2019 Pacific Northwest Library Association Conference

Do you want to create a better team environment at your library, where your staff treats each other and customers with respect and goodwill? Jenny Berg, Adam Carlson, Kimbre Chapman and Alice Darnton, supervisors from McMinnville Public Library, will share how their mid-sized public library transformed its culture to be more positive and inclusive, thereby improving customer satisfaction. During a time of anxiety caused by high turnover and leadership changes, we led our 20-person staff in brainstorming the ways they want to treat each other. The resultant list became the library’s Staff Ground Rules. The library work teams have revisited the Staff Ground Rules regularly in meetings for the past three years. We have discovered that customer service has been significantly improved as a result. Great customer service starts within ourselves and our work teams– if we thrive as a team, we thrive as an organization, and the library will thrive within the larger community. We have since used the Staff Ground Rules, and the process from which we arrived at them, as part of a new Strategic Plan. Presentation attendees will leave this session with tools they can implement to create a better team environment at their libraries.  

Presentation attendees will leave this session with tools they can implement to create a better team environment at their libraries, including positive relationship building, holding people accountable and having critical conversations, fun ways to keep the positive team dynamic front and center, and getting staff buy in for various library initiatives.