Management planning was my group's teaching topic. The main thing I learned is the importance of establishing goals for your plan and prioritizing those goals. It is really common sense when you think about it, but I need to take the time to do better planning in the future.
Everyone did a great job on their respective topics. The most important thing I learned was the difference between active and empathetic listening. I need to do a better job with active listening at work and at home.
One other point that was brought out was to share the vision with the staff. I need to do a better job of informing my staff of plans for the library.
Cindy, I share in your experience today. I do a horrible job in empathetic listening--at home and work. I tend to pay very little attention to other people's feelings and tend to come off as unwelcoming and apparently intimidating. Although I have always known this, I had tried really hard when I took this position to actively present myself as more open and welcoming. Apparently it did not work and I have several people who seem to tell me what they think I want to hear and sadly I have just blindly accepted it as truth. Had I realized how terribly I listen (even though I always thought I was awesome at it!) I may have actually succeeded this time around!
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with you and Jillian about the active listening, both at work and home. Like you, I need to keep my staff better informed about our vision.
ReplyDeleteCindy, this is completely off topic but this was the best way I could think of to tell you that I just visited your website and looked at your newest newsletter and it is really nice! Looks like you guys really have it going on over there in Pulaski!
ReplyDeleteYep, I need work on the active and empathetic listening too. I've forced myself these past few days at work to either 1- put stuff aside and really listen to whomever I'm talking to OR 2 - feel ok saying -(unless it's an emergency) "Why don't we meet in XX minutes to talk about this?"
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