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Quantum2 Resources : Marketing & Management Tools : Modus Operandi: before+after
Modus Operandi: before+after
by Marydee Ojala
These are turbulant and uncertain times in today's business world. Even CEOs of major corporations such as Westinghouse and General Motors are being deposed by Boards of Directors eager for change. The pace of product development is accelerating. Management guru Tom Peters terms this "time-based competition."
Companies that were household names have either declined in importance, changed focus, or disappeared entirely. Heard of American Motors lately? Or flown PanAm? Where does this leave the information professional? What happens to the corporate library? How does today's information world differ from that of the past?
Integrating information centers with business goals, and transforming the perception of the librarian as searcher into librarian as business executive, should become the key goal. To begin, it's vital to know your company and its business. A cartoon that recently appeared in a trade publication illustrates this point. An employee stands in front of his boss' desk as the boss says, "You've been a loyal employee for years. You have no idea what product this company manufactures, do you?" If you don't thoroughly understand your company's business, the value of your information techniques and sources diminishes dramatically.
Know Your Company and Industry
This involves both reading and talking. Read the major trade press for your industry—or at least scan tables of contents. Talking with other professionals within the organization will give you a sense of their priorities—and of the corporate culture. Then you can tailor information effectively. Consider joining professional organizations to bring you in contact with those outside your own information environment. Socialize during outside business hours to build contacts. Relate what your information center does to the overall goals of the company. Use industry language to describe what you bring to the company. Tie information to real benefits. And use your satisfied customers as advertisements. Let them carry your message.
"Customer-driven is the watchword
of the Nineties.
No longer can information specialists
expect their customers to come to them."
Be Customer-Driven
This is the watchword of the Nineties. No longer can information specialists expect their customers to come to them. You will have to leave the library to truly understand your customers' needs. Interview customers in their offices or on job sites. If possible, follow them around for awhile. Have them both explain and show you what they do.
A corporate information center manager recently discussed staff requirements with her manager. She didn't talk about online searching skills or the importance of the reference interview. She used the words "customer service" to describe the primary attributes she was looking for in professional employees. Her boss understood her because she used business rather than library language.
Be Visible
Seeing how the other half lives is only half the battle. You also need to work on getting your customers to know what you do. In some organizations this means encouraging visits to the information center. Some successful techniques include hosting special events in the library to celebrate significant breakthroughs, e.g., new delivery systems, new product offerings, library staff promotions, etc.
In larger companies that are more spread out geographically, you may not be able to physically introduce employees to the information center. Try producing a newsletter or a videotape to demonstrate what you do to benefit the company. Put information about the library onto as many publications and in-house networks as you can. Be visible. Exhibit aggressive professionalism. Exude leadership.
"As the information expert
you should constantly be thinking
about improving information flows
within your company and to customers."
Leverage All Information Sources
As today's corporations become flatter in structure, with much of middle management being eliminated, the management of information becomes a much more challenging endeavor. Don't think of information in the traditional ways. Look at the internal information generated in your company and recommend ways of combining it with external data sources. Information about sales flows into companies from automated cash registers, from customer order forms, from sales visits. Information specialists should capitalize on how to best manage and integrate these sources.
Think about how information can speed up the way your company does business. As the information expert, you should be constantly thinking about improving information flows within your company and to customers. Work with MIS and other key information departments to create and to improve communication networks.
Think Teams
Increasingly, companies are solving problems by creating teams. The best of these tend to be short-lived, set up to solve a specific problem. Your management may not think of information staff as critical team members. You know better. Think about how information plays a role in problem solving and don't be shy about telling others.
If your company doesn't use the teamwork approach, start some teams of your own. Identify a problem, ask people from several different areas of the company to come together to discuss it, and see if you can find potential solutions. It will get you noticed as an on-the-ball type interested in the long-term fate of the organization. One possibility: Auditing the information needs of your organization. You may want to set up focus groups to accomplish this. Ask your market research department to assist you.
Identify Key Customer Groups
Pay them visits, introduce yourself and look for projects on which you can participate. Examine everything you do in light of its contribution to the bottom line. Circulation, collection development, routing, centralized ordering, interlibrary loan, table of contents, current awareness, reference, even the organizational structure of your library or information center. If routing publications saves money on subscription costs, then do it. If circulating a book to a consultant who uses it to answer a client's question contributes to the bottom line, do it. If, however, current awareness services are viewed by employees as "nice to have" rather than "need to have," then perhaps they should be reassessed, redesigned, or simply eliminated. Concentrate on the value of what you do rather than its cost, and always look for ways to measure and report your value to upper management. Many of your peers have been extremely successful at demonstrating value. Find out how they do it.
The trend in business today is toward decentralization and less hierarchy. Moving decision making down the corporate structure has implications for the information function.
Does your organization really need a central information function? Can you assign your subject experts to be part of other department teams as well as the information center team? One pharmaceutical company has recently begun to deploy its information center staff in this manner with great success.
Embrace Quality
The quality movement is getting a lot of attention these days. Think of your quality of service. Survey customers. Talk with non-customers about why they aren't using the information center. Develop a mindset that concentrates on total customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. This will increase your efficiency and service level. Finally, publicize what you are doing and follow through on important quality gains.
Make It Happen
In the movie Desk Set, Kathryn Hepburn plays the role of research library manager for a film company. When asked, "Can you find...?" her charcter inevitably responds cheerily, "Yes, I can." In the television show "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Jean-Luc Picard, the captain, frequently uses the phrase, "Make it so!" when confronted with a plan of action. The combination of "Make it so" and "Yes, I can" equates to tangible value for the information function.
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