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Category Archives: Work

Wisdom Wednesday – Rock Stars, Rock Steadies, and Rock Bottoms

I was recently out for supper with a bunch of friends including one high level manager who oversees a Canada-wide IT team for a large corporation. It was interesting to compare notes about our workplaces. He said he is all about high performers and strongly believes in performance management, expecting high results but also rewarding […]

Posted 22 November 2023 § Jobs § Library § List § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: ,

Wisdom Wednesday – Overt vs. Covert

This isn’t really advice I was given by someone but more of a personal observation I’ve made after seeing it repeatedly over the years.  Whenever there is something decided, especially when its some sort of major decision, there’s usually an overt reason people give for the decision but also a covert reason they may or […]

Posted 15 November 2023 § Jobs § Library § List § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – HR Unit (January 2012)

Yesterday’s post got me a bit nostalgic for the HR Unit I was part of for the first few years of my career at RPL – what a great team!

Posted 09 November 2023 § Jobs § Library § MemoryLane § Photo § ThrowbackThursday ‡ Comments (0) °

Wisdom Wednesday – Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch

I first heard this advice years ago when I was still in the role of Organization Development Specialist at Regina Public Library. In hindsight, I don’t think I appreciated what an amazing job that was to have right at the start of my library career. Our Director (still the same guy all these years later) […]

Posted 08 November 2023 § Jobs § Library § MemoryLane § Sad § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Wisdom Wednesday – Hiring Is A Million Dollar Decision

A long time ago, a colleague gave me a way to think of hiring that totally changed how I view the process of selecting a candidate. Before, I was just thinking “Who can best do this job?” but he pointed out that you’re not just hiring the person for the immediate job but potentially for […]

Posted 01 November 2023 § Jobs § Library § MemoryLane § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Wisdom Wednesday – Every Bad Manager Thinks They’re A Good Manager

We didn’t see eye to eye on everything but I was very fortunate to have the first manager in libraries that I did as he was very experienced and knowledgeable (obviously people have to start somewhere but it can be a lot tougher if your manager is someone who’s newly hired or has only been […]

Posted 25 October 2023 § Jobs § Library § LibrarySchool § MemoryLane § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (0) °

Music Monday – “Problem, problem/Problem, the problem is you/What you gonna do with your problem?/I’ll leave it to you”

“Problems” – Sex Pistols

Posted 16 October 2023 § MusicMonday § PopCulture § UK ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

Wisdom Wednesday – “Most People Want To Solve The Problem But Surprisingly Few Want To Understand The Problem”

This advice is based on something that was inspired by the nicest compliment I have probably ever received as a librarian, only six short months into my career. The context was that I was doing a probation review with my first boss in libraries and he asked he what my strengths were. “I’m a real […]

Posted 11 October 2023 § MemoryLane § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged:

Wisdom Wednesday – The Difference Between Control and Support

They may be introverted or extroverted, new to the role or with years of experience, heavily trained in management theory or have developed their approach through real-life experience. But, at the end of the day, there are really only two kinds of managers – those who see their role to control others and those who […]

Posted 20 September 2023 § Jobs § Wisdom Wednesday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Throwback Thursday – Happy Work-iversary To Me! (September 2008)

Friday is my 15th work anniversary of starting at RPL which is hard to believe!  (Uhm, time flies when you’re having fun?!?) I was trying to write a long post talking about the various roles I’ve held at RPL, some of the highs and lows, and more.  But it was just getting longer and longer […]

Posted 07 September 2023 § Humour § Library § LibrarySchool § MemoryLane § Photo § ThrowbackThursday ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: