Statement of Need
Meeting management was identified in the 2005-2010 Strategic Plan as one of three areas of greatest need in the library. In a Learning Organization, the entire staff is empowered at all levels within the organization. All staff, regardless of job title, are encouraged to fully participate in committee and project team work to help achieve our strategic goals. Since the basic structure of how a team succeeds is having productive meetings, this is viewed as a critical area for improvement.

Benefits

• Having a standard meeting format used in the library system will allow us to have more effective meetings.
• When all staff are trained in this format, it will allow those who have not led meetings to be able to do so.
• Meeting participants will be able to better prepare for a meeting with organized agendas, focused discussions, and a clear understanding of who will do what by when.
• With clearer understanding, participants won’t be distracted by either what is happening or how it is happening.
• By developing standardized meeting management training and documentation, we will be able to train new staff and keep our meeting practices consistent.

Project Summary
To support the Library’s goal of becoming a Learning Organization, this project team is responsible for the following:

• an interactive and useful training experience.
• Create communications that encourage people to want to learn about meeting management. While this training is a requirement for each staff member, it will need to be communicated carefully to have the desired result. Attendance should be mandatory yet the experience enjoyable.
• By working with a vendor or facilitator, create a standard meeting format which outlines the components of successful meeting management specifically for the Vanderbilt libraries. Recommend a vendor or facilitator to the SDC (which must be approved for budget and contract purposes).
• Select a training method. Will we use “train the trainer?” Computer Based Training? A combination of these or another option?
• Organize the training session details (time, place, participant registration) and schedule the programs.
• Create a timeline for the project team’s activities and results which will be regularly reported to the SDC. This might be done using a wiki.
• Record key points or feedback from participants that arise in the training sessions and should be reported to the SDC. This might be feedback on the meeting, training, vendor or tools, or other staff issues that the Staff Development Committee should be aware of.
• Develop the course so that this training is offered to new staff and a refresher for existing staff, This might be a refresher course or some other way to keep the new techniques in active use.

Project Champion/owner
The Meeting Management Project Team will report directly to the Staff Development Committee.

Project leader/coordinator

• Karen Swoopes will serve as project leader.

Documentation and Reporting
The project leader will report on participation and attendance, quality of discussion, key points learned, and proposed future topics to the Staff Development Committee on a basis to be determined by the team. Facilitators or vendors of the meeting management sessions will capture feedback and learnings from the sessions and report them to the Project Team Leader.

Other Staff Members involved/required

• Karen Swoopes (Peabody Library) (Project Leader)
• Pat Johnson (Office of the University Librarian)
• Donna Smith (Divinity Library)
• Brenda Mc_Kee (Law Library)
• Rahn Huber (Management Library) liaison SDC member

Related Project(s) and Stakeholders
The team should coordinate their efforts by working directly with other groups who support the initiative. Potential examples are the Library Management Council and the Committee Chairs, who support and communicate the value of effective meeting planning.

Budget
There are some funds available for this initiative and costs. A budget proposal will be prepared by the team and submitted to the SDC in a timely manner.

Timeline
This team will begin to act in early March after approval by the Strategy & Planning Council, with initial training beginning in May 2006.

Assessment
The team will track participation and assess the success of the training through survey instruments and other assessment tools. Assess the project: track participation; assess the success of the training; survey participants; and, track and report how well and how often the new system is being used in meetings. A final report will be made to the SDC at the completion of the project.