Earlier this month I led two Renewal Colloquia for the Massachusetts Library System. The events were a follow-up from the September 2021 Renewal Presentation event I led for the same group. One session was for library employees; and the second was for formal library leaders. There was a waitlist for the latter session.
Event attendees are offered an opportunity to take two surveys:
- Pre-Colloquium Questionnaire (basic demographics and impetus for joining the event)
- Low-Morale Experience Survey (exploring basic markers of a low-morale experience)
At the end of the Colloquia, I distributed an evaluation form. Following is a selection of data from both sessions (quantitative queries show majority responses only)
STAFF SESSION DATA
Pre-Colloquium Questionnaire Highlights
- Library Type
- 59% Public library
- Represented areas of practice
- 35% Reference & Instruction
- Career length
- 59% 10 years or more
- Topic Interest
- 48% Emerging countermeasures and best practices to reduce/interrupt low morale
Goals for attending the Colloquium
- “I’d like to disrupt the systems that allow for continual low-morale experiences.”
- “Recovering from the stress, uncertainty, extreme rate of change, and burnout of managing and working through the pandemic, while creating a better experience for my staff.”
- “How to help colleagues work through low-morale experiences by understanding the complexities and developing strategies for support.”
- “…A goal for me would be leaving the colloquium with strategies for boundary setting at work while burned out/experiencing low morale. There are elements of my job that seem almost impossible to accomplish while feeling like this. I’m not sure how to manage that and keep my job.”
Low-Morale Experience Survey Highlights
- Have you experienced low morale?
- 100% Yes
- Length of low-morale experience
- 50% 1 – 3 years
- Perpetrators of abuse
- 31% Library administrators
- Types of workplace abuse experienced:
- TIE: 29% Emotional; 29% Negligence
- Feelings experienced during low morale:
- TIE: 12% Frustration; 12% Anger
- What contributed to low-morale experience?
- TIE: 11% Leadership Styles; 11% Uncertainty & Mistrust; 11% Human Resources Limitations; 11% Staffing & Employment
- Behaviors noted/considered:
- 17% Decreased professional engagement
- TIE: 16% A desire to change careers; Decreased professonal engagement
Colloquium Evaluation Report Highlights
Things learned or more clearly defined:
“I loved hearing more about the frameworks so I could identify them in my own workplace.”
“The concept of “recovery” from low morale. I am currently experiencing this and processing years of abuse at a previous library I worked at. Every time I attend Kaetrena’s webinars, she helps me understand more about the internal process I am experiencing as I work through these traumas and begin to move into a more healthy mindset at my current, abuse-free workplace.”
”There are words for all the things that happens around me.”
Share how attending this Colloquium may influence your daily or long-term library practice:
“Modeling behavior and being aware of any vocational awe and how to avoid it.”
“I’m thinking about talking to my boss about the increase in my workload due to the pandemic and the lack of increase in appropriate compensation.”
”I have seen Kaetrena speak a few times before. I believe thinking of how she frames low morale helped me to get out of a low morale period time myself.”
Recovery plans (personally or at work):
“Several of my colleagues are having low-morale experiences, I’d like to support them with collective care.”
“At the library I am currently at, I focus on the things I can control and change. I look for opportunities to support my colleagues and my supervisor who is obviously stressed out. I think we are at a tipping point in our department where “library nice” isn’t cutting it and people are being authentic. I would rather take messy and authentic feelings than passive-aggression and fakeness, because that isn’t clear nor is it kind. So, I try to lead by example with the time I have here without burning myself out.”
“Read all the information provided and look at what’s going on around me and interfere if necessary.”
Topics recommended for discussion/consideration:
“When we are modeling behavior or creating boundaries, etc. and we are not being followed, we are being ignored, or are continually be disrespected. How do you keep going? What can you do to encourage people to follow you when you are doing many of “the things?”
“More on collective care.”
FORMAL LEADER SESSION DATA:
Pre-Colloquium Questionnaire Highlights
- Library Type
- 88% Public library
- Represented areas of practice
- 63% Administration
- Career length
- 21% 10 years or more
- Topic Interest
- 27% Emerging countermeasures and best practices to reduce/interrupt low morale
Goals for attending the Colloquium
- “Improved coping with the legacy/continuing toxicity of multiple groups having separate priorities for the library without burning myself out.”
- “I became a library manager in the hopes of being able to be for others the supervisor I wished I had during my low-morale experience. With the ongoing pandemic, I find it harder to stay motivated and optimistic. As a formal leader, I want to ensure I am still showing up for my team (and myself) during these really hard times and not falling into any toxic behaviors or mindsets. Being able to name them, and to reflect on why former leaders I worked under did the things they did, goes a long way in helping me be mindful of how I am going through each day.”
- “Recognizing warning signs of low morale and how to counter it.”
Low-Morale Experience Survey Highlights
- Have you experienced low morale?
- 84% Yes
- Length of low-morale experience
- 48% 1 – 3 years
- Perpetrators of abuse
- 22% Library administrators
- Types of workplace abuse experienced:
- 31% Emotional
- Feelings experienced during low morale:
- 17% Frustration
- What contributed to low-morale experience?
- 12% Leadership Styles
- Behaviors noted/considered:
- 18% Decreased professional engagement
- 17% A desire to change careers
Colloquium Evaluation Report Highlights
Things learned or more clearly defined:
“Many of the concepts named as impact factors were new to me, yet familiar from my previous experience as a library leader. I appreciate the opportunity to stop and think reflexively about the impact factors.”
“That while I don’t think of myself as an authoritarian leader there were some characteristics under that leadership style that did resonate with me.”
“How to recognize and address toxic behaviors in leaders and staff. How to encourage and support self-preservation.”
“Abuse isn’t just top-down, it can be bottom-up. That really resonated.”
Share how attending this Colloquium may influence your daily or long-term library practice:
“I struggled with describing my leadership style in one word, which kind of surprised me. Part of that may have to do with the ongoing impact on the pandemic on my perception not only of myself but of what librarianship is and may be becoming during this extended period of strain and stress. Part of it though may be my fear of taking more responsibility and taking a more confident stance in my work. Reflection time!”
“I may take [Kaetrena’s] challenge and ask my staff what they think my leadership style is. I think it’s collaborative and empathic, but I want to hear from them.”
“It made me realize how abusive my workplace is, and that as a leader I need to keep that in mind as I move forward.”
Recovery plans (personally or at work):
“I really don’t know. That’s what I’m struggling with. How do I recover from burnout? How do I resolve the guilt I have that I’m not recovering while I’m trying to do things to help others recover?”
“Improving time management would absolutely improve my quality of life, and the way I support my team.”
“I am not currently going through what I think of as my low-morale experience, which happened at a job I ended up leaving, although the pandemic has certainly put a strain on my morale. My previous experience was more traumatic, though, and I find emotions from that period of my life still coming up in surprising ways. It took me a long time to realize my supervisor during that period did not have as much power as I thought, and that she dealt with “legacy toxicity”, something I could not name until now. I want to work on forgiving her, and forgiving myself, for the ways in which we both failed to deal with what was happening.”
Topics recommended for discussion/consideration:
“I want to know more about resilience narratives.”
“I’d like to hear more about the self-preservation tools, which I understand are still emerging – so it’s totally understandable they weren’t covered more, but I will definitely be on the lookout for more information on these when more of Kaetrena’s research is published. I also want to spend more time on empathetic leadership and trauma-informed leadership. I have been learning more about trauma-informed librarianship since the pandemic began, but if there’s information about there specifically for leaders, I’d like to spend time with it.”
Thanks again to Kelly Jo Woodside, Consultant with the Massachusetts Library System, who invited me to bring these events to their service area. Kelly shares,
“Kaetrena’s Renewal Workshop and Colloquia addressed many of the issues that our consortium members have been struggling with in their libraries. Both staff and formal leaders expressed appreciation for the insight, suggestions, and resources she shared, and the feedback we received afterward will help us plan future programs and services.”
Ready to host a Renewal Colloquium? Let’s plan your event!
