First off anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Disney fan. So the opportunity for me to attend this Disney workshop was a great gift from the library. I have been asking for about two years now to attend a workshop/training session that focused on how to be a good supervisor and leader. It just so happens that Disney offered this training workshop right here at EKU. How lucky am I??
This training was not like any other training I have ever experienced. It was fun and interactive without making me participate in silly games. The presenters were interesting, motivated and knowledgeable in their expertise. They were able to keep my attention and keep me wanting to hear more.
The first session on "Leadership" was great. I was able to reflect on what makes a good leader by Disney's standards and by looking at my former supervisors to see what it was that they possessed to make them so great. I realized that I don't ask for feedback from my student employees enough. They are the experts in certain areas because they deal with circumstances every day. So why would I make a decision on something, if I have no experience in that area? This is a question I ask myself regularly now in making decisions that will affect the student employees.
The second session on "Management" was good too. Unfortunately, I had a prior engagement and had to leave, so I only experienced about 30 minutes of this session. I did get to think about what makes a employee good and how to choose the right employee for my area.
The third session on "Service" was very important to me. I have always been in the business of customer service. I really strive to make every customer that I interact with feel special. I took some of the discussion points and asked myself this question about my service at the Research desk. "What is my service theme?" I hope that I show each patron my attention, courtesy, respect and a personalized feeling while fulfilling their research needs.
The last session of the day was on "Loyalty." What is loyalty and how does it affect my job? I want the patrons to be loyal by coming back every time they need research help. I hope that in the end they seek me out because they are grateful for the experience I offer them. However, if not that is fine as long as they have a great experience at the Research desk from all the staff, faculty and student employees that work our service point.
At first I thought how on earth will I be able to compare the wonderful world of Disney to EKU Libraries. Well, actually it was pretty easy. We both have a service that we offer. We both want to be the best in offering that service. So we are similar! The presenters constantly referred to Disney as an "experience" not just a vacation, ride, or anything in particular. Don't we want to offer an overall "experience" here at the library from purchasing, finding, printing, checking out, and returning the materials.
The experience that the student has the moment they enter our doors will determine if they will be loyal to us.
