Managing change and changing mindsets #ub13

Next up at the CILIP Umbrella conference #ub13 in Manchester, UK is Managing change and changing mindsets from Keri Gray, Business Development Consultant, Sue Hill Recruitment. Sue Hill Recruitment is an agency which is specialist to the information and library sector and has been around for a good while. Therefore Keri (an experienced professional who used to run her own agency) was able to draw on a good range of observations and experience. She started by noting that librarians had a valuable range of skills, that they could be more assertive about!
Changes that commonly emerge across the sector now are to do with: budgetary cuts, increased use of volunteering and recruitment of non-professionals, and the transformation of the media market and the emergence of e-books. She felt that barriers to change included: reluctance to change, resources (being squeezed), accountability (having to justify your existence) and self-promotion (or lack of it!).
It is easier to change your own mindset than take the organisation with you. When Keri asked the audience whether any of us had a "fixed" mindset, no-one put their hand up, but several people raised their hands when she asked if anyone had to manage teams that included people with fixed mindset.
Her "Tips for success" slide included having vision, identifying or setting up champion groups and communities of practice to support them through change, partner and engage with people who had similar roles, keeping a positive minset and making your user central to the process.