STRESS: With new system implementation. . .
WHEN THINGS. . .
WON'T WORK
DON'T WORK
CAN'T WORKYou've followed the rules, you've prepared yourself and your staff, everything is ready to go, except no one else followed the rules. Now you have to deal with the fall out.
WHEN THINGS WON'T WORK. . . occasionally
1. Know whom to ask.
Most departments have "specialists". Know who your specialists are (and what their favorite food is. I have bribed with a triple-chocolate cake)
2. Fix it yourself.
This often is the fastest alternative. Learn as much technical "stuff" as possible. Offer suggestions for fixing, based on what you know the system needs to do.
3. Be flexible.
If you need to work out a temporary alternative, do it. But make sure everyone knows it should be temporary.
4. GUSH when it's fixed.
It doesn't matter if it was your idea in the first place. Wow 'em with gratitude.
WHEN THINGS DON'T WORK
1. Know whom to ask.
See #1 above.
2. Develop strong ties and working relationships with other departments.
Sometimes when things don't work, it will be fixed more quickly simply because another department needs it as much as you do.
3. Be absolute best friends with the tech services department.
Do favors for them whenever you can. Make sure THEY understand what YOU do.
4. Keep library services a high priority item.
Don't lose sight when you are mixed in all the techno-garble of your primary mission…Remind your supervisors of the impact the library has on the news department as well as other departments/vendors when it "doesn't work."
5. Keep written trails.
Don't throw any of it away, from the beginning of this fiasco to the end. You WILL need some of it. You may need ALL of it.
WHEN THINGS CAN'T WORK
1. Know whom NOT to ask. See Number 2.
2. Company politics can be brutal.
Try to stay out of the way.
3. Don't whine.
Everyone will think you are anyway, but keep your really whiny comments within the department…where you can laugh and share whines to your heart's content.
4. Do what you can to lessen the stress.
Then move on to more productive tasks. Be sure your employees/co-workers realize that the system is BROKEN and nothing they can do will fix it. Emphasize the word BROKEN.
5. Lighten up. (No, don't light up!)
Go out for lunches. Go for a walk. Pass out chocolates/ice cream/jokes.
6. Repeat daily your own mantra:
We're doing the best we can
We're doing the best we can7. Watch out for low morale.
The longer you go with no solutions, the lower morale drops. Employees feel like their jobs are not taken seriously because no one is paying attention to their problems.
TRUISMS ACCORDING TO THE LIBRARY STAFF AT THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD/MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM
- Salesmen lie.
- You have a much better chance of understanding what your tech services department does.
- Don't believe anyone who says: "Don't worry. We'll take good care of you" Worry more. The last person who said that to me held the secrets to the entire system installation…and was suffering from the lingering after-effects of malaria. He left the company but not before putting the library in a deep dark hole.
- NOTHING will go as planned. And this can last for weeks (or months!)
- If your technical services department is NOT effective solving problems with your current systems, you can be sure they will have twice as much trouble with a new system. Be sure any new system comes with excellent customer service.
- When you are knee-deep in technical difficulties, the vendor who sold you the system will hire your best in-house people away from you.
- They will hire a president for the company who has never been involved in the newspaper business. She will ask what an op-ed page is. You will finally recognize that you are in deep trouble.
- You'll be put up for sale.
- Managers will leave . . . they may not be replaced. The holes get deeper. (See # 3 & 6)
- Know that as soon as your problems effect the higher levels of management, solutions will come more rapidly. If it effects the very top level, you're golden.
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