Leadership Awards Given At May Board Meeting

Library Director Tim Rogers and Library Board Chair Ronnie King were delighted to pose with all the JPL Leadership Award winners at the Board of Trustees meeting at the Main Library, May 10, 2018 -- and here are our honored winners:

Below, Tonja Baker-Ferrell of the Argyle Library has reinvigorated the Teen Advisory Board.  She put teen volunteers to work in the reading buddies program on Saturday mornings.   Most importantly, she invites the teens’ ideas and creativity.  The result has been programs for Halloweeen, winter holidays, a Harry Potter Valentine’s Ball, and for Easter, an Egg-stravaganza.  For this, Tonja received a Model the Way Award and was named Employee of the Quarter. 

Below, L/R in back are Erica Brown. who received for Laura Minor and Jay Brasfield; Bryan Thomas, and John Wilson; in front L/R are Christa Snow, Emma Pancho, Jessica Morio, Shirdellah Grouix, Catherine Currier and Olga Bayer.  They constitute the force that made a big success of this January’s Mapping our Past event in the Hicks Auditorium and the Ansbacher Map Room.  Featuring Christopher Lane of the Antiques Roadshow, this event drew attendees from far and wide.  For this major accomplishment,  the team received the Carolyn Williams Team Award for Inspiring a Shared Vision.  

The JPL Foundation's Zoe Carr--wearing her usual beautiful smile below--took on the challenge of redesigning the Friends website.  Thanks to her efforts, the website launched, March 22, 2018, and Zoe certainly deserves the Encourage Others to Act Award.

Kathy Tekin, Jessica Serrano, John Jessee, Kristi Dorney, and Curt Beadell lined up for this great pic and received the Carolyn Williams Team Ward for Modeling the Way.  They were behind the Arbor Terrace Reading Group for patients of the Arbor Terrace Dementia Care Center in Ortega where library staff visit patients for bi-weekly Friday reading sessions.  

Joanna Nigrelli, pictured below, is credited with essentially filling the role of three people when Main's Children's and Teen departments were short staffed. She kept a positive attitude that continues to be well noticed by customers and coworkers.  For this, Joanna received the Model the Way Award.

All of us cheer all of you on and look forward to seeing your next big accomplishments.

Library Board Presents JPL Leadership Awards, February 8, 2018

Obviously, JPL's new Library Director, Tim Rogers, (pictured left below next to Alison McCarty) and and Library Board Chair Ronnie King thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the 4th quarter Library Leadership Award winners and presenting their certificates at the Library Board meeting, February 8, 2018.

Tasked to create training for JPL staff, Alison McCarty (pictured above), Chair of the Readers' Advisory Subcommittee, did just that--ahead of deadline (November 30, 2017.)  Alison teamed with RA Committee members to develop and test training for staff. Then Alison created a facilitator's guide for training and a list of activities to be used with the training.  She reviewed training options with her team and they presented the training as a webinar, making it easy for managers to present the training.  Simultaneously, she also 1) created the monthly RA newsletter 2) worked with CR&M and RA Committee to compile a list of Best of 2017 staff pics which are posted on JPL's Overdrive homepage; and passed the Librarian II promotional exam while 4) fulfilling her job responsibilities in  the Collection Development department! (Maybe that deserves two exclamation points, Alison.)

No surprise Alison McCarty received the Enable Others to Act and, subsequently, the Employee of the 4th Quarter Award (October - December 2017).

Margo Crafton and KR Manager Mark Hohnadel organized and inspired the Mandarin staff to assist with Prime Time Family Reading, a program which fosters a family habit of reading and discussing books together. The successful six-week series benefited greatly from staff buy-in, drawing users and non-users to JPL. For this, they received the Inspire a Shared Vision Carolyn Williams Team Award.

Robin West Rogers (mid-right above), Crystal Kadkhodaie (mid-left above), and Alison Pulley (not there) took on an extra responsibility--a monthly art program for a large group of home schoolers.  Alison created and loaned a full series of art history programs for school age children to other branches.  As a result, the library’s profile has been raised with parents and community organizations alike.  For this, Robin, Crystal, and Alison received a Model the Way Carolyn Williams Team Award.

Angelica Bencomo, Library Associate at the Main Library, eagerly serves on multiple committees, including Summer Planning, Youth Services Readers Advisory, and the Maker Con Committee, advocating to all for the library.  For this, Angelica received the Inspire a Shared Vision Award.

Melodie Brunson, Library Associate at the West Library, showed her heart with the Jane Harris project, curating photos and creating a display to honor Jane Harris, who passed away last year shortly after retiring from JPL as West Region Manager.  For this, Melodie received the Encourage the Heart Award.

Justin Keiser, Support Services Librarian for SST, did three days of investigation to solve a major bug that was bedeviling the library’s linked data project when embedded book carousels wouldn’t work in iOS systems.  The vendor was so impressed with Justin’s fix that they wrote him a note thanking him for his accomplishment and will include it in future releases.  For this, Justin received the Challenge the Process Award.

Cindy Mathieson, Library Associate at the Regency Library, worked within a Califa PLACE grant - PLACE meaning “Public Libraries Advancing Community Engagement" - to program events around the topic of global warming.  For this, Cindy received the Model the Way Award.

Brentley Stead, who could not attend, is a Specialist in Community Relations and Marketing. Brentley discovered hundreds of reviews on our libraries on Google and Yelp that had gone unanswered and developed procedures for reporting and responding to them.  For this, Brentley received the Challenge the Process Award and CR&M's Jenna Hassell received the award for Brentley.

Ru’Punzel Wooden, Library Associate at the Bradham Brooks Library, created one of the most well-attended events at the branch – Couponing.  The attendance is so large that Ru’Punzel began a monthly coupon club.   For this, she received the Inspire a Shared Vision award.

Siu Yam (not pictured but present), is a Library Assistant at the Pablo Creek Library.  She encountered a rather difficult customer who returned several magazines with covers ripped off and pages falling out.  Siu assessed the damage and told the customer he would be charged.  The customer balked and walked off with the magazines, then tried to turn them in at the automatic book return, got caught, and argued with staff for 15 minutes while Siu calmly softened him up.  By the end of it, the customer paid the fine and was seen laughing with Siu on his way out.  For this, Siu received the Get to Yes Award.

BOLT Chair Dr. Simmons-Hutchins Gives JPL Awards To Staffs

It is always a mutual treat for the Library Board of Trustees and JPL employees when awards are given to acknowledge staffs' outstanding service.  At the Library Board's February 13 meeting, first quarter FY2014 JPL Awards were received with smiles--and a thumbs up by Michael Soto, who won the Employee of the Quarter.  Here he receives his award from Board Chair Dr. Brenda Simmons-Hutchins as proud Deputy Director Carolyn Williams looks on.  

Charlene Ovshak (2nd pic down) , Stacey Van Hoy (3rd pic down), and Michael won the Model the Way Award. Challenge the Process Award winners were Raymond Neal (4th pic) and Diane Alexander (5th pic).  Enable Others to Act Award winner Sharon Kirkes could not attend; Region Manager Marshelle Berry accepted for her. 

"When the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'" term must have been coined for JPL employees. 

Mystery Shopping FAQ's

JPL's Training Coordinator. Sara Radovic, shares this update with you:  "Thank you to everyone who responded to the Customer Service Satisfaction survey!  We have compiled your questions and below is a list of frequently asked questions with answers for you.  If you have a question that isn’t addressed on this list, please send it to me at sradovic@coj.net.  I will answer it and update the FAQs accordingly.  Again, your participation is appreciated!"

                                       MYSTERY SHOPPING FAQ'S

What will they be looking for?

The mystery shoppers will be looking at four aspects of our services – Circulation, Reference, Customer Service, and Front-line Marketing. The shoppers will be asking routine questions at the Circulation and Reference Desks. They will be assessing:
- the accuracy of the information given out (was the correct policy stated?)
- overall customer service.

What is expected of staff ?  Will I be judged for something I didn't know I was supposed to do or know?

The mystery shoppers will be asking the same kind of questions we get day-in and day-out. You are already doing most of what they’ll be looking for.  Front-line marketing is something new for JPL, and Training will make sure you’re given what you need to know to be successful in a shop.

Will the shopper check phone etiquette?

Yes, we anticipate that the mystery shoppers will evaluate phone etiquette.

Are there disciplinary procedures in place for poor mystery shopping feedback?  Will this have any impact on our performance reviews and in the distant future when we may start getting raises again, will this be a factor?  How is this going to tie into my performance management?  Is this an information gathering tool for training?  Are the above behaviors those that will be "graded" or are there other aspects?

Staff won’t be disciplined for a poor shop. It’s not a gotcha. The purpose of the mystery shopping is to assess effectiveness and determine needs for additional training, not to penalize staff. The shops can be looked at as being just another kind of customer feedback, and it’s up to the manager’s discretion as to how he/she wants to incorporate them into the performance reviews.

Are the mystery shoppers going to be regular customers who are willing to assist or are they people who do this as their job?

The mystery shoppers are professionally trained as shoppers, though they could very well also be current JPL customers.

How in-depth will the circulation questions be for staff who work in a reference department?  Some mystery shopper experiences the staff has had involved mystery shoppers being instructed to act out, be difficult, or ask what we cannot provide. Will this type of testing the staff be used?  Will the shopper ask hard questions or routine questions?  Will they understand that neighborhood libraries may be different than larger branches?

The mystery shoppers will be asking routine questions, the kind we get everyday at the Circulation and Reference Desks. They won’t be instructed to be difficult customers, and they won’t be asking weird or bizarre questions. We understand that the neighborhood libraries are different than the larger branches and have developed specific questions for the shoppers when they are there.

Will the staff be aware when the mystery shopper is coming in?

The mystery shops will start in March and managers will know within a few days when their branch has been shopped.

Will staff have an opportunity to share their experience with this endeavor?

The managers and Administrative staff will have direct access to the shops once they’re completed and will discuss outcomes in their regular staff meetings. There will be system-wide recognition of good shops.

How did this start?

Mystery shopping was selected to support Objective #6 in the Balanced Scorecard – "Practice essential behaviors of customer service excellence" and "Give accurate information to customers."

Holmes & Smith Enable Others to Act

One of the key ingredients to enabling others to act is to get to know your co-workers. Kate Holmes and Frank Smith use a classic instrument for lubricating conversation: FOOD. Watch the latest One-minute Video Story to learn how they Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart.

(To play properly, you may need to click Play [>], then click the Pause button, give it a minute to pre-load, then check back and click Play [>] again.)

Everyone knows someone who models the way, inspires a shared vision, challenges the process, enables others to act, and/or encourages the heart. If you have a story to share, we'd love to hear it. Please contact jpltraining@coj.net.

p.s. If you missed previous video stories, simply click the arrow on the left side of the screen to see previous ones.

One-Minute Video Story -- Marlin Models the Way

In this week's one-minute video, Joanna Tuskey shares a recollection of how Marlin Day, by his work ethic and teamwork, Modeled the Way when University Park was preparing to open to the public for the first time.

(To play properly, you may need to click Play [>], then click the Pause [] button, give it a minute to pre-load, then check back and click Play [>] again.)

Do you have a story to share of how someone demonstrated one of the Five Practices of destination:LEADERSHIP? If so, please contact me at jpltraining@coj.net.

p.s. If you missed the last video story, simply click the arrow on the left side of the screen to display the previous clip.

Video Stories -- Destination:LEADERSHIP

So many of our staff are doing a wonderful job of living the Five Practices of Destination:LEADERSHIP, and we want to share some of their stories.

In this clip, Susan Mankowski tells about a day when she was feeling stressed and Keith Hayes Encouraged her Heart.

(To play properly, you may need to click Play, then click the Pause [||] button, give it a minute to pre-load, then check back and click Play [>] again.)

Do you have a story to share of how someone demonstrated one or more of the Five Practices? If so, please contact me at jpltraining@coj.net.