Get on the Bus!

Change is a-happenin’ at Linebaugh Public Library, and this “Energy Bus” is moving at breakneck speed these days, it seems. With every kind of change, each of us goes through transition, which can involve grief, stress, excitement, trauma, or many other emotions that affect our mind, bodies and even work performance. Our Director recently gave us a book to read, The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, and it has an interesting point about dealing with change:

E + P = O

“The E stands for events in your life…The P stands for perception and the O stands for outcome. We can’t control the events in our life but we can control how we perceive them and our perception and response to the events determine our outcome.” The way we choose to look at change determines the outcome or effect it has on our life and/work. In choosing to face change with a positive attitude does not deny the natural emotions that are part of the transitional process, but means that even if the change is tough or hard, I am going to choose to see that there could be something positive happening as result of this specific change.

In our local circumstance, we can apply this is in looking at our new HOLDS process. It has brought change, because we have to adjust a procedure that they are used to and comfortable with. The new system is not perfect yet, because we still need some work done through adjustments in our library software, which will take time. So, I can choose to either be unhappy, because I have to change the way I’ve always dealt with Holds, or because the imperfect result may cause confusion sometimes. If I choose this, the outcome of the event plus my perception is going to be negative on my work performance and on patrons who come in and I deal with.

The other option is that I can choose to be positive about the change, because I see how it will benefit patrons and staff in the long run (even when it’s not perfect yet), and thus the outcome will be that I encourage patrons with excitement to see how easy this will be for them, and look forward to having more time myself in taking care of other tasks or helping patrons in ways I haven’t been able to do previously. Either way, I have a choice. What we all need to realize is that the choices we make affect how we work with others, how we relate to our patrons and even how we feel.

I’m excited about the road ahead! Yes, change is a constant, but also reminds us that we are growing and improving and making even more of a difference in the lives of our community. GET ON THE BUS!