Thank you Joan Frye Williams for your comment on my post on change. Joan points out that in their podcast she and George were focusing not on adding new activities and services but on the difficulty of getting people to let go of things "with which they are familiar, comfortable, and confident". I guess the fact that I missed this point proves that I am truly a visual learner who has difficulty absorbing information if it is presented only verbally – and then I compound the problem because I can't just sit and listen - I have to be doing other things at the same time.
Anyway, I think the point is well taken and I agree with Joan and George that it is more difficult to get people to leave behind something they are currently doing than to get them to add something new. As Joan wrote in her comment, "adding new offerings, unless resources are very short, seems to go much more smoothly than subtracting or retiring formerly "best" practices."
I had a recent reminder of this with our Circulation Department at the Peninsula Center Library. Last week we transferred responsibility for signing people up to use our always popular study rooms from the Reference Desk to the Circulation Desk. While there have been a few minor hiccups, and the Circulation staff has identified opportunities to improve procedures, overall the transition has been smooth and the Circulation staff members have accepted the added responsibility willingly. Within a few days of this change I had a conversation with the Manager and Assistant Manager of the department about how we handle items placed on hold for customers. As background, at least 4 years ago (before my time!), PVLD moved to "self-service" holds. When an item is placed on hold for a customer it is labeled with their last name and placed on publicly accessible shelves. The customer can come into the library, pick up the item that is being held for them, and take it either to the self-checkout machine or the Circulation Desk to check it out. While there are occasional glitches, the system largely works well and the feedback I get is that customers like it. A couple of years ago during a staff workshop the Circulation staff asked if we could move the holds back behind the Circulation Desk. Rather than just saying no, we formed a team of Circulation employees who evaluated the entire holds process, conducted customer surveys, and based on the data recommended that we retain the self-service holds. When I was talking with Eve and Melissa last week they said the Circulation staff had asked again whether the holds could be moved behind the desk! Old, comfortable practices sometimes die lingering deaths…especially when the original change was mandated from above.
That said, my experience is that letting go of any particular practice is usually part of a broader cultural change within the organization, and cultural change is evolutionary and adaptive. The old culture never entirely disappears (witness the persistence of ancient pagan celebrations and symbols as reflected in 21st century Christianity!) but new elements are added or old elements are adapted over time. As with any evolutionary process change takes time, and some new elements fail to take root. To me, the fact that PVLD staff have been willing to initiate and embrace new programs and services, even if we haven't always been as good at letting go of old ones, is a sign that overall our culture is changing for the better. I also see many instances where in fact we have been letting go of old traditions and ways of doing things - some of which I have blogged about in previous posts. The key has been that many of the changes we have made have come originated from the staff.
So…I agree with Joan and George on the basic point that letting go of the old and familiar is harder than adding something new and exciting, but I'm not too worried about it. I think that as long as our PVLD staff continues to be open to new ideas, willing to try new ways of doing things, and willing to view things through the eyes of our customers and our community they will also be able to identify and accept the times when we need to let go of the things that no longer work for us. The changes may not always play out exactly as I would have mandated, but they usually turn out better than I hoped!
I guess what I originally reacted to in George and Joan's podcast was the implication that there is some kind of "change model" that dictates how people will react to change – whether it is doing something new or abandoning something old. In a previous life I was heavily involved in Organizational Development, so I know the temptation to try to find a model or theory that can be used to predict behavior. The problem is that I seem to have lost my faith in models! Organizations and the people in them are complex, and like snowflakes no two are alike. Often the ability to implement change depends on unique and non-replicable interactions between a large number of variables including the personalities and backgrounds of the people within the organization, the leadership style that is brought to bear, the external environment, etc. etc. etc. Do I agree that in some organizations in some circumstances people will react to change as if they were reacting to pirates storming the ship? Of course. Do I believe that this is some kind of normal, predictable human reaction? No way!
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