Strategic Planning is an indispensable acitivity: every hour spent on writing strategies and policies more than yields dividends within the medium to long term time horizon.
A strategic plan is necessary because it helps to give a library or information service a sense of direction and clear goals. Formulating a strategic plan helps you to set targets for the short, medium and long-term. Assessment of how well the library meets these targets gives a clear review of our performance. Without setting these targets in a strategic plan how would we assess how well we are performing?
An information service is generally part of a wider organisation perhaps a Hospital Trust or University to which they will have to report to and which provides them with the money to run the service. The organisation will want to know exactly how well the library is performing and how they are planning to develop their services in the future. Having a strategic plan with targets makes the whole process much easier and clearer. A review of how well the library has met the targets from the current strategic plan can be provided as a review of their performance. The strategic plan for the forthcoming year or years can then be provided to illustrate how the service intends to develop. Showing that you have considered your performance and the future would also help if requesting additional funds to provide new or extended services.
Developing a strategic plan gives staff the opportunity to reflect on the service they provide and think about how they want to develop it in the future. We live in a period of continual change and stopping regularly to consider the environment that you are working in helps to ensure that necessary changes are implemented and that the service does not stand still. The process is also an opportunity to consider feedback that the service has received from its customers and ensure that any suggestions have been fully considered and acted upon.
Strategic planning is a library wide activity and by including all staff in the process a variety of different opinion are incorporated. This will also ensure that all staff feel that their opinions are valid and considered and give them a sense of ownership of the plan. Additionally, your staff are the individuals that will be implementing the plan so it is important that they believe in it.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:
Add your own comment with your responses to the following:
How important is strategic planning to you?
How important is strategic planning to your information service?
Think about your responses with regards to the information above, your own experience and your course participant’s opinions.
Save a copy of your response in your portfolio. (You can retrieve it subsequently by returning to the ExFiles Forum blog). Please note that extra credit will be given to portfolios that demonstrate response to the comments of others – either at the time of your initial posting, in a subsequent posting or in subsequent personal reflection.
I guess I'll start the ball rolling!
ReplyDeleteAs a very small local authority in NZ, our organisation does not formally engage in strategic planning at the departmental level.
I feel this is detrimental to our library to the extent that we seem to be "chugging along" - reacting to external events that impact on us, rather than anticipating and preparing for change.
I am now really starting to appreciate all of the benefits of doing strategic planning (provides a sense of direction; enables the setting of clear goals; ability to measure when targets have been achieved; incorporation of customer feedback into library operations; staff involvement and engagement etc.)
I'm coming to the conclusion that, as a library manager, I need to take the initiative, and undertake a strategic planing project with my staff. (Firstly, though, I would have to convince my own manager of the benefits of such an exercise!)
Posted by Sarah
I work in a small branch of the Los Angeles Public Library and I've noticed many of the same issues you are commenting on. There is no formal strategic planning process here. There has currently been a huge restructuring of the citywide system in the face of steep budget cuts. Consequently, my manager has had to let go of many programs and operate with less staff.
ReplyDeleteThe strategic planning process is made up of informal meetings to discuss what programs to let go and which programs we should retain. I can see elements of the planning process at work here, except that it is not so formal.
As the adult librarian positions have been eliminated by order of the city librarian and city council we have had to eliminate some of the adult programs such as Book Group and Book Gossip. We thought we could keep some of the programs such as the Computer Class and the Art class, but they are now being held by trained volunteers. All these decisions have been dictated by the city budget and by the number of staff positions which have dropped from 19 to 9 over the past year.
ReplyDeleteNow there are a limited number of staff, we have had to figure out how the Adult work can be done by a combination of Senior/YA/Children's librarians. The tasks are distributed by workload and by political expediency and how much energy it actually takes, and whether we want to do it, and also whether we can actually fit it in to the daily workload of desk work and other duties. We also have to take into account the fact that the teenagers are routine-driven and that they want programs that are scheduled every week.
Some Young Adult programs are mandated which makes the process of "what not to do & what to do " a little easier. Certain YA/children's programs such as the teen council, teen book, the hiring of teen volunteers, school visits to talk about the collection, and the children's storytimes are all mandated by the Librarywide Charter. In reading the theory, and also thinking about the importance of the strategic planning process, I think it would be helpful, but the problem is finding time to do it with so much workload and so little time throughout the day to devote to it. An informal approach to the process seems to be working out OK so far!
I agree with Sarah on the benefits of strategic planning, but as the manager and sole member of staff of a one-person library in a non-government, not-for-profit organisation with charity status (employed part-time, microscopical budget, low status) undertaking a strategic planning is not feasible. The library must align itself with the organisation, whatever is the direction charted.
ReplyDeleteMy library is also part of a network of libraries operating in the same type of environment. The network presents many advantages: sharing of resources, sharing of expertise, sharing of ideas, breaking the isolation due to the geographical dispersion of our parent organisations.
My colleagues are faced with even bigger issues. Most of them have qualifications other than librarianship and are employed in other roles (administration, records), with only few hours to dedicate to library work and often no budget at all. This is due mainly to low status of the library within a parent organisation that itself operates on a shoestring. Communication among network participants is difficult, with delayed response time to any type of requests. Staff turn-over is another problem, as often the new library manager is not aware of the existence of the network. As the 'oldest' member of the network, I am currently in the process of rebuilding it once again.
In conclusion, in regard to my library I think a formal strategic plan would be an over-the-top project, but I see some of the strategic planning techniques (SWOT analysis and W3 model) can be very useful when revising the 'General Library Policy', that sets the aim and objectives, and the scope of the library.
I now start to think that strategic planning could prove really useful for the network, as it has the potential to generate better cohesion among participants that in turn would deliver more consistent results. The main obstacles to achieving this could be the lack of time network members would be able to dedicate to consultations and possible the lack of commitment from the parent organisations towards facilitating its implementation.
Posted by Silvia
Hi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteFrom my own experience lack of time is definitely is the top excuse for not doing strategic planning! But I have also experienced how demoralising it can be to work in a library without a strategic plan. It was a small library funded by one of the royal college trusts in London, the trustees insisted that there should be a library so there was! It had the funding and resources to provide a really useful service, but a complete lack of ambition, so we just carried on providing a tired service to our dwindling numbers of users. In the month before a left a new head librarian was appointed, with real spark, and first on her agenda was strategic planning - proving our worth to the trust and the users.
So this will probably sound a bit melodramatic but I think strategic planning is vital - without a clear raison d'être libraries die!
Pippa Evans
One thing common to all the posting I have read so far, every library is dependant on and influence by the perceptions of the bigger organisations/ local government authority to which they belong.I am in charge of one of the smaller branches of a regional library service. We are now in a process of change that is ongoing as one of the local government authorities which was and still is a stakeholder in the regional library has taken executive control of the service, Before the regional library was independent but reported to all the local governments who were stakeholders.Strategic planning was performed for the regional library as a whole but not for individual branches, so the difference between branches were not taken into consideration.At my branch I have identified different issues that needed attention and have slowly acted upon the identified issues. This information is recorded in my mind not written anywhere. When I examine how I have identified issues it is similar to strategic planning, as the issues are categorised into what can be easily changed ( eg, collection layout), what is possible with an action plan (eg. Education programmes and events such as meet the author evenings and school holiday activities) and what would be benefitial but not possible (eg. Dedicated public PC to access subscription databases).My organisation is in a process of change and the latest change is collection development/selection by profile/outsourcing. Strategic planning could be use to keep control of collection development/selection despite outsourcing, by establishing what resources are important to our community and creating a profile that meets the communities expectations.
ReplyDeleteCheryl Woodward
I agree that the use of strategic planning is an invaluable tool in assessing where our library is in the organisational framework - identifying what we do well, what we could do better, where threats and opportunities lie.
ReplyDeleteIt's very easy to get caught up in assumptions about our users and services.
Many librarians recognise the need to review their services regularly. A strategic planning process can help to formalise and prioritise the review process.
However the formalised process of a Strategic Plan does need to be approached in a systematic way – with a clear purpose, outcomes and timeframe. If not approached in this way it runs the risk of alienating key library staff who will have much to contribute to the process, which has happened in my own library (a Medical Library servicing the needs of a university and a teaching hospital with a library staff FTE of approx. 12). We visited a strategic planning process about a year ago, driven by the Library Manager; it lacked the clear purpose and timeframes outlined in the article.
The use of an external facilitator in the formal process is particularly important when working with a number of staff and was lacking in our case.
Kareen
I am glad to see that I am not alone in being new to strategic planning. Up until the start of this year, our library had no strategic plan with just basic annual action plans to work by from year to year. Since starting in my workplace three years ago, it was always on my list of 'things to do' but I never found that elusive spare time. In fact, when I asked around the organisation, very few units had a strategic plan. Our organisation only implemented one last year for 2011-2013, unfortunately without any consultation with the library. I made a point to clearly respond to each item on the plan in reference to its impact on the library which I then supplied to management, but this was the extent of it.
ReplyDeleteHowever this year, as part of a overall unit review, I am in the VERY midst of our first strategic plan (it is due for submission in 2 weeks). So it is apparent that strategic planning is becoming more important to my organisation. I am very fortunate to be working through this with an external consultant, which as Kareen mentioned, is important to faciliate a formal process. It has become clear how time-consuming strategic planning can be when starting out and even while working long hours to get it done, I can definitely see the value of it - and the light at the end of the tunnel. Now the template and processes have been defined, I expect that updating it from year to year will be less onerous. I am breathing a sigh of relief that this process was put into effect before we were made under-resourced or short-staffed, when we would have most needed a strategic plan, so hopefully this will prevent any such negative outcomes.
I wholeheartedly agree with Silvia that parts of the strategic plan process (particularly W3 and actions plans) can be applied if time does not permit a full plan. As my strategic plan has been professionally facilitated, I was not as aware of the individual components however already this FOLIOZ course has demonstrated their independant value. I would also recommend to those who don't have the time or staffing to go through the entire process (like most library professionals, I can really relate to this issue), to at least spend some time brainstorming with your staff on the processes and activities that your library does daily, weekly, annually. It is really interesting to describe these activities, their issues, and possible resolutions because sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day processes that we do not notice where small things can be improved. In the same vein, I would also recommend trying to find one colleague outside of the library but within the organisation who can review the activities and issues and reflect on them objectively. Our external consultant has really forced me to think outside the box, set more manageable plans, and re-inforce how important strategic planning is to me and my library.
Strategic planning is very important to our organisation. The library has been creating their own strategic plan for a couple of years. Our goals are closely aligned with those of the University. The direction we are going and projects we are undertaking are clearly set out so the university know where we are heading. We review the plan each year to see we are meeting out targets. The whole plan is redone every 3 years. It has really helped use keep our level of funding in the changing economic climate.
ReplyDeleteIt is a time consuming process which involves a lot of staff time from different department and libraries. Because we are a large library not all staff are involved in the process and can have their say.
I manage a 1.5 person Library/Branch Records Management service for a small division of a large Australian Commonwealth Government Department. Until very recently this was a one person operation (me), so my comments below relate to when I was working alone.
ReplyDeleteOver the last few days I have been thinking about planning and how different types of plans fit together at different levels of organisations. I agree with Sylvia when she says “The library must align itself with the organisation, whatever is the direction charted” as it seems that strategic planning takes place at higher organisational levels. However I believe that it is vital that any information service be as fully integrated into its parent organisation as possible, so it is important to take whatever opportunities are available to participate in strategic planning at the higher level, to ensure that the type of communication problems and unrealistic expectations mentioned by Shultz are avoided where possible. .
In regards to strategic planning in for my information service, I do yearly plans, and they certainly involve strategic thinking. However I feel they are more like business or operational plans, even though they do involve ongoing service and projects that may last several years. Like Sylvia I feel that SWAT analysis and the W3 model are very useful tools – in the future I will make more use of these approaches when doing my yearly plan, because it will
1. Better align information service plans (of all types) to the goals of the wider organisation
2. Improve the quality of any input I may make to other organisational plans
Shultz, Liza (1998) Strategic Planning in a University Library Marketing Library Services 12 (5) http://www.infotoday.com/mls/jul98/story.htm [Accessed March 2011]
Joan Mount
Thanks for sharing all of your ideas and views on strategic planning. I have been involved with four major strategic planning exercises with four very different institutions/authorities but all with the aim of articulating the answers to the following questions:
ReplyDeleteWho are we?
Who are our customers?
What do we do?
How do we do it? and
How will we know if we are successful?.
On reflection there was two things in common across all four situations
1. the use of an outside facilitator, a point raised by Kareen on 6th March. This was excellent in terms of process and outcomes and if I am involved in another stratgic planning exercise I would strongly advocate for this.
2. the developed 'plan' was integral to the daily operations of the organisation. It was not set in concrete, dropped into the bottom drawer but kept visible in walk, talk and daily actions.
I would be interested to read of the strategies used by others to ensure strong communication and buy in across and within teams.
I work in a University library and have a very similar process to Joanne above. My University has a strategic plan and we have a Library plan articulated with that that is regularly reviewed. Each year an operational plan is created from the strategic objectives that lays out the specific projects and activities we intend to achieve that year. The operational plan clearly states which senior staff responsible for delivering each objective.
ReplyDeleteThe operational plan is also articulated with the individual staff performance plans for the year. it is expected if you responsible for delivering items in the operational plan that these are also targeted in your personal and team plans.
How important is strategic planning to you?
Very important, within my library it is the framework to move us forwards. Everything else that happens and without it in the academic environment it would become all too easy to either be totally swamped trying to address all the different priorities of our organisation or worse be frozen unable to choose a direction. Strategic planning sets the scene to ensure that all the wins we have big and small are aligned and moving us forwards in the direction we have identified best meets the needs of our organisation. And we exist to serve those needs :-)
I would find it very hard to deliver services effectively without the level of planning we have now. It would quickly become a disaster.
How important is strategic planning to your information service?
See above :-) Luckily my division values strategic planning and it shows in our consistently high performance, high client satisfaction scores and good staff morale.
ShirleyAnn: Currently where I work (TAFE college) strategic planning is done at the senior staff level only. Libraries do a section plan annually with a twice a year review but that is it. From the coroprate plan for the college the managers decide which areas you must do in your section and then you can add others if you want. We have to identify a minimum of 6. There is little ownership doing it this way. Library staff (other than management) don't want to get invovled in the writing and planning they just wait for what they are told to do by library management. I think is everyone could sit down with a strategic planning expert who could guide them through the process well then it would be a much more valuable exercise for the library and the staff. People would own it more and it would be about that actually libary and created by the people who have to live with it and deliver and not senior management who think that the library fits a certain categoy.
ReplyDeleteShirleyAnn: comments on other posts:
ReplyDeleteSarah - yes it looks like you will have to take the initiative yourself and start the strategic planning ball rolling too! If your manager is not on board it will be had. You need to have time to do it well and have your staff trained - that is going to be hard without management support.
Michael - That is so shocking about the job cuts. In Australia recently I have read a lot about how bad public libraries are in the UK for funding but not the US. I always think it becomes a self fulfilling thing - numbers are not as high as managers want so they cut funds, and staff. Then you have to cut programmes so less people come, so they cut more money and more staff, so less people again come - it just amazes me. How do you strategic plan with so little left and no idea what the next slug will be?
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ReplyDeleteBy ShirleyAnn
ReplyDeleteSilvia – This is really scary that many of the people don’t even have library qualifications. I agree with you that in your situation a full strategically planning process might be seen as over the top. On the other hand given the poor circumstances that you find yourself in the case of funding and staff I would wonder if some of that was potentially fixable because a strategic analysis would allow you to target people and prove the value of the library more. Of course with some many issues and so few staff finding the time to do any strategic planning would be a miracle.
Cheryl – you have hit the nail on the head. Every library I have ever worked in, every library that I have had a friend in are so dependent on the parent body – or peak body – whatever we want to call them. I guess the thing that I figure is that since we have to march to the beat of these peak bodies it makes sense that if they are doing strategic planning and see it as worthwhile we should be doing it to so that we show that we understand where the peak body is coming from and that the library is doing the same things as the peak body and a real part of the organisation not just a tack on.
Kareen – I agree with Kareen that it is very important for you to have an external facilitator (or expert from inside). Unless someone on the library staff has the skills then you really need to have an outside expert or the whole exercise can be a waste of time. A poorly conducted strategic planning day would be as useless as a poorly conducted performance review, this is why it is important that the peak body is on board with what you are doing in the library, if they have been through the formal process of strategic planning they will know how important it is that it is conducted correctly.
Laura – It sounds like for Laura the whole process has been pretty positive – lucky her. An external consultant to work with them to get them through it, an organisation that supports it and sees the value of the library also participating and no huge budget or staff cuts to have to contend with. Yes W3 and action plans can be implemented even if the whole strategic plan process can’t be undertaken – maybe for those of us that have not been fortunate enough to have our peak bodies recognize that the library needs to also participate in strategic planning these can be a first step in proving that the library is up to the task.
Joan – It seems that we are all in agreement that strategic planning is important and the way to go but like Joan says when you have 1 person or even 1.5 there is a very limited amount you can do even with the best SWOT and/or full strategic plan.
PatsyAnn – I like your questions at the end. Communication – something else that no one else has raised but so very important. In our rush to make sure we are keeping up with the peak body by joining in doing a strategic plan we must make sure that other skills we have had longer in our library like good communication, teamwork etc. are not forgotten.
Anthony – it is good to see that there are some libraries that have been able to implement strategic plans in conjunction with what their peak body is doing. What worries me is that you don’t mention having any formal training or external experts that have come in to train and offer advise. At the end of this course I will know the importance of strategic planning and will know the steps involved but I would still not be comfortable in taking our whole team through the exercise, I could lead but I don’t know that I have the expertise to be able to run it alone.
from JoAnne:
ReplyDeleteHow important is strategic planning to you?
I think it is hard to overstate the importance of strategic planning, even for one person services. Most libraries are part of larger organisations and need to demonstrate they support the goals of the parent organisation. At its most fundamental I see strategic planning as a reality check. What are you doing? Is it what your parent organisation and your client requires? Are there ways you can do it better? Are you getting the best out of your staff? And as budgets and resources available are always smaller than we wish, what things should we prioritise and are there smaller targets we can achieve which will help us achieve our ultimate goal?
How important is strategic planning to your information service?
I think it has a fairly high priority for our service. We have annual formal planning days. Our teams and individual staff members then create their own plans based on both the library and the university’s strategic plan.
We have a pretty tight budget and without a strategic plan it would be hard for us to make decisions on which of our goals to target.
The discussion around external experts is interesting. I do not think they are an absolutely necessary requirement. What is important is the people running it have a clear idea of the structure of the tasks and what can be achieved. Planning sessions should have interesting and thought provoking activities which encourage staff to take ownership of problems and to ground their responses in organisational realities. That said external experts can be a valuable addition to the process.
I work at the same library as Anthony and can assure you we do have external experts come in on occasion. Last year we had a workforce planning exercise which we were assisted through. We also have had presentations from the head of our parent organisations Marketing department. This was tremendously useful as he was really able to flesh out who our clients were and the strategic directions of the university were. I think the external experts are useful for two reasons. By organising them it demonstrates to library staff the importance management place on the day. These experts also can provide a different point of view on an issue or a problem.
Communication & ownership is a tricky issue. Staff who do not participate in the creation of the plan may feel resentful and that the plan is being foisted on them. On the other hand not all staff want to participate. Some see it as something “management” should do and not their job. Sometimes the message from the plan may be unpalatable to staff. Their desired projects do not get the go ahead or in worse case scenarios their job may be made redundant. These examples mean we have to work hard at getting the message out as best we can and ensuring the staff feel their input is important.