The Safe Library - Service, Safety, & Security with Dr. Steve Albrecht

By Dr. Steve Albrecht

Some people know right away they want to be in charge at their jobs, often as soon as they get them or soon after. They see their personal career path ahead of them and their current job may be right where they want to be - already in a director, manager, or supervisor position - or they know how they want to go about getting into one of those leadership roles. Other employees just like doing what they were hired to do and have no desire to ever become a supervisor or manager. This is no sin and certainly not a reflection on them. Successful organizations need that right mix of employees who want to take on leadership, “managership,” and frontline supervisory roles, along with employees who just want to do the work they were hired to do. 

The plain truth is that becoming a boss means that you actually move further away from the original work you were once hired to do and more into supervising other people doing their work. If you hired on as a Drill Press Operator 3 and worked your way up through the ranks to be the Drill Press Operator Supervisor, guess what you mostly stop doing? Drilling holes.

As you step away from your original role, your work becomes more about solving employee performance or behavior issues, addressing patron behavioral problems, or handling patron service and information concerns. Depending on the size of your library and its workforce (and how shorthanded you are), you may be asked to contribute to policy change discussions, budget details, or take on new projects that have a lot of moving parts and complexities. 

You may have to initiate discipline against your former co-workers or craft a performance evaluation for them. You may have to supervise colleagues who are also your good friends or tell the ones who are not fans of yours how, when, and where to do their jobs. Challenges abound.

Employees who choose to stay in their same job for many years often say some version of, “I don’t want all the hassles that come with being a supervisor. The extra pay is not worth the extra work. I don’t like telling people who are my friends what to do. I don’t want to have any `homework’ to do or think about after my shift is over.” And that approach is fine, as long as every employee who does want to promote is given the information, steps, and fair opportunity to do so if they want to.

So how should you go about preparing your successful move from a staff position to the PIC position?

Know the full job description and all of the job duties. Compare your current status - overall work experience (every job you’ve had and how might those have prepared you for this one), supervisory experience (if any), certifications, and work history in different libraries. 

Be honest and accurate in your assessment of your strengths and weaknesses as a potential supervisor. Are there some areas that you may feel might hold you back from taking the job and/or being successful at it? No one likes conflict with patrons or co-workers, but can you step forward and handle those scenarios with courage? Do you prefer to work off the library floor, away from the public? Will you feel comfortable handling potential medical or facility emergencies? Are you willing to be called after work hours if you are in charge of the facility over the weekend?

Do you enjoy the challenge of problem-solving on behalf of the patrons and your co-workers? Do you feel comfortable writing after-action reports, planning projects, delegating work to others, and supervising their success, quality, and deadlines? Can you write fair and honest performance evaluations? Is your personal life set up so you can come in on nights, weekends, or your days off to address certain situations? 

Ask to do that job for a day, a week, or a month. Meet with your supervisor and discuss your career plans. Ask him or her for help with two distinct points: Can you be given more responsibility and delegated tasks, especially in those areas where you need more exposure, knowledge (through both training and hands-on learning), or experience? Can you either shadow the current PICs, to see how they do the work, or can you be put into the PIC role for a test run - a day, a week, a month?

Giving a speech at a university in 1854, French microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” His contributions to the sciences of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization are unmatched. To move to the next level in your career, prepare by putting yourself in the right position.