Ambassador Academy for Managing Change

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Ambassador Academy for Managing Change

• Staff Empowerment for Continuous Improvement

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Why Did We Need This?

• SJPL has been in change mode for five years
• Bond building project
• New service models
• Pace of change has accelerated exponentially
• Need to adjust in Real Time rather than
  hierarchical model

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The Fear Factor
The customers wont like it!
Im too busy my duties wont get done.
I didnt get my degree for that.
We will lose our jobs.
This is hard. I cant learn this.
Flavor of the month, this too shall pass.
I dont shelve books!
We dont want to be a bookstore.
I dont do storytimes. I dont serve children.
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Traditional Staff Training

• Heirarchical top down
• Each person, each task
• Hard to change
• Time-consuming
• Not cost-effective

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Ambassador Academy

• New Model for Training
• Teaches big picture thinking
• Staff can work independently
• Learn the why, not the how
• Highly desirable

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Ambassador Academy Techniques

• Explain Why
• Provide practice in decision-making and
  problem-solving
• Make individuals visible, training desirable,
  becomes motivational
• Aquire new skills and techniques
• Institutionalize / demystify change principles

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Change is not institutionalized and effectively
implemented if staff are not knowledgeable and
invested in its success
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GOAL Become a Continuous Improvement Organization

• All staff understand vision and guidelines
• Staff are skilled at implementation
• Staff are empowered to make decisions and act
  according to guidelines

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Train for Change

• Academy empowers staff
• Encourages independent thinking and
  decision-making
• Include all staff and share success widely
• Ambassadors rule!

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San Jose Public Library

• Mary Nacu
• mary.nacu_at_sjlibrary.org
• LibrariesSan Jose Way
• www.sanjoseway.org