Lessons Learned...

Well, today marks the end of 23 Things at Howard County Library. (Note the dance of joy!) This has been quite a roller coaster ride - great highs, scary lows and a few surprising twists and turns.
Let me begin by saying that feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Most people who signed up are glad that they did. Everyone has reported that they learned some things, even the fairly tech savvy among us. People who finished felt quite a sense of accomplishment. Several of our "more seasoned" staff -- the folks who didn't want to sign up because "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" -- found that they knew more than they thought they did and didn't have as much difficulty digesting all the technology as they predicted they would. All in all, a lot of chests were puffed up by meeting the challenge of 23 Things.
Perhaps the greatest organizational lessons learned were in the realm of 1) our readiness to pursue online learning, and 2) the need for greater partnership between supervisor and employee in learning activities. These were important lessons, especially for me in this newly created role of Staff Development Coordinator.
23 Things was a massive undertaking, too large for a first large-scale effort at online learning. Even so, the attempt revealed that we have much more work to do with computer competencies to get staff ready for online learning. Basic skills such as cutting & pasting or attaching a file to an email still elude some of our staff. The outcome of this is that we're going to move away from having a network of branch technology coordinators, the "go to" people when there's a problem with hardware or software to avoid the IT department being flooded with calls about jammed printers or missing files. Instead, we'll be trying out technology coaches. Their focus will be less on fixing the problem and more on working with the user to avoid the problem in the future, supporting staff in learning how to use the technology around them.
It became clear in the early days of 23 Things that there was not nearly enough communication taking place between supervisors and staff around learning activities. In spite of the fact that both a set of guidelines and an FAQ sheet were developed for specifically for supervisors, I had questions like, "Can you tell me who on my team has signed up for 23 Things?" Yes, supervisors signed off on learning agreements, but many apparently didn't have conversations with their staff about what the agreement meant or what their expectations were. A new performance management philosophy is being developed here at HCL. These tools will help supervisors to manage expectations and help employees manage their workload.
Overall lessons? Again, 23 Things was a massive undertaking - perhaps too massive. The mantra I heard again and again is, "I just don't have time!" Even though we alloted 12 weeks to complete the 9 week program, there were many staff who simply could not finish. With so many things going on, it was difficult for staff to maintain focus for that long, especially without lots of support and guidance from a supervisor. An abbreviated version (more than "Just 3 Things") would have been better for our staff; perhaps a 4 week version, with Things II as a future offering.
Also, even people with the best intentions find it hard to be motivated by an incentive that is given up front. Most of us need the carrot dangling in front of us until we reach the finish line. Eating the carrot at the beginning of the race just makes us feel sluggish as we make our run.
Last, but definitely not least, coordinating such a big project definitely takes more than one person. We had anticipated that there might be up to 1oo staff who would sign up. We had 145. That was way too large a group for one person to serve in the role of tutor, coach, cheerleader, troubleshooter, MP3 distribution manager and record keeper. Next time, I'll need an army of clones.
We probably will do 23 Things again in 2008 for new staff. All of these lessons will play a part in how we manage it next time. I'll look forward to hearing what lessons were learned at other libraries so that we can incorporate those best practices as well.