making it happen: a toolkit for building collaborative relationships with your it department

A Toolkit for Building Collaborative Relationships with your IT department

Introductions

Defining IT

Self-Assessment

Roles & Responsibilities (RACI)

Everyday Interactions

Varies across library organizations

Appreciating both our differences and similarities

Traditionally: Service and work oriented Loyal Respect authority/tend to accept

others' opinions as their own Provide stable/standardized service Constantly changing rules causes

stress

But seeing more: Helping others be the best they can be Assume responsibility in times of

conflict Outstanding group leader/Self-confident Decision makers/Independent Need for accuracy can lead to

inflexibility Can be demanding and difficult Can easily become tired, stressed and

fatigued

Traditionally:

Same as where Library Professionals are now trending

But also:

▪ Non-conformist and innovative▪ Use imagination and innovation to deal with

problems▪ Can tend to nit-pick and overdo simple issues▪ Can easily become tired, stressed and fatigued

And can be:

▪ Impulsive, fearless, crave excitement▪ Value privacy and tend to keep important

issues to themselves

RACI is a project management tool that clearly lays out roles and responsibilities for any activity or group of activities

A RACI Chart is used to identify activities or decisions and the individuals or groups involved in answering:

The RACI Model

1. What has to be done? 2. Who must do it?

Responsibility - The person or position responsible for doing the activity (the work)

Accountability - The person or position accountable to ensure the activity happens

Consulted - The person or position who should be consulted prior to decision or action

Informed - The person or position that needs to be informed of the decision or action after it is made

When to use Raci:

For employees to get a clear understanding of the role and responsibilities around the work processTo improve the understanding of function between departments and responsibilities within one's departmentTo clearly define the roles and responsibilities of team members who are working on a project

How to use Raci:

Hold meetings to introduce the concept/model and get buy-in

Define functional roles and activities

Conduct workshops to assign values to the chart

Revise/revisit as necessary

It is often a political process which confronts three elements of roles and responsibilities:

Role Conception: What people think their jobs are and how they have been trained to perform them

Role Expectation: What others in the organization think another person's job is and how it should be carried out

Role Behavior: What people actually do in carrying out their job

Clearly understood individual expectations

Clearly understood individual expectations

Reduced redundancy in tasks Clearer communication (what is

really necessary) Reduced levels of approvals in

process Greater focus on the value add of a

process step

Assists teams in charting roles and responsibilities in a consistent manner

Clarifies individual and organizational roles and responsibilities

Identifies accountabilities Eliminates misunderstandings

RACI is a useful and effective decision making tool that helps to define roles and responsibilities. This is used to identify inefficiencies of organizational roles

It helps to resolve any functional issues that arise within departments or between individuals

The main objective of RACI chart tool is to eliminate role confusions and to able to deliver the product or service successfully to the customer and contribute to the long term organizational objectives

Preparing for the day-to-day

• Terminology/Lingo• Hallway Conversations• SLA’s• Tickets

The ultimate goal:

On the web: http://cslinsession.cvlsites.org