I attended the workshop on "Oh, I wish I'd Said.... by Gail Johnson and Pam Parr. The presenters were excellent, very engaging. It was about the difficult people that we deal with, especially by front line staff. It's about power and control that we have, that we need to decrease power but increase control. When dealing with someone who is angry, it's useless to argue. We need to hear them out but we need to zip our lips and emotions. As we walked in, we were given a Q-tip (no, not to clean our ears), but as a reminder of what it means: Quit Taking It Personally. It was a great workshop!
The last workshop I attended for the day was another Empowerment workshop: "how to recognize and respond to four levels of emotion." It was informative and the presenter was highly energetic which was good for me since I was so tired from walking the exhibits. What I got from it is that there are 4 levels of emotion: anxiety, belligerence, control (as in out of control) and calm. When a patron is upset, we must listen attentively, have honest empathy and be actively engaged. He suggested responses such as "I understand", or "I hear you". When you have a belligerent person, you need to establish your credibility and keep your ego out of the situation. Don't put up with out of control behavior. Call 911 if necessary. Be wary with a calm patron. He/She might flip back to out of control behavior. Remember ABCC!!!
I attended a workshop called Man Overboard! Now What Do I Do? presented by Gail Johnson and Pam Parr, who had an astonishing amount of energy for 8:00 on a Sunday morning. I admit to feeling some trepidation when Pam and Gail started out by singing “Surfin’ Safari” in their matching Hawaiian shirts, but they quickly won me over with their enthusiasm and humor. The workshop was about thinking on your feet and maintaining good communication even in the most unexpected of situations. The importance of having confidence and a positive attitude was stressed, and we were encouraged to build up our confidence with positive thinking and a focus on solutions, not problems. They also gave solid examples of how to gain confidence through awareness, anticipation of possible problems and their solutions, practicing empathy, being open to new possibilities, being persistent, and keeping a sense of humor. They pointed out that our customers might not always remember what we said, but that they will definitely remember how we made them feel. Having the perfect answer isn’t as crucial as having a good attitude and a passion for our work, and it will keep people coming back.
We did a fun activity involving “negative brainstorming,” in which we were asked to think of as many ways as we could of making our library as uninviting as possible. We came up with ideas like being open only one hour per day, having a foul smell throughout the library, having no air conditioning, and being mean to our patrons (this actually included throwing things at them). Of course, the point was to do the opposite of these things, but it was fun to imagine the world’s worst library.
This workshop was informative and enjoyable. These two ladies really like to laugh and have fun and they reminded us of how important it is to enjoy your work. What I’m taking away from the program is the importance of remaining empathic and positive in stressful situations, and the value of relaxing and having fun in my job.
I also attended the "Oh, I wish I'd said that workshop". I thought the panel was funny, fast paced, and informative. To add on to what Rosie said I think another quote that really stuck with me from that workshop in regards to dealing with difficult people is to learn how to move on from a difficult exchange with a combative patron and "not let them live rent free inside your head" as our presenters so succintly put it.
The funniest program I attended at ALA was part of the Empowerment Conference. "Man Overboard! Now, What Do I Do?: Thinking on Your Feet" took place on sunday from 8-10 AM.
The two speakers were: Gail Johnson and Pam Parr from Face to Face Communication and Training.
There were many laughs to be had during this program. First, surfers were compared to communicators for the entire program. If you're curious about some of the things they have in common, here are just four:
1) Desire: you have to want to (yearning, craving) 2) Courage: you can't be afraid, have to be willing to make mistakes and take a chance 3) Curiosity: open minded, always learning 4) Enthusiasm: be passionate and excited about what you're doing
Some things that are really important in working with people are: having an awareness of what is happening around you, anticipating what can come your way, and having empathy.
Two things I took away from the program are:
1) Your co-workers or fellow surfers will keep you from drowning and should be there to rescue you in difficult situations.
2) On average a child laughs 350 times a day and an adult only laughs 15 times a day. I think this means we need to share more stories about people "knocking" on our doors at 5 in the morning or trying to steal our refrigerators! =)
A quote I liked from the program: "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." ~Eleanor Roosevelt
5 comments:
I attended the workshop on "Oh, I wish I'd Said.... by Gail Johnson and Pam Parr. The presenters were excellent, very engaging. It was about the difficult people that we deal with, especially by front line staff. It's about power and control that we have, that we need to decrease power but increase control. When dealing with someone who is angry, it's useless to argue. We need to hear them out but we need to zip our lips and emotions. As we walked in, we were given a Q-tip (no, not to clean our ears), but as a reminder of what it means: Quit Taking It Personally. It was a great workshop!
The last workshop I attended for the day was another Empowerment workshop: "how to recognize and respond to four levels of emotion."
It was informative and the presenter was highly energetic which was good for me since I was so tired from walking the exhibits. What I got from it is that there are 4 levels of emotion: anxiety, belligerence, control (as in out of control) and calm. When a patron is upset, we must listen attentively, have honest empathy and be actively engaged. He suggested responses such as "I understand", or "I hear you". When you have a belligerent person, you need to establish your credibility and keep your ego out of the situation. Don't put up with out of control behavior. Call 911
if necessary. Be wary with a calm patron. He/She might flip back to out of control behavior. Remember ABCC!!!
I attended a workshop called Man Overboard! Now What Do I Do? presented by Gail Johnson and Pam Parr, who had an astonishing amount of energy for 8:00 on a Sunday morning. I admit to feeling some trepidation when Pam and Gail started out by singing “Surfin’ Safari” in their matching Hawaiian shirts, but they quickly won me over with their enthusiasm and humor. The workshop was about thinking on your feet and maintaining good communication even in the most unexpected of situations. The importance of having confidence and a positive attitude was stressed, and we were encouraged to build up our confidence with positive thinking and a focus on solutions, not problems. They also gave solid examples of how to gain confidence through awareness, anticipation of possible problems and their solutions, practicing empathy, being open to new possibilities, being persistent, and keeping a sense of humor. They pointed out that our customers might not always remember what we said, but that they will definitely remember how we made them feel. Having the perfect answer isn’t as crucial as having a good attitude and a passion for our work, and it will keep people coming back.
We did a fun activity involving “negative brainstorming,” in which we were asked to think of as many ways as we could of making our library as uninviting as possible. We came up with ideas like being open only one hour per day, having a foul smell throughout the library, having no air conditioning, and being mean to our patrons (this actually included throwing things at them). Of course, the point was to do the opposite of these things, but it was fun to imagine the world’s worst library.
This workshop was informative and enjoyable. These two ladies really like to laugh and have fun and they reminded us of how important it is to enjoy your work. What I’m taking away from the program is the importance of remaining empathic and positive in stressful situations, and the value of relaxing and having fun in my job.
I also attended the "Oh, I wish I'd said that workshop". I thought the panel was funny, fast paced, and informative. To add on to what Rosie said I think another quote that really stuck with me from that workshop in regards to dealing with difficult people is to learn how to move on from a difficult exchange with a combative patron and "not let them live rent free inside your head" as our presenters so succintly put it.
The funniest program I attended at ALA was part of the Empowerment Conference. "Man Overboard! Now, What Do I Do?: Thinking on Your Feet" took place on sunday from 8-10 AM.
The two speakers were: Gail Johnson and Pam Parr from Face to Face Communication and Training.
There were many laughs to be had during this program. First, surfers were compared to communicators for the entire program. If you're curious about some of the things they have in common, here are just four:
1) Desire: you have to want to
(yearning, craving)
2) Courage: you can't be afraid,
have to be willing to make
mistakes and take a chance
3) Curiosity: open minded, always
learning
4) Enthusiasm: be passionate and
excited about what you're doing
Some things that are really important in working with people are: having an awareness of what is happening around you, anticipating what can come your way, and having empathy.
Two things I took away from the program are:
1) Your co-workers or fellow surfers will keep you from drowning and should be there to rescue you in difficult situations.
2) On average a child laughs 350 times a day and an adult only laughs 15 times a day. I think this means we need to share more stories about people "knocking" on our doors at 5 in the morning or trying to steal our refrigerators! =)
A quote I liked from the program:
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." ~Eleanor Roosevelt
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