If you’ve ever rewarded yourself for reaching a goal, you understand the Incentive Theory of Motivation. First explained in 1938 by a fellow named B.F. Skinner, the Incentive Theory of Motivation states that our actions are often driven by external rewards or incentives rather than internal desires.
Just as the Incentive Theory suggests, many times, library staff need encouragement and incentives to stay motivated and engaged in their professional development. They may think they don’t have time for training or that the training isn’t relevant to their daily tasks or career goals. They may not realize the value of ongoing training.
Professional development is one of the most important things a library can provide for staff. Many libraries hire people from a variety of backgrounds. Some of those new staff members have never worked in a library, though they love the institution and what it stands for. We want them to succeed! To do that, they need the skills required for helping readers find books, forming partnerships that benefit the library, and promoting the library.
If your library staff seems apathetic about training or you want to build excitement for an upcoming staff development day or training session, these tips are for you! Here are some effective strategies to motivate staff to adopt a learning mindset and get excited about professional development.
Use your internal communication tools to build hype
It’s important to make sure your staff knows training is available. To do that, you can:
- Post announcements on your internal staff website.
- Send an email to all staff to let them know how to access training. You may need to send more than one email!
- Add signs to staff work and break areas.
- Make sure managers remind staff of the training during one-to-one meetings.
Set goals and make learning a team event
Ask managers to add course completion goals to staff members’ yearly objectives. And make sure managers give staff time to complete the courses.
Then, set aside time to share and discuss what staff have learned. Professional development can foster a sense of teamwork and collaboration when staff members can talk about how to incorporate what they’ve learned. You can create a 'learning culture' at your library with a tool like Learn with NoveList Plus. Carrie Watson of Englewood Public Library did just that, making it easy for her team to engage in continuous learning.
“I've assigned one class per month for my team to take,” explains Carrie. “For example, we all took Be Genre Confident: How to Recommend Books in the Eight Most Challenging Genres at the same time. It was part of the staff’s assigned duties, during their off-desk or project time to view the class.”
“Then, I created a message board for the team with a series of discussion questions. I told my team that by the end of the month, I want everybody to have watched the course and to have interacted in some way on the board. We ask ourselves, ‘What did you take away that was helpful? What did you learn that we could incorporate?’”
The Champaign Public Library does something similar. Their readers’ advisory working group takes Learn with NoveList courses together and then discusses what they’ve learned in a special Microsoft Teams chat. They’ve also booked a conference room and set aside an hour of staff time for teams to work through a course together. Nanette Donohue, Collections and Technical Services Manager at Champaign Public Library, says getting staff to support each other in the learning process is key.
“I think just having the training is really building confidence,” says Nanette. “I'm seeing staff in departments where they maybe had some really basic readers' advisory training as part of their onboarding, but they had an interest in the topic. Now their skills are developing.”
Reward staff
If the training you’ve provided comes with a certificate of completion, set aside an area to display those. Add an announcement praising staff members who complete training to staff newsletters and intranet announcements. And consider rewarding staff with gift cards, a VIP parking spot, handwritten notes, library swag, or other fun prizes.
I know from experience that motivating library staff for professional development is all about creating a supportive and engaging environment. When staff feel valued and see the direct benefits of their growth, they're more likely to embrace these opportunities with enthusiasm.
Angela Hursh is Manager of Library Engagement, Marketing, and Professional Development. She is currently devouring a stack of gardening books including The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith, and dreaming of fresh vegetables and flowers.
