Encouraging Experimentation and Creativity through Professional Development: Turning our Failures into Best Practices

Encouraging Experimentation and Creativity through Professional Development: Turning our Failures into Best Practices

Standish Room

Without a dedicated librarian in charge of training and development, our librarians are empowered to experiment and explore professional development opportunities to grow within the profession. Several librarians within our department have taken initiative to create a wide range of internal development experiences that foster growth and dialogue.

This session will present the best practices we have identified through our missteps and failures from several internal professional development initiatives. From a weeklong conference to a bi-weekly collaborative newsletter, we have learned how to tackle failures such as lack of participation, confusion from complex processes and overlooked event logistics. Each of these failures has expanded our capacity to reflect and take future risks in order to encourage a culture of robust professional growth.

Participants will learn the impact that buy-in has on implementing a successful initiative. In order to create success from missteps, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of soliciting and using feedback. Participants will also recognize the value of offering a wide range of opportunities and formats that allow people to contribute in their own ways.

Through reflecting on failures and refining approaches, librarians can learn how to create an environment where they are committing themselves to their organization, profession and their own life-long learning education.