Staff Technology Training: 5 Steps to Success
- Why? Save money, improve customer service, should institutional commitment to lifelong learning, increase staff retention rate, motivate staff to keep learning.
- Staff training takes time and money
- Competencies based training cycle
- Step 1: Planning and Brainstorming - What does your staff need to know how to do with technology to do their jobs well. For: Creates equitable expectations of all staff, reveals training needs, accurate job descriptions, helps with performance evaluations, consistent customer service, helps staff adjust and handle change. Work with staff to brainstorm and create a list. Staff know what they need to know. Reassure staff they don’t have to know everything now. Solicit input via a blog/wiki. But they don’t know HOW to do so?
- Step 2: Creation. Work with a taskforce. Representatives from units and branches and different position classifications. Get management buy-in. Don’t call it competencies. Ideas: Terminology - create a glossary. Hardware. Office Software. Email. STAYING CURRENT. Keep it core and task-based. Add to job descriptions and new hire checklist. Present list online with each item linked to a how-to.
- Step 3: Assessment. Online survey tools and/or self-assessment. The psychology of maybe - yes, no, maybe. Review indivividual results and group results. Work with supervisors to create individual training needs list for each employee.
- Step 4: Training. Training budget. In-house? Offer a small prize. Use real world examples. Make it fun. Highlight tips and tricks.
- Step 5: Reassess. Rewards for success and consequences for failure. Nurture hidden sparks.
Tips and celebrate successes. Make them feel management is engaged. Have cake. Recommended resources.
Technology training - Maurice and Annette Annette is my secret, alter-ego name.
Staff survey showed them they needed to learn about newer technologies and things like how to work their digital camera. YA committee. High buy-in. = Tech Fair/Petting Zoo.
First steps: Get organized and get help. Get buy in and get excited. Used the tools we would teach to promote the fair.
Content: Wikis/Open source - Work tool; gaming; streaming media; IM/Myspace; Blogging; MP3s/iPods.
Visible support from the top.
Mandatory and helped with scheduling and provided financial support.
One hour lecture and two hour lab. Class of 36. Rotating stations.
Station masters and Hosts. Partnership with a big box store. Provided equipment and experts.
Finding people: Techies at all levels, all levels of staff.
Equipment: Computers/Keyboards/Mice, Projectors/Projection surfaces, cords… do a dry run.
Preparation: minimum and maximum numbers, team skills and personalities, communicate again and again, have a floater.
Practice. Do a full scale dry run. signs.
Blog during the zoo - post pictures. Do a survey afterward. Ask what you’d like to use, learn more about?
Make expected outcomes clear to everyone.
Tags: cil2008, computers in libraries, conference