Effectively Communicating the

Library Technology Plan

Stephen Abram, MLSEOS WebinarsDec. 4, 2013

THE IMMUTABLE RULE

Choosing and Installing the System is the easy part.Invest 80% of your time in planning and preparation . . . not 20%And know that 80% of your success is in the implementation and adoption (communication, training, support . . .)

What happens after all this?

START WITH THE “WHY?”

Why are you communicating?

Which statement is best?– “We are training the staff and users to use the

resources of the library, digitally and physically.”– “We are using technology to improve the research

quality of our products, reports, and decisions.”– “We are increasing the productivity of all staff while

simultaneously increasing the quality of the decisions they make and their work.”

– “We’re adding a feature to the intranet to allow staff to find books, reports and resources from their desktop.”

Who is your audience?

• Library Staff• Library or intranet users• Clients• Management• Champions• Partners or team members e.g. IT, IS, HR, RM,

etc.

Each Audience has their own needs, concerns, and perspectives.

The Adoption Cycle

The five requirements for adoption

• Relative Advantage• Compatibility• Complexity• Trialability• Observability

AIDA

• Attention• Interest• Desire• Action

• Awareness• Interest• Evaluation• Trial• Adoption

What is the (best) order?

• Champion(s)• Management• Library Staff• Partners or team members e.g. IT, IS, HR, RM,

etc.• Library or intranet users• Clients• (and the vendor feedback loop)

Why do they care?

The responsibility for effective communication is on the communicator not the listener.

People listen if you’re speaking about something they care about. (Duh!)

WIIFM … WIIFT

If they don’t care, should they?If they do care, why?

What are the motivations of your users to adopt your innovations and

services?

If they don’t care, should they?If they do care, why?

Are those motivations different from your motivations? Library staff? IT?

Adoption Personas

What tools are at your disposal?

• E-mail• Print newsletters• Memos• Training sessions (in-person, one-on-one, webinars)• Meetings• E-Learning• Hotlines and support desks• Tchotchkes or Trinkets• Food

YOU CAN’T MANAGE CHANGE WITH A MEMO.

Another truism . . .

Communication works when it is . . .

• Memorable• Interesting• Humorous• Told as a story• Visual• Localized• Meaningful and targeted• Consistent • Follow the Rule of 7 times . . .

Training Strategies for Communication

• Choose themes, audiences, and messages (It’s not just skills training!)

• Determine what vehicles are suited to which goals • Develop a description of how each vehicle will be

used. • Plan for remediation • Plan For Implementation • Implement • Continuously Monitor and Revise

Features and Benefits (FABS)

• Features Tell, But Benefits Sell• Simply put, a feature is what your product or

service has or does. • By definition, a benefit is something of value or

usefulness.• As Theodore Levitt, former Harvard marketing

professor and editor of the Harvard Business Review, once said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”

Features: Communicating the Library Technology Plan

1. Easy access to your data2. Thorough system documentation3. Live API consulting4. Thriving developer community5. Active developer discussions

Benefits: Communicating the Library Technology Plan

1. Engagement: with transparency and involvement

2. No dead ends – help is at hand3. Flexibility to sustainably localize and

customize4. Cost options and budget predictability

and management5. Building on the shoulders of others6. Productivity, user workflow alignment

Study your productivity

• Improved productivity happens when you work smarter with the resources you have or get the same results in less time.

• Being busy isn’t necessarily being productive. Isn’t everyone busy? Who isn’t?

• You may feel productive, but you’re only productive if you’re producing results that move the company forward.

Technology Questions

• Technology divorced from overall organizational strategic goals is just a cost-center.

• Do your IT systems improve the overall operational efficiency of your organization?

• Does the technology platform let employees take the best care of your customers?

One Last Tech Question

• Modernization isn’t enough.• Catching up is not a future driven strategy. (e.g.

getting ready for mobile, adding distance access, upgrading coding…)

• Are you justifying your new technology based on frustrations with the old ways or adoption of a visionary environment?

• Does the ‘new’ way simplify? Make it more complicated? Require a steep learning curve?

Ask these Questions

• Does it save time?• Does it increase productivity?• Does it reduce complexity?• Your time is a highly valuable asset to your

organization, so use it wisely. • Does it contribute to bottom-line results?• Does it improve quality of outputs or decisions?• Does it support innovation or invention?

Productivity Examples

• Communicating with your clients• Making sales calls• Managing your employees who deliver your

products and services• Producing your product or service• Serving your customers• Writing proposals

Intuitive is a Canard!

Integration and Integrated

What is integrated?How does this matter to the end user?

Are you integrating the whole solution or just providing another stop on the way?

Small CautionsThe horrible problems that WILL

happen.(Can you say ObamaCare website?)

Dealing with problems

• Communicate quickly• Be honest and complete• Commit to correct• Use reasons not excuses• Avoid blamestorming• Set a deadline• Empathize• Apologize

More tips• Make sure your leadership is on-side• Hold an employee meeting or forum to present your strategic

plan; face-to-face communications are always more effective. • Highlight certain sections of your plan in your company newsletter

to reinforce messages to most employees. • Make sure you allow for employee feedback on your plan and

encourage discussion and/or clarifying questions. • Be sure to include important portions of your plan in orientation

material for new employees. i.e., operational objectives. • Use your strategic plan to help you develop your marketing tools. • Make sure the look of our plan and printed or web

communications are consistent and reflect your company's image.

Tips

• Don’t over-communicate but don’t under-communicate either

• Stay positive• Be realistic• Use visuals and (appropriate) humour

Stephen Abram, MLS, FSLAPrincipal

Lighthouse Consulting and Dysart & Jones AssociatesCel: 416-669-4855

stephen.abram@gmail.comStephen’s Lighthouse Blog

http://stephenslighthouse.com

Thanks!