IN DEPTH
Great ideas deserve company
David Bennett explains how an Ideas Group at Portsmouth University Library has become a great way to share information with senior management, drive service enhancement, and help staff at all levels feel that they are valued contributors.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
SINCE 2012, Portsmouth Univers- ity Library has maintained an Ideas Group: a forum comprising volunteer staff members from across diff erent levels and teams who discuss and appraise proposals, suggestions and ideas from library clients and staff . A valuable, politically and team neutral communication channel connecting staff at all levels, the Ideas Group facili- tates both upward information sharing and acts as an anonymised feedback channel to the senior management. Ideas, concerns and proposals are gathered from student feedback channels, including the online suggestions box on the library website and the retro suggestions post box in the library, and from staff at all levels. Ideas may be owned by those submitting ideas or submitted anonymously through the online suggestion box or staff room whiteboard.
The Ideas Group appraises each idea and either rejects it with reasons or seeks to build a business case around the idea before proposing it to the appropriate manager or Library Management Team for consid- eration. Where ideas show promise but require development or investigation before they could be approved, the Ideas Group requests a small task and fi nish group be set up to investigate the proposal further.
46 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
David E. Bennett (@forestguard
david.bennett@
port.ac.uk) is Assistant Librarian (Promotions), University Library, University of Portsmouth.
Accountable and transparent The Group provides everyone who makes suggestions with documented, reasoned progress and outcome reports for their ideas. The meeting notes are stored in the institutional electronic documents manage- ment system and are made easily accessible via the library staff wiki. The outcomes of student suggestions are published to the online suggestion box and the suggesting student contacted if they supplied contact details. This accountability and trans- parency shows that ideas drive staff and student-led change. Student-Led Change is a promotional campaign run each year to show students how far the library is shaped by student suggestions. Rapid feedback and proven impact encourages further ideas and fresh ways of thinking. This supports Jap- anese management models that rely on a rapid cycle of feedback and implementation
March 2019
Ideas Group Portsmouth
pp46-49.indd 2
07/03/2019 13:00
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