Is Getting There Half the Fun? Leadership and Change Management from Top to Bottom in Migrating to Evergreen Jim Keenan, C/W MARS, Inc. jkeenan@cwmars.org IRC: krvmga

Change

Transformational Change Type of Change Developmental Change Transitional Change Transformational Change

Developmental Change We acquire new skills in familiar areas We improve skills that we already have We move along a path that we're already familiar with

Transitional Change We move from a familiar thing to an unfamiliar thing: in this case, from the ILS that we're used to using to Evergreen We learn new interfaces We develop new skills in an unfamiliar environment We may change our workflows

Transformational Change We change our minds, our attitudes, our relationships We change the way we view our interaction with the world

Stretching Your Mind Can Be Harder Than Stretching Your Legs

Evergreen as Transitional Change As a community, we've gotten pretty good at the mechanical process Servers and software requirements Local hardware and software requirements Installation, testing, and rolling out

Transformational Change Entire fields of study and many books and resources What to do besides getting more degrees than we already have?

Emotions Library work as an emotional choice We generally didn't get into library work for the big library bucks

Emotions Library work as an emotional choice We generally didn't get into library work for the big library bucks As service Working with people Working with books

Did Anyone Die?

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross Stages of Grief Can't we just leave staff or libraries alone and they'll eventually “get over what's changed?”

Denial “I didn't vote for this!” “I didn't agree to this!” “We should go back to our previous ILS.”

Anger “Why am I being forced to do this? I want to do it the way I used to.” “Evergreen sucks!” “This software is literally causing my staff to break down in tears!”

Bargaining “Can we make Evergreen work like X ILS function?” “Can we re-organize the screen? Put the buttons in another place? “Do we have to have X restriction?”

Depression “I'm not going to report network slowness any more. Nothing's happening.” “I think this is a bug but I'm not going to tell anyone else. Nothing will get done anyway.” “I can't do anything to change anything. It's not worth trying.”

Acceptance “Well, I'm stuck with Evergreen so I guess that's that.” “Everyone else seems to be getting along so I guess I'll try to, too.” “Evergreen's not so bad. I'm not crazy about it but it's not too bad.”

The problems with this approach are: A: It doesn't always work out. There can be people who never get over their “grief” and essentially become permanent problem employees. B: It doesn't provide any model for how to lead and actively foster transformation.

The Open Source Opportunity

Eight Viewpoints

1. Selfish. Everything is all about me. 2. I do things because this is how it has always been done in my group. 3. Not very self-aware. Carries out actions by habit. 4. I want to push technology forward. I'm not particularly concerned with the cost. 5. These are the rules and we all have to follow them. 6. I must provide the best service that I can. I am concerned with everyone's highest good. 7. I can live with chaos. I expect there to be problems and growth through those problems. 8. We are one great community. We all need to participate and do our part.

Transformational Change The Leader's Role In Transformational Change

The Three Iron Laws of the Universe 1. Set realistic expectations, not only for software but for personnel performance. 2. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate And not just communicate, but insure effective communication. It is not enough to send communiques or post weblogs. It is the leader's responsibility to make sure the communication has been received and understood. 3. Always tell the truth.

The Last Hard Fact Everyone will move at different speeds in change. Change is not 1 or even 2 dimensional. There may be some who find it too hard to change and who, one way or another, end up being a detriment to the work.

The unending path of change Are We There Yet? The unending path of change