Linda Garnets, Ph.D. Angelo + Garnets Consulting Sustainable Archives Conference Austin, August 13, 2009

“ Who are you?” said the Caterpillar… “I—I hardly know, Sir, just at present, “ Alice replied rather shyly, “at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.” Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Reasons for Combining Archives and Special Collections Meeting users/patrons changing needs Accessibility of collections Financial/budgetary factors Technological changes Operational flexibility Improving efficiency Resource sharing Innovation and learning Downsizing

Continuum of Organizational Combinations Alliances Joint Ventures Mergers Acquisitions As go along continuum from left to right, greater degree of: Investment of effort Commitment Control Complexity Impact Integration Risk

“True collaboration engenders a transformative change that is akin to letting go on one trapeze in mid-air before another swings not view.” Ken Soehner, Chief Librarian at the Metropolitan Museums of Art Thomas J. Watson Library, 2005 RLG Conference.

Staff Concerns What will happen to me? What’s in it for me? Will I still have a job? Will my job change? Will my work experience get worse, better, stay the same? Will I get a new boss? What will that be like?

Guiding Assumptions about Workplace Transitions Definition: Implementation of a new state, which requires dismantling the present ways of operating and introducing new ways Adaptation to transitions is a natural and deliberate process that can not be circumvented

Transition Realities Mismanaged transitions have a negative, not a neutral, impact on people and organizations A post-transition culture will emerge— either the status quo or a modified one by design or by default

Bottom Line Either you manage change, or change will manage you!

Model for Managing Workplace Transitions Adapted from Mitchell Marks (2003), Charging up hill: Workplace recovery after mergers, acquisitions, and downsizings Weakening the oldStrengthening the new Emotional Realities:EmpathyEnergy Business Imperatives: EngagementAlignment

Model for Managing Workplace Transitions Goal: Weaken forces for the old organizational order Strengthen forces for the new one

Model for Managing Workplace Transitions Levels: Emotional realities Ways in which people experience transitions in the workplace Business imperatives Things that need to get done for organizational success to occur

Empathy Objective: Let people know that leadership acknowledges that: The transition has been, is, and continues to be difficult People need—and will be allowed—time to recover from the difficulty

Empathy Key tasks: Acknowledge realities and difficulties of transition and recovery Offer workshops to raise awareness of transition process and help people understand where they do and do not have control Use symbols, ceremonies, and forums to end the old

Engagement Objective: Create understanding of and support for the need to end the old and accept the new organizational order

Engagement Key tasks: Help people get their work done Communicate and provide opportunities for involvement Diagnose and eliminate barriers to adaptation

Engagement Guidelines for communication: Provide a compelling rationale for why the status quo is no good Describe the change as completely as you can Assure people of what is not changing Share information again and again Be comfortable saying “I don’t know.”

Energy Objective: Get people excited about the new organizational order and support them in realizing it

Energy Key tasks: Clarify a vision of a new and better organization

Dimensions of New Organizational Order Direction Mission Culture Core competencies Social and work systems

Making the Case for Change What Staff Members Tend to Want To Know: What are we doing? Why? To what end? When are we doing it? How will we do it? What is it going to take for us to do this?

Energy Key tasks: Create a learning environment that: Motivates people to experiment & open up to new ways of doing things Create opportunities for short-term wins Connect with people & provide support Accept confusion & backsliding Give people time to move through adaptation

Alignment Objective: Solidify new mental models that are congruent with the new desired organizational order

Alignment Key tasks: Align systems and operating standards with the new organizational order Involve people in bringing the vision to life Track the development of the new organizational order

Principles of Managing Workplace Transitions Provide straight talk about the transition process, and keep employees involved in it Track the recovery process, learn from the mistakes, and disseminate the knowledge throughout the organization Give transition process high-priority status, and help managers determine how to prioritize it within the context of current organizational requirements

Principles of Managing Workplace Transitions You pay now, or you pay later Task: You pay now by giving people time to express their experience and mourn the loss of the old, and to participate in creating the new… Or you pay later by having a workforce that continues to hold on to the past rather than look ahead for the future Action: Do it now!