PTEG Survey 2012

Overview of Survey: The survey ran from 30 November 2011 to 13 January 2012. 62 PTEG members completed the survey.

Sector: The majority of members work in either the academic (43.5%) or the public library sector (22.65%).

Role: Most PTEG members currently hold a management role (85.5%)

Cilip Membership: PTEG members are long term members of Cilip. 88.7% of respondents have been Cilip members for 10 or more years.

PTEG Membership: 43.5% of our members have been in PTEG for 10 years or more.

Reasons for joining PTEG: Most common reasons for joining were around becoming a mentor and interest or responsibility for the training and development of themselves or their staff.

PTEG Offer: PTEG members would find regular e-mail updates from PTEG focusing on activities and management issues/skills for LIS (79%) the most useful as part of the offer of the group. This was closely followed by support for mentors in the form of training and information on the website (64.5%), training events, held across the country, focusing on management issues/skills for LIS (54.8%) and a regular conference focusing on management issues/skills for LIS (48.4%).

PTEG Blog: Only a small number of respondents have looked at the blog (25.8%). Of those that had looked at it most responses were positive.

Other Cilip Groups: Based upon this survey PTEG members are most likely to also be members of UCR (35.5%), CDG (22.6%) or the Public Libraries Group (21%).

Learning & Development Websites

and finally … the New Year is well under way and I”m just getting around to putting up another posting.  I’m feeling like a bit of a lone voice here though – so if you’d like to share with us please do submit a posting – we’d love to hear from you. 

For today, however, here is my offering.

Learning & Development Websites:

Recently I’ve been looking at a number of websites which I think might be useful to share.  Finding good resources and facilitators can make or break the delivery of effective learning and development.   So here are a few from me and I’d be delighted to see other links to resources that you think are worthwhile too.

Facilitators – library experience

www.theprofessionalismgroup.co.uk

www.buckleyowen.com

www.leadingedgetraining.org.uk

www.bridgfordconsultancy.co.uk

I’ve only shared providers I know with previous library experience but do let me know if you’d like us to share other training providers that we come across outside of the library world.

Resources

http://businessballs.com

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk

http://www.leadingedgetraining.org.uk

http://www.microsoft.com/business/en-us/resources/management/small-business-leadership-training.aspx

Disclaimer:  the resources from the web links in this blog need to be investigated against your own criteria of need and we take no responsibility for the content or delivery from them.

Happy Christmas and New Year Tips for Managers

 

As we break for Christmas, the PTEG committee would like to wish you a warm and happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. 

Rather than a Christmas message (and as I’m so late posting) I thought I’d add in a few tips for the New Year.   Here’s to a successful and stress controlled 2012. 

Ring in the New…. 

New Year Resolutions for Managers

 As we start work again after the New Year here are a few tips to help with managing more effectively and keeping our own stress levels at bay!

• Delegate properly – give the authority along with the activity – explain everything thoroughly, check out understanding by asking them to paraphrase what they understand you to be asking them to achieve and then let them go and do it their own way!   Have reviews but avoid interfering.  The more they take responsibility the more they will achieve.
• Put aside planning time!  You know the adage – ‘He who fails to plan, plans to fail’.  We all know in our hearts that we need to plan but finding the time to do so is often a real headache.  Try to diary planning time including planning the week ahead – in your last or first slot of the week – but diary it – and stick to it!  Being clear about what is most important as opposed to what is most urgent helps you to avoid leaping from one crisis to another and instead helps you to be proactive instead of just being reactive.
• Work out the best time-management strategy for you.   There are so many different ways to manage your time and work more efficiently and you need to find the one which will suit you best.   As part of this decide what is on your to do list which is never going to get done and ditch it!  If it’s been hanging about that long it can’t be too important!
• Make sure you do an annual review (at minimum) with each of your team to ensure they are achieving and not sinking!  All the skills you need in managing time, planning and delegating probably apply to them too so share best practice and don’t be afraid to take on their strategies if they feel more appropriate than your own – we can learn from everyone.
• And finally … Build in time for learning something new.  Well you would expect that from PTEG wouldn’t you!   There are so many ways to improve both your own and your colleague’s development but sometimes we’re so busy managing the development of other’s that we forget to manage our own.  So look at the many free resources and consider what you could learn that would really help you to move forward this year.

 

The Nine Principles of Coaching

 As part of developing our coaching skills we need to understand and develop our abilities to facilitate the nine principles of coaching:

Awareness: everything the coach says and does is focused on raising the coachee’s own awareness and self-knowledge.

Responsibility: self-responsibility – or taking ownership of our decision – we learn better when we discover things for ourselves than when others tell us.

Self-belief: there are two components to building people’s confidence – allowing them the space to practise, stretch themselves and make mistakes and giving them recognition for their achievements.

Blame free: mistakes are viewed as learning experiences – not reasons to look for a scapegoat. 

Solution focus: when we dwell on a problem it gets bigger. When we focus on the solution, the problem becomes manageable and we find more energy to deal with it. 

Challenge: Most of us like to be challenged and stretched within a supportive and encouraging environment.

Action: Coaching uncovers new perspectives and awareness.  In this way, coachees gain new insight, which leads to more options, which in turn lead to a desire to take action and change.

Trust: without trust between the coach and coachee, it is not possible for coaching to take place.  Trust is fundamental to the coaching relationship. 

 Self directed learning: This is the core principle of coaching: a coach or a leader who is managing in a coaching style focuses on empowering their people to identify and develop their own resources so that they may achieve their potential in a fulfilling and stimulating way. 

 The big question is how do you develop the skills to really ensure these principles are embedded in your work.    If you have any ideas of ways to develop coachees or mentees in any of these areas why not post them and we’ll compile a list of good ideas for development.

 The next ‘Coaching as a Leadership Tool’ course will be held in the New Year.  Please e-mail carol.brooks@derbyshire.gov.uk if you would like to be advised of forthcoming courses.

The Purpose of Coaching & Mentoring

 I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the purpose of coaching and mentoring.  I attended a meeting at LSIS where we looked at a list of purposes.  I’ve out some of them below and I’d be interested to hear what you think of them and whether you have any others you’d like to add into the pot.

 The key purpose of coaching and mentoring is …..

  …to help an individual to develop personally and/or professionally in a given context

  …to provide support for the development of an individual in a given context

  …to enable an individual to develop through the transfer of knowledge, understanding and skills based on the experience of another

  …the acquisition of skills, knowledge and understanding through which people renew their abilities and maximise their impact

   …to facilitate the performance, learning and development of an individual (in a given context)

  …to help an individual to learn through the knowledge and experiences of others

  …to help individuals to develop competencies to manage their learning to fulfil their potential

 And finally – the one suggested by LSIS in the new National Occupational Standards for Coaching and Mentoring:

 “To facilitate, in a given context, learning, development and performance, to help others to develop the skills, competences and attitudes to achieve the desired outcomes.”

 If you’d like to take part in the survey about the draft NOS for Coaching and Mentoring then go to this link (closing date for submissions 11/11/11) 

http://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=131582521094

And to see the draft NOS go to http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=320143

Carol Brooks

Mentor Training

PTEG is responsible for delivering training to those wishing to mentor candidates working towards Cilip qualifications. Lisa Jeskins, a recent attendee at one of these events, has posted a review of the training on her blog. The article, called Enable, encourage and enthuse… or becoming a CILIP mentor, provides a short over view of the mentor training course which took place in Wigan and includes Lisa’s reasons for deciding to become a mentor.

SHALL Talent Management Toolkit

Talent management is currently a “hot topic” for many managers. The SHALL SDG (Strategic Health Authority Library Leads Staff Development Group) have recognised a need across libraries for more support in this area and in response have produced the SHALL Talent Management Toolkit. 

Whereas in the past the term talent management was generally applied to the management of specific highflyers many organisations are “broadening their definitions, looking at the ‘talents’ of all their staff and working on ways to develop their strengths.” (CIPD, 2011). The self-directed toolkit covers the 5 recognised stages of talent management and provides links to case studies, good practice examples, links to relevant websites and useful resources.Within each of the five main areas the toolkit is further divided into the following sections.

IDENTIFY   TM Toolkits / TM Systems   Career advice, guidance and fairs   Apprenticeships

ATTRACT   Vacancy advertising and recruitment surveys   Support from Professional Bodies   Generic and library specific qualifications

DEPLOY   Identifying current workforce skills & harvesting knowledge   Training Needs Analysis

DEVELOP   Skills assessment & development   Shadowing schemes   Focus groups

RETAIN   Leadership development   Knowledge retention and transfer   Influencing skills   Reflective practice   Literature searching

The toolkit will be revised on a regular basis and reviewed annually. If you have any suggestions for additions or useful resources please contact me (gil.young@nhs.net).

 Gil Young
CPD & Partnerships Manager, Health Care Libraries Unit and PTEG Hon. Sec

REFERENCES
CIPD (2011) Talent management: an overview. CharteredInstitute ofPersonal and Development,London,UK. Viewed 17 October 2011 http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/talent-management-overview.aspx

Top Tips Towards using coaching in the workplace

Familiarise yourself with the GROW coaching model (see Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore)

If possible attend a course as an introduction to coaching

Look carefully at the nine principles of coaching

Ensure you understand the coaching toolbox:

• Listening
• Questioning
• Clarifying and reflecting
• Making suggestions
• Seeking permissions
• Giving and receiving feedback

As situations arise consider whether they might be usefully enhanced by either informal or formal coaching options

Practise active listening skills – observe carefully what you are doing in conversations and how much you are really listening

Work on using coaching language in conversations, particularly when issues are brought to you e.g. when someone asks you what they should do turn it around to ask them what they think, what they’ve already tried, who they think could support them etc.

Check out a range of good questions: open, probing, specific, hypothetical and closed which you can use to coach people

Always view people in terms of their potential rather than their past performance

Ensure that you set outcomes for coaching programmes so that you can measure whether they has been successful

Carol Brooks
PTEG Chair and Learning and Development Officer, Derbyshire

Welcome to the new PTEG Blog.

Welcome to the new PTEG blog.   We have decided to provide this blog to allow for more interaction on personnel, training and education issues.  It is designed to meet the needs of managers, trainers and personnel officers.  Content is encouraged on areas which will support managers and there will be regular updates and a ‘Top Tips Towards…’ programme to support development.   You are welcome to offer content to be posted through our blog editor Gil Young gil.young@nhs.net.   Our hope is that lots of people will offer content and comment on postings so that we can all partner together in providing support for one another.  

We are also developing a programme of courses to support managers.  The first one was Coaching as a Leadership Tool delivered at the end of September.  It went well with 11 participants and we hope to offer that one again in the Midlands and the North West in the not too distant future. We would welcome ideas for other topics you’d like to seed delivered either as open programmes or for specific groups of managers.   We aim to keep costs low so that we can a maximise development against tight budgets.

I hope you enjoy the new blog and the series of ‘Top Tips Towards…’ the first of which will follow shortly.

Carol Brooks
PTEG Chair