Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The December Staff Meeting - I'm going to learn your name

Again, in December, I started the meeting with an update on all relevant Free Library news.  Most of the staff really do seem to appreciate this.  I've noticed the group is getting louder and a little harder to call to order.  I actually see this as a good thing.  It's an indicator that they are getting to know each other better and have much to say.

After this initial dissemination of information, I encouraged people to sign up for three different committees.  The Fun Committee, The Program Committee and a third committee whose function was yet to be determined.  Unsurprisingly, The Fun Committee got the largest response.  They are currently looking at ways for everyone in the cluster to have more fun while doing their job and, I hope, they will have something to report to us at the February meeting.

Then, we spent some time doing a team building/get to know you activity.  Team juggling is an activity I've done many times before.  By adding an extra element of calling out names, and constantly shifting who is in each group, it can facilitate the learning of names.  The room got very loud with the calling out, and laughter.  We all expended much energy and had a great time.  My intention is to do a similar activity each month until everyone knows everyone else's name.  It's an ambitious goal, but one to which I'm committed.

The meeting concluded with breakout groups by jobs.  Municipal Guards, Library Assistants, and Librarians.  My hope was they would each share successes and challenges of their particular work.  Since I could not be in all three places, I can only assume that happened.  In future meetings, I plan to have groups break out based on other criteria.

No comments:

Post a Comment