Here's how you can spot and develop talent in your Library Services team.

To spot talent in your Library Services team, look for strong performance, peer recognition, and desired skills. To develop them, provide mentorship, training, challenging tasks, and a path to leadership. Foster a culture of learning with recognition and feedback to retain top performers and build a strong future for your library.

This is great but there is an old saying, a rising tide lifts all ships. I have found that the best way to encourage growth is to make it cultural. If you create a growth oriented culture, you will see your talent embrace it and what's more, more of the other employees will too! A key part of this is making sure that the leaders are engaging in growth as well. A final key is attaching this growth and their "why" to the vision of the organization, in this case the library.

Mentorship programs happen on many levels. It may involve a student taking a fieldwork or internship for academic credit, a volunteer program, or an employee that has another staff member who devotes extra time to teach and guide. Library leadership institutes or another mentoring programs may occur at a higher level. I twice had an opportunity to mentor new public librarians as part of Florida's Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute. Participants in the cohort not only worked on a substantial project under the supervision of the mentor and onsite library administrator, but the also had monthly meetings with others in their cohort to share, learn, and grow. Future librarians should investigate mentorship opportunities in their area.

Generally speaking, no one person is irreplacable. Even if a person is an expert in certain library functions, at some point in time, they will no longer be in that position. One of the benefits of team dynamics is to encourage cross-collaboration and create opportunities for teambuilding. A library administration that encourages cross training and strengthens team dynamics is also nurturing an environment in which people understand the needs of their colleagues and promotes empathy rather than uncertainty and suspicion. Team dynamics foster continuity of operations and allow for succession planning by allowing for others to cover parts of a person's assigned duties if that person leaves, becomes ill, or has another difficult situation.

Culture. Team dynamics always come down to culture! Two key points to this: First: make your culture expansive and inviting. This will make sure you bring in diverse hires and expand the knowledge of the organization. Second: make your culture missional. When you have a calling and not just a job, you work a lot harder. When what you do is tied directly to helping a group of people and fixing a problem, you are much more passionate.

Performance reviews can help identify individual strengths, allowing managers to leverage them effectively within the team. Clearly outlining job responsibilities and performance metrics ensures team members understand what is expected of them. Identifying areas for improvement enables managers to provide targeted training and development opportunities to help team members reach their full potential. Identifying high-potential individuals early on allows for succession planning and ensures a pipeline of talent within the organization. Incorporating these elements into performance reviews can be really helpful.

I am not a fan of performance reviews of this type. I prefer to be selective when hiring to avoid bringing on someone I have to babysit. If you have selected well, then you do not need frequent performance reviews. What you need is to develop the relationship with the Talent and assume a more developmental role. This will involve an open door policy and being invested in their success. Again, if you only hire people that you really believe to be top talent, you will not be likely to fire them. They will either grow into the organization or self select out. One further note: the hires must be a cultural fit. Do not hire someone, no matter how amazing they are, if they do not fit the culture.

Please, please find a way to invest in meaningful training for your staff and librarians! That may be a webinar, funding to attend a library conference to offer a poster session, or a group training activity. Training may also come in the form of allowing for a library staff member who is enrolled in library school to have time to take classes or earn fieldwork credit. I once worked at a university that regularly allowed some colleagues to go to ALA. That was great! However, when I was selected as 1 of 25 for the Archives Leadership Institute, they refused to fund or grant leave, due to staffing. Meanwhile, peers went to ALA on full board. Employers such as that are places that show their disregard for some staff, and suffer as a result.

Conversations that stem from a true desire to let the talent know that they are seen, heard, valued, and loved will be the thermometer you need to assess them. I have found that investing in people, encouraging them to be more yields fruit beyond what you can imagine. It is so powerful, I have seen former employees leave and become my company's greatest evangelists. I have also seen employees leave only to return at a later date. Never underestimate the power of letting another human know that you see them, hear them, value them, and love them.