Marianne Lenox
Marianne Lenox holds a degree in Communications and a background in theater which helped her bluff her way through a varied list of jobs that included retail management and outside sales. As a stay-at-home-mom in the mid 90’s, she decided to learn about the Internet and computers instead of watching soap operas and drinking Bloody Mary's. Between diaper changes she volunteered at her local library branch of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library in Alabama and ultimately became a library employee as the children entered school. Serving in several different capacities, Marianne found her true calling in library administration as the Staff Training and Development Coordinator in 2004. She is also involved with public training classes, heads the disaster team and is the United Way fundraising chair. Her duties were expanded to include volunteer relations in 2008 when she was named Staff & Volunteer Development Coordinator for HMCPL. Her interests include learning in work, personal and social environments, presentation style and delivery, and greater knowledge through networking and technology. Marianne is an entertaining speaker and knowledgeable trainer to library groups and other organizations on a variety of topics. She also blogs at The MLxperience, still insisting that her Internet addiction is a Good Thing.
Homepage: http://mlxperience.blogspot.com
Jabber/GTalk: librarysupporter@gmail.com
Posts by Marianne Lenox
On Sunshine, Smiles and Kittens
Feb 18th
This post is not going to be about workplace violence, even though it’s recently been heavy on my mind. On February 17th, an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at The University of Alabama in Huntsville opened fire in a staff meeting killing three coworkers and injuring three more. Dr. Amy Bishop is now charged with those crimes. My library is in Huntsville, everyone who works here knows someone at UAH.
Nor is it going to be about conflict management, though I’ve got a fairly good presentation on that topic and can talk about it for hours.
While this post is about workplace etiquette, it’s not a broad guide. There are plenty of those available. I’d like to step back even further and discuss one small thing we can do at work to reduce daily stress and create a better work environment for everyone.
I remember staying after school one day in elementary school to help a teacher pack up her room at year’s end. As I said goodbye, the teacher handed me an old poster with ragged corners. “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours” quoted the poster, complete with rays of sunshine on a kitten. She told me she wanted me to have it because she’d noticed how quick I was to smile at the other children, always cheerful and ready to help. She spoke of kindness and courtesy, manners and graciousness. It has a huge impact on me, I would even call it empowering.
In 2006 I attended a SirsiDynix Webinar with Pat Wagner called “Library Conflict Management for Consenting Adults Turning Enemies into Allies” in which she mentioned that libraries should have a “civility clause” for employees. Soon after, I conducted a little experiment in the staff-only halls of the library. Moving through the building, I pulled up my the corners of my mouth and set a smile there. Every single person who passed said hello or wanted talk about something. The next day, I set a frown before I roamed the halls. A couple of people said I looked tired, one even asked what was wrong. It was as if the energy around me changed instead of just a few facial muscles, I was really struck with the results. Many times since I’ve heard someone make a nasty remark or slam a door in anger at work and wish we had a policy for Being Nice.
Call me Pollyanna, it’s been done before. I’m a firm believer in the power of positivity. When doing research on a class for managers on giving evaluations, I relied heavily on The Power of Positive Criticism by Hendrie Weisinger. He writes of emotional intelligence, being improvement-oriented and guarding self-esteem in those around you. The book had a profound effect on the way I deal with people in every aspect of my life and I recommend it often to others.
Too often we forget simple courtesy in the workplace. Don’t wait until you have to bring in a conflict resolution arbitrator or consult the attorneys on harassment law. It’s too late when you’re forced to hire grief counselors.
You have the power to give someone a smile today. It’s free and it feels good. Who knows? You might just get one back in return.
Funeral services for Dr. Adriel Johnson, Dr. Gopi Podila and Dr. Maria Ragland Davis begin today.
Image credit: The Huntsville Times
Information about UAH’s Department of Biological Sciences Memorial Scholarship Fund may be found here.
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Loading ...Marianne’s Day in the Library
Jan 13th
When asked to write an introductory post I knew that my answers to 27 questions could never measure up with the others that had been posted, so I thought I’d let my new camera do it for me. Bobbi Newman’s fabulous Library Day in the Life Project is coming round again soon for Round Four, and she didn’t mind that I get a bit of a jump-start and use the format for this spiel. This time I’m using a Flickr Slideshow, if you’ll view it full screen and check for descriptions under Options or at Flickr you’ll get my notes for each image…
I’m so fortunate to love what I do and that I get to learn from other people, here, doing much the same thing. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of my fellow contributor’s biographical posts and the upcoming Library Day in the Life pieces, all to connect us just a little bit more.
Marianne Lenox, Staff & Volunteer Coordinator
Huntsville Madison County Public Library
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...A Collaborative Learning Experiment: Top Ten Customer Service Skills for Library Staff
Dec 14th
Recently I was asked to give a 15 minute talk on customer service skills to the Huntsville – Madison County Public Library Public Service staff at their regular monthly meeting. Though I started the discussion with ten points outlined below, I knew that our front line staff could contribute even more and wanted to capture the exchange. We live-blogged it on our Drupal-based staff Intranet, adding notes during the discussion and encouraging comments afterward. Here are the results of that conversation:
- Greet every customer
Every single patron deserves your eye contact: A smile and a hello are even better. Jackie Matthews (Youth Services) spoke of introducing herself, letting the patron know that she is willing to help if there are problems or questions. “Be alert for customers that come in the library angry or upset, a greeting validates the patron and let’s them know they are valuable to us. Sometimes a patron just doesn’t know where to go and will hover around a public service desk or in the stacks, often not asking for help.” Cerene Prince, of the Computer Training Center, spoke of engaging the patron in conversation to create a friendly, accessible atmosphere in the library. - Be aware of non-verbal clues
Occasionally a customer will approach a desk or a staff member with a set jaw and a fierce look. Typically this type of body language might alert us to an impending conflict and allow the staff member to create the proper tone for the conversation. Kill them with kindness and anticipate the solution, reminding yourself where supervisors are at the moment. Also consider the non-verbal clues you might be projecting: slumped posture or arms folded indicate an unwillingness to help. - Listen
Sometimes to be heard is all a patron really wants. Listening skills allow you to get past “Can I help you?” - Restate the problem or question
Not only will you make sure you’ve heard the issue correctly, but restating the customer’s issue will validate the situation. Give the patron a chance to ask questions after your restatement. David Lilly, head of reference and adult services reminded us to, “ask open-ended questions to help narrow down the issue if it seems vague.” - Be Empathetic
Find common ground, and have compassion for the issues at hand. Even if you don’t agree, apologize for the situation. You really can be sincere when you say, “I am so sorry this is causing a problem.” - Provide alternatives to “No”
If you can’t find a solution, find someone who will. Trying to find something else to say when your first impulse is a negative reply proves that you have been listening and truly want to help. Susanna Leberman, of Heritage and Archives, often uses “Let me confer with my colleagues” as a customer service catch-all to a quandary. In the session, she noted a recent episode in which a pair of genealogy patrons needed a particular book from the archives. As it sometimes happens, the book was not on the shelf where it was supposed to be. After a five-minute search, she returned to the pair and explained that the book was missing and asked how long they planned on visiting the library that day, indicating that other staff were willing to help. Susanna rallied the department and reported that, “Though it was a bumpy road getting the researchers what they wanted, with team effort and a little time, the problem was solved.” - Reserve judgment
Always be a professional representative of our mission: This is the public’s library. It doesn’t matter how a patron is dressed or what they are checking out, it’s important that we never are seen to be critical of the customer or the materials he or she checks out. - Get (back) to them as soon as possible
Whether on the phone, email or in-person, treat the patron with respect by following though. A real, live customer comes first over those on the phone. Often a patron’s phone call may be transferred from one department to another in search of resolution. Computer training center coordinator Stormy Dovers noted that she learns as much about the other departments as possible so that when patrons call with questions she can answer… instead of sending them to someone else. - Follow your gut instinct
If you get feeling that something is wrong, it probably is. I noted that staff should immediately contact security or a supervisor, but call 911 if you see a crime being committed in the library. - Thank them for using the library
Your parting words to the patron may very well be what is remembered most about a visit to the library. Are there upcoming programs or new resources to discover? Let them know we’re glad they came and offer them a reason to come back!
That afternoon, Development Director Stephenie Walker added to the talk’s blog post on our staff Intranet: “In a time when funding is at an all-time low it can be easy to be discouraged and feel helpless, but no matter what, we always have control over how we interact with patrons. In the end, they are why we do what we do – from placing a book on hold, to fundraising, to advocating with a commissioner, we do it for them.”
We do it for the patron. I just love that. Thanks, Stephenie, and all our staff who helped with this project. We learned a lot.
Like any set of skills, evaluation and practice go along way towards mastery. Customer service is no exception. In this case, the conversations around each issue during the talk allowed us to explore beyond the bullet points. As the discussion continued online, staff added even more examples of excellent customer service: I am considering this experiment in collaborative learning a success.
Can you think of other learning methods that can be used to combine content and real-life experiences? Please share!
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...The Library Trainer as Constructivist eLearner
Nov 27th
Image: Instructional Design by Lauren Pressley
Like many others I’m learning how to do most of my job on the fly. Because the precepts of my own learning require me to share, I thought I’d air my own personal learning adventures in case there are others in the same situation. Learning Just In Time, I’m grappling Andragogy (Adult Learning theory) and Instructional Design theory so that I can effectively build professional learning plans in a Learning Management System for HMCPL staff.
After my recommendation, we have a brand new installation of Moodle, the leading open source LMS application in the educational community, as the basis for what will be a series of competency-based learning plans for staff. While it’s still in the ITS testing phase, I’m trying to get in the right frame of mind before I begin. Of the three learning theories (Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism) Moodle’s philosophy is guided by a “social constructionist pedagogy” which might be perfectly suited for library staff learning. The concept behind PLCMC’s “23 Things” seems to be an excellent example of Constructivism, in that by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in.
While there are There are Model-Based Usability Heuristics for Constructivist e-Learning, I do plan on submitting a budget request so that I may participate in a Moodle-based class titled “Implementing Online Teaching and Learning: Using Moodle and Other Web 2.0 Features” by Diane K. Kovaks. Until then, I’ve come up with a syllabus of my own: I’m subscribed to eLearning Learning Community’s feed for Instructional Design to keep up with the latest posts on the subject and I’m absorbing well. I’m following Thursday evenings’ #lrnchat on Twitter. Though still at the legitimate peripheral participation (lurking) stage, I spoke up just this week and was rewarded with good conversation about learning. Moodle tutorials (2 Minute Moodles) are to familiarize myself with the Moodle interface, while Martin Ryder of the University of Colorado at Denver School of Education has compiled an exhaustive list of Instructional Design Models and I’m working through those.
Interesting that Catherine Lombardozzi is studying the Constructivist theory within the ADDIE Instructional Design Model to develop a Learning Environment Design model. A more common, systematic approach to eLearning, the ADDIE model get’s it’s name from the following five components: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. Raleigh Way of Georgia Southern University’s Center for Online Learning says that ADDIE is a “strategic planning of a course. It is a blueprint that you design and follow. It helps us connect all the dots to form a clear picture of teaching and learning events” and has an excellent set of tutorials here.
Thought recently maligned, I appreciate the systemic manner and fluid hierarchy of ADDIE, and the more I study it more I feel this approach can be given to almost any talk, course or series of learning opportunities.
In TechSoup’s recent webinar Tech Training Made Simple with Online Videos with Lee Lefever (creator of those fabulous CommonCraft videos) I asked Lee if he had any tips for library trainers on teaching technology. His reply was to tell a story with a sympathetic character, then solve that character’s problem. A dominating thread in his videos, we all relate to his characters and scenarios. While there is debate among professional Instructional Designers about the lack of ID theory in CommonCraft videos, there is no doubt as to their effectiveness on the adult learner. I know I’m just at the beginning of my learning journey here and that there are many experts to learn from. but this is the level of ‘explainability’ that I hope to achieve in our staff learning plans.
Do you have recommendations for creating courseware which inspires learning at the CommonCraft level? If so, please share. If it can’t be done, then why?
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Learning the 80%
Sep 24th
When I was named Staff Training and Development Coordinator for my library the only training I received was a folder which held a couple of hotel reservations. I found out fairly quickly that am responsible for learning the things I need to know to do my job. Ultimately, I’ve learned on my own most of what I know. Trainers may sometimes refer to this as The Other 80% or your Work Literacy. The lovely irony here is that as a proponent of personal learning I could essentially theorize myself out of a job. Still, professional development plans and competencies are not enough, we all need time to learn on our own.
Part of my personal learning process is to review the skills I’ve learned, so I’ve given thought to what daily skills I use to help me get my job done and how I learned them. The step also helps me set my future goals as a responsible learner.
Here’s an outline of my five most useful skills achieved through informal learning:
- Accessing: I first discovered I needed to learn Microsoft Access when I had to create an inventory system as Hardware Specialist for the library. I balked, but as Training Coordinator, learning relationship database management has been invaluable. I use it every day for tracking employee learning and sending out evaluation reminders, reporting data to the managers. I poured through all of Microsoft’s tutorials, but found the most help by searching for what I wanted to accomplish to see how others did it before me. While we may move to a packaged learning management system, I’ll still use Access for my general database needs.
- Listening: If the news is important, it will find me, but only If I’m really listening. I’ve learned to retrieve information in bulk with Google Reader, using filters and searching to narrow down what’s important. I learned to tame my inbox with rules and prioritize what I need to hear.
- Authoring: For work on our staff Intranet and creating HTML pages for computer classes I spent a lot of time over at W3Schools playing with their TryIt Editor. Both the HTML and CSS sections were invaluable, I still use the site as reference today.
- Visualizing: Pouring through Adobe’s Photoshop and Premier Elements help files provided good just-in-time training when I needed to create images or video to help communicate something visually. I took quite a few free online tutorials in Photoshop when I first started with it, and continue to watch for new techniques in graphic design.
- Presenting: Sure, I started out with PowerPoint presentations full of text and bullet points just like everyone else, but then I started watching how the best and brightest were presenting. Technical training is it’s own specialty, and much trial and error as gone into learning to produce quick HowTo’s for our library staff. I think I’ve tried every free screencasting service there is, with varying degrees of success. Fortunately developers often make screencasts of how to use that particular screencasting product. I’m currently using the Procaster plugin from Livestream because I can create a live session, with chat, for staff in our outlying branches while still creating an archive. Social learning has helped me fine tune these skills: By following other library trainers I’ve learned not only how to teach, but what I should be teaching.
We all have work skills we’ve taught ourselves, what are your yours?
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