All posts by Mary Jordan

Giving and receiving: Performance Appraisals (Hiring Series #2)

performance-appraisals
It’s a conversation!

Everyone dreads this. It’s hard, as an employee, to have your performance judged – even when the result is good news. And it’s hard, as a manager, to have to come up with insightful things to say about everyone’s work without constantly repeating yourself.

So is it still valuable to go through the process? For most people: yes!

Ideally, a performance appraisal is not a time to talk about problems – though those should be addressed. When there are performance issues during the year, those can be addressed in the moment and dealt with at the time. They should not build up to wait for the annual review. Instead it is a time for people to reflect on their past performance,  and to think about what they want to do over the next year. It is an opportunity to take time out of a hectic schedule, or one that has a lot of repetition from day-to-day and week-to-week, and to see, think, and do some self-evaluation.

Continue reading Giving and receiving: Performance Appraisals (Hiring Series #2)

Looking forward to November: Advocacy! (Training provided!)

advocacy
Tell people how great libraries are!

In November, our Monthly Topic will be Advocacy!!

This is such an important skill for everyone in your library to master. We all need to advocate for ourselves in the workplace, for our libraries, and for the profession. During November we will collect and share information on each of these aspects of advocacy, to help build your skills and your comfort level with it.

At the heart: Advocacy is fun!! We get to tell people how great our libraries are, all the wonderful things we provide to our communities, and how valuable we are!! It can be tempting to just assume people know about this – but we want to really be sure they understand, so we need to tell them. This is our chance to brag!

CMLE will offer an in-person training session at our Headquarters (570 First Street SE, St Cloud, MN 56304). This will happen Nov 15.

  • First session: noon to 1:30:
  • Second session: 4:30 to 6:00
  • Webinar will be provided online for future viewing

You are invited to attend either in-person session (they are identical). Feel free to bring your food! We will provide beverages.

Sign up at our Eventbrite site here!

When you leave this session you will have some basic skills and ideas:

  • identification of your library’s elected representatives
  • a draft email to send to each of them
  • a set of talking points about your library’s value
  • an elevator speech to share your accomplishments
  • details on library service nationally, for easy sharing

Any questions? Send Mary an email.

Would you like a training session brought to your library? Send Mary an email on that too!

 

 

It's your Destiny! Let's get trained!

CMLE Libraries! We are passing on this information about a Destiny online training program for you from Northern Lights Library Network!! CMLE helps to provide this system to you, so we want you to have access to the training. See information below from Gina, your trainer!
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Continue reading It's your Destiny! Let's get trained!

ITEM Members: A call for your input!

This is a message from ITEM, asking for your input on the ESSA issues that will happen in your library! You always want YOUR voice heard in matters important to your work!!

If anyone would like to gather here at CMLE Headquarters prior to the St Cloud meeting on Oct 26, just let us know. We can meet here, have snacks to get fortified, and head over as a group. It could be a good opportunity to chat among ourselves about issues important here in CMLE, and how to best approach ESSA.

Please use the link from ITEM (below) to register for an event that is convenient for you!!

Continue reading ITEM Members: A call for your input!

Writing a Great Library Job Ad (Hiring Series #1)

Your secret weapon to bring in the best library employees!

hiring
Ads bring people to your library!

Everyone has seen job ads. You probably have your current job because you followed one back to your employer.

What do you think of when you think job ad?

  • tedious list of requirements (you don’t even meet some of them)
  • no salary given
  • clipped sentences, acronyms that sound like a bad dating app
  • sounds just like every other ad you read

Too often, this is just what library ads are: a dull, colorless list of requirements assembled without a lot of thought about (or knowledge of) a job. People apply, sure. But are they interested in your library? Are they inspired by your job? Or do they just want a job, any job, and yours is no worse than others??

Job ads can be a way to really show off the best in your organization. Instead of that dull list of stuff that people may or may not ever actually do, this is an opportunity to sell your library as a good place to work. (If it’s not a good place to work, that is a different issue; and one you may want to address before hiring anyone else!)

Continue reading Writing a Great Library Job Ad (Hiring Series #1)