Up the Ante on Change!

Deb Wallace, Executive Director
Knowledge and Library Services, Harvard Business School
SLA Conference, Boston Massachusetts
June 16, 2015

Ms. Wallace gave an informal talk on managing/coping with change.  She opened with an icebreaker on how to frame her talk and opted for a book talk.

Book 1 – First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, by Marcus Buckingham http://www.amazon.com/First-Break-All-The-Rules/dp/0743510119

Have a passion for leveraging libraries.

What makes a successful work environment?  What do good managers do?

Great managers are not doing what the experts say.  Break with conventional wisdom.  They don’t treat everyone the same.

1. Select for talent – it’s about the people.
2. Define the right outcomes – not the process.
3. Focus on strengths
4. Develop people in ways that make sense.  Find the right fit for people – leads to life-long learning.

Book 2 - Disrupting Class, Expanded Edition: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, by Christensen, Johnson and Horn. http://www.amazon.com/Disrupting-Class-Expanded-Disruptive-Innovation/dp/0071749101/

Technological enabler – makes things better

Value change – coherent economic models

Book 3 - The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Ries http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/

Intellectual ambition – scholarship of the school.  We are skirting the edges.  We need to dive in.

No baby steps.  JUMP!

• Build a minimal viable product.
• Measure your findings
• Learn

Just get out there and try!

We learn in three’s – three’s the limit, but one more book…

Paraphrasing Mark Twain – The death of the library is greatly exaggerated.

Book 4 - BiblioTech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google, by John Palfrey http://www.amazon.com/BiblioTech-Libraries-Matter-More-Google/dp/0465042996/

Observations:

Leaders can’t pull – they have to ignite.

It is okay to fail – what is important is to try and learn.

Failure is a drastic term. 

Big failure is when we do harm.  If we aren’t doing harm then we are learning.  But repeating mistakes isn’t acceptable.

As a leader I have to trust myself.  Trust works in all directions.

RACI model - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix

Responsible: Those who do the work to achieve the task.  You will do this.

Accountable (also approver or final approving authority):  The buck stops here.

Communication (Consulted, sometimes counsel): Subject matter experts with whom there is two-way communication.

Informed:  The people who are kept up-to-date on progress

The greatest act of teaching is to learn.