FROM IDEAS TO INNOVATION:

Powering up for change Karen Calhoun Assistant University Librarian for Organizational

Development and Strategic Initiatives

University of Pittsburgh

2 December 2011

My role at Pitt

• Started late July 2011 • Work for Rush Miller, University Librarian • FY12 assignments:

• Guide process to assess and redesign user services

• Guide process to develop recommendations for renovation of main library user services space

• Collaboratively develop the library’s FY13 strategic plan

• Change management, project management

A New Kind of Library

• Build a vision of a new kind of library

• Be more involved with research and learning materials and systems

• Be more engaged with campus communities

• Make library collections, services, and librarians more visible in university communities of practice

• Move to next generation systems and services The library in the community

(in virtual and physical space)

What I’m learning (and relearning)

If you have built castles in the air, your work need

not be lost; that is where they should

be. Now put the foundations under

them. --Thoreau, Walden

Photo by Martin Biskoping. CC-BY-NC-ND http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbiskoping/367919155/

Outline

• What is transformational change and why is it important?

• What are the necessary conditions for a transformational change to succeed?

• The challenges of the change cycle and what to expect

• Discussion

Viable solutions: Muddling through,

transitioning, or transforming?

Two key assumptions: “Institutions of higher education will experience a significant, long-term loss of budget and purchasing power over the foreseeable future … Continuing to “muddle through” … is not a viable long-term strategy.”

http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/dealing.pdf

PS: Not just budget issues;

relevance issues

Discontinuous change and the need for

transformational thinking

[We have entered] “an era of discontinuous change in research libraries—a time when the cumulated assets of the past do not guarantee future success …” p. 5

http://loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf

The nature of transformational change

• Change from a collections-centered to user-

centered service model (a change in what

drives the library)

• Change from hierarchical to distributed

authority structures

• Major changes in how work is done and who

does it (e.g, low tech to hi tech; self-

sufficiency to partnerships; etc.)

Adapted from ideas in Beckhard, Richard. 2003. A model for the executive management of transformational change. In Pfeiffer book of successful leadership development tools (San Francisco: Pfeiffer), p. 83-96.

Conditions for transformational change to

succeed (a partial list adapted from Beckhard)

• Committed leadership

• Free flow of information throughout the

organization

• Conditions that preclude maintenance of the

status quo (urgency of the problem)

• Critical mass of support among stakeholders

• Understanding and honoring resistance

• Commitment to education/retraining

• Willingness to commit resources

Change Model

Change leadership: a necessary new

competency

Coping with Change Continuous flow of information

Understand stages of change

Honor resistance, loss and grief

Acknowledge the value

of what was

Create transitional roles

Explain new roles

and expectations (many many

times!)

Recognize it will take time

The present state

• Defining the problem

• Conveying urgency

• Assessing readiness

The transitional state

• Evolution from present to future state

• When changing takes place

The future state

• Vision, strategy

• Defining the solution

“It’s not the changes that do you in, it’s

the transitions” –William Bridges

Change = something in the

external environment changes

(e.g., a new library director is hired;

a new system is being introduced;

a reorganization occurs; new

procedures or policies are

planned)

Transition = an internal

reorientation process to a change

The three phases of transition

It is critical to manage transitions

inclusively by engaging staff in

the process.

Bridges, William. 1991. Managing transitions: making the most of change.

Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

Bridges’ Three Phases of Transition

Expect: Fear, anger, shock, anxiety, blame, resistance, resentment, skepticism

Expect: Chaos, confusion, uncertainty

Expect: Renewal, integration

Endings

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning

The end is where we start from

--T.S. Eliot

More from Bridges

• People don’t resist the change; they resist

the transition, particularly its losses and

endings.

• “Before you can begin something new, you

have to end what used to be. Before you can

learn a new way of doing things, you have to

unlearn the old way.”

W. Edwards Deming

"It is not enough to do your best; you must

know what to do, and then do your best."

15

The Deming circle.

Image: CC BY 3.0

Diagram by Karn G. Bulsuk (http://blog.bulsuk.com)

A Blueprint for Change: Innovation, Engagement,

Assessment, and Annual Life Cycle Management

Manage, Engage,

Collaborate

Evaluate and Plan

Design and Develop

Implement and

Introduce

Distribute and Promote

Build or enhance

and validate

(test)

Ongoing assessment

Ongoing

outreach and communications

Exit this service

Innovate, renew, or maintain this service

Committing to a shared

planning, design and

implementation process

Getting things done without “power” -- a

different kind of leadership

“Oh, you always have power, if you just know where to find it. There is the power of inclusion, and the power of language, and the power of shared interests, and the power of coalition. Power is all around you to draw upon …” --Frances Hesselbein, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, as quoted by Jim Collins in Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

ksc34@pitt.edu

Thank You!

Photo by Horace Spatula CC-BY-ND http://www.flickr.com/photos/24124989@N00/3979007928/