Managing a large scale project:
Using StrengthsFinder in the website redesign
Cristina Tofan
Coordinator of Technology & Data Services, EKU Libraries
Laura Edwards
Discovery & Metadata Team Leader, EKU Libraries
The problem with website redesign
Ineffective Leadership
•
No clear direction
•
Lack of effective project management
Participation (or lack thereof)
•
Over-reliance on the same people
•
Not everyone who has a stake in the website is consulted
Design hang-ups
•
Perfectionism
•
Subjectivity
Burnout
The problem with website redesign
In the end:
• the process was
o
too long
o
too exhausting
o
not inclusive enough
o
not transparent enough
• more a sense of relief than excitement about the result
NOW
GOAL:
APPROACH
- focus on:
•
better product
•
leadership
•
higher satisfaction with the
product and the process
•
participation
Research
Leadership
Two levels of leadership:
1. Library administrative leadership
At EKU: Library Leadership Committee (LLC): Dean, 3 Coordinators, Library Faculty representative,
Library Staff Representative
2. Website redesign leadership (Coordinator of Technology & Data Services)
Library Leadership: WHY and VISION
”Great leaders and great organizations are good at seeing what most of us can’t
see. They are good at giving us things we would never think of asking for.”
(Sinek, Start with Why)
Library Leadership: WHY
“People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.” (Sinek, Start with why)
“A failure to communicate WHY creates nothing but stress or doubt.” (Sinek, Start
with why)
Townhall meeting:
• What is the purpose of the library? #HeretoHelp
• What is the purpose of the library website?
The value/why acts as a “powerful simplifier” (Segall, Think simple)
Library Leadership: VISION
“Strategy on a Page”:
1. Search
2. Simplicity (or appearance/perception of)
3. Sophistication (design; clarity)
4. Service (assistance, #HeretoHelp)
Simplicity
”In his book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz [...] explains how today’s
explosion of choices creates anxiety in customers and often induces decisionmaking paralysis.” (Segall, Think simple)
• no choice => life is almost unbearable
• as the number of choices increases => positive
• further increase => “choice overload” or “excessive choice”: “At this point,
choice no longer liberates, but debilitates” (Schwartz, The paradox of choice)
=> decision-making paralysis
Simplicity
Decision-making paralysis examples:
• Apple story (Segall, Think simple)
• Buying jeans (Schwartz, The paradox of choice)
=> “by vastly expanding the range of choices, they had also created a new
problem that needed to be solved.” (Schwartz, The paradox of choice)
Library homepage: information creep => decision-making paralysis
Simplicity
in complexity, create the perception of simplicity
(Segall, Think simple; Schwartz, The paradox of choice; Sinek, Start with why)
Library Leadership: VISION
“Strategy on a Page”:
1. Search
2. Simplicity (or appearance/perception of)
3. Sophistication (design; clarity)
4. Service (assistance, #HeretoHelp)
Library Leadership: CULTURE
“The responsibility of leadership is not to come up with
all the ideas but to create an environment in which great
ideas can happen.”
(Sinek, Start with why)
Library Leadership: CULTURE
“the word committee is not usually associated with successful creative endeavors”
(Segall, Insanely simple)
=> key: “empower
a small group of smart people and create a
schedule that doesn’t allow the process to stagnate” (Segall,
Insanely simple)
Library Leadership: PROCEDURE
People need to have autonomy over four T’s: their task, time, technique, team.
(Pink, Drive)
Conduct the work:
• small groups: give them autonomy to use their own judgment, experience
and expertise
• clear expectations/parameters
• schedule
A tool for empowering staff
Why StrengthsFinder
“We were tired of living in a world that revolved around fixing
our weaknesses.”
“we had discovered that people have several times more
potential for growth when they invest energy in developing
their strengths instead of correcting their deficiencies.”
Why StrengthsFinder
“our studies indicate that people who do have the opportunity
to focus on their strengths every day are
six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs
and more than three times as likely to report having an
excellent quality of life in general.”
StrengthsFinder philosophy
Philosophy:
•
value one’s strengths, rather than “fix” their weaknesses
•
leverage your strengths to become an effective leader
•
know the strengths of your team members
•
harvest the expertise of strengths-based teams
•
“Individuals don’t have to be well-rounded, but teams should be”
The 34 StrengthsFinder themes
EXECUTING
INFLUENCING
RELATIONSHIP
BUILDING
STRATEGIC
THINKING
Know how to make things
happen.
Know how to take charge,
speak up, and make sure
the team is heard.
Have the ability to build
strong relationships that can
hold a team together and
make the team greater than
the sum of the parts.
Help teams consider what
they could be. They absorb
and analyze information that
can inform better decisions.
Achiever
Arranger
Belief
Consistency
Deliberative
Discipline
Focus
Responsibility
Restorative
Activator
Command
Communication
Competition
Maximizer
Self-Assurance
Significance
Woo
Adaptability
Connectedness
Developer
Empathy
Harmony
Includer
Individualization
Positivity
Relator
Analytical
Context
Futuristic
Ideation
Input
Intellection
Learner
Strategic
EKU Libraries: StrengthsFinder Matrix
Laura
Applying StrengthsFinder
Link strengths with phases of the website redesign
StrengthsFinder is useful only if applied
Encourage shared governance
•
•
Inclusivity
Transparency
Role of leadership
•
•
“The responsibility of leadership is not to come up with all the ideas but to create an
environment in which great ideas can happen.” (Sinek, Start with why)
Steve Jobs thought that his job as a leader was to create the conditions in which
innovation could happen. “He did that by driving people to reach their potential and by
promoting collaboration, which he believed was a key part of creative thinking”. (Segall,
Insanely simple)
Redesign workflow
IDEATION
ANALYSIS
DEVELOPMENT
USABILITY
OPTIMIZATION
Ideation
Townhall: presentations
IDEATION
ANALYSIS
feedback, vote
Task:
Produce ideas
Consider all possible content, create a
priority-based architecture
Deliverable:
3 wireframes of the homepage
STRENGTHS
*Ideation
*Activator
Strategic
Futuristic
Command
Responsibility
*Communicator
Woo
Analysis
Townhall: presentations
ANALYSIS
DEVELOPMENT
feedback, vote
Task:
Give feedback on ideas
Compare with the Content Audit
Build the full site architecture
STRENGTHS
*Analytical
*Deliberative
Strategic
Command
Responsibility
*Communicator
Woo
Deliverable:
3 content models of the website
Development
Townhall: presentations
DEVELOPMENT
USABILITY
feedback, vote
Task:
Implement simplistically the 3 content
models
RESPONSIBLE
Web Developer
Graphic Designer
Deliverable:
3 clickable prototypes
Usability
USABILITY
OPTIMIZATION
Task:
Organize usability testing with student
employees
Reconcile and summarize feedback
from usability
RESPONSIBLE
User Experience (UX) group and
subgroups
Deliverable:
Actionable recommendations for
implementing feedback into one final
site
Optimization
Townhall: presentations
OPTIMIZATION
LIVE!
feedback, vote
Task:
Implement all previous feedback into
a final website version
Optimize features
Optimize graphic design
STRENGTHS
*Maximizer
*Arranger
*Communicator
RESPONSIBLE
Web Developer
Graphic Designer
Deliverable:
Final website
Potential Problems with StrengthsFinder approach
• Lack of autonomy
• Risk of “silo-ization”
• Perception of pigeonholing
The problem with website redesign: our proposed solutions
• Ineffective Leadership - solution
 Clear mission and vision
 Effective project management (procedure, documentation, timeline, periodic communication)
• Participation (or lack thereof) - solution
 Opportunity for many people to get involved based on strengths, expertise and preference
 Transparency (communication, townhalls)
The problem with website redesign: our proposed solutions
• Design hang-ups - solution
 Balance the satisficers (“good enough”) with maximizers (“absolute best”) (Schwartz, The
paradox of choice)
 Alleviate subjectivity by referring to the mission (“why”) and strategy
• Burnout - solution
 Focus; shorter process
Procedure: Documents provided by leadership
•
Mission (purpose, “why”)
•
”Strategy on a Page”
•
Individual list of strengths - to each individual
•
List of definitions for each strength
•
Content audit
•
Checklist for each stage: task, deliverable, timeline, responsibility
Conclusion
EXPERIMENT
not a full-proof concept
FLEXIBILITY
Resources
Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0. New York: Gallup Press.
Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths based leadership : Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. New York: Gallup Press.
Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why : How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York: Portfolio / Penguin.
Segall, K. (2016). Think simple : How smart leaders defeat complexity. New York: Portfolio/Penguin.
Segall, K. (2012). Insanely simple: The obsession that drives Apple's success. New York, NY: Portfolio.
Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York: Ecco.
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
Simon Sinek - First why and then trust
https://youtu.be/4VdO7LuoBzM
Mapping the modern web design process
https://www.lynda.com/Web-User-Experience-tutorials/Mapping-Modern-Web-Design-Process/174989-2.html
Thank you!
Questions?