an ocean of data
-Interpret the data
-Draw conclusions
Our conclusions are affected by how we interpret data..the data we select impacts the next steps...currently held conclusions affect the data selected to support the conclusion.

Conclusions are often presented as factual when they are actually inferential.

Personal Responsibility
-See that the organization is successful
-Everyone has the opportunity for input
-Get a mentor
-If you can't get experience at work, look at social clubs and volunteer work

Sidenote: Put on your resume that you are nice. Interpersonal skills

Try to find an organization that meshes with your values.
Higher-level thinking in libraries - brought about by OD

Ask new hires what they think about the organization, you can find out what kind of an organization you really have.

Book: The Power of Appreciative Inquiry

My thoughts: I have never been to a presentation that was made up of mini presentations. It was actually very good and a good way to provide a lot of information in a short amount of time. I was very pleased with this session, however there was a lot of information and a lot of handouts. This is one that I will take back to work and try to digest more slowly.