SRP (or SLP, or whatever you call it*) continues to barrel through the years. A program of the magnitude, impact, and history that SRP is seems to be best left How It Is, mostly because it is easiest. But also because it's a ton of work and we put a lot of thought and heart into it. There's lots of Feelings and ownership wrapped up in SRP for a lot of us. For instance, when approaching the conversations this post is about with others on my team, I used the example of myself: the Summer Reading Game Cards I developed are my favorite and no one can convince that anything is better. And I mean, sure, there are so many people doing so many great things when it comes to SRP, but given the opportunity and without the guideposts I'll address here, I would probably run SRP with them until I was done in libraries.
But that doesn't mean What's Easiest doesn't ever come with a healthy dose of overwhelming dread.
Youth Services representatives at our local libraries expressed interest in revisiting countywide support from central services for SRP, and this support involves a lot of people and a ton of moving pieces. Big picture conversations, therefore, need to happen at the administrative and the local level. My coworker Katie and I decided to turn this into a fiscal year priority project (I keep meaning to write about these, they changed my life) and map out the conversation. I'm not going to share a lot about this process, or update about it as the conversation happens, in the interest of preserving the psychological safety of my team and local staff. But I did want to share to the questions we're asking. Because here's the thing: much has been written about the need to reshape SRP, or specific things people have tried, but what I haven't seen is the how: whose buy-in is needed? How do you advocate for change? How do you make sure no one on your team feels left behind or experiences burnout?
My answers to these questions:
1. your entire team, to help with the next question when speaking to higher ups
2. basically, make no assumptions and try to know your sh** (for instance: redemption stats for incentives, historical knowledge, staff time/resource analysis, preliminary conversations; observations; I've been meaning to write THIS post for awhile too. To demonstrate the extent to which I attempted to prepare for these conversations, I reached out to Angela who held my position--er, what was my position 3 people ago-- to ask for anything she remembered about the history of support)
3. involve your entire team in the following conversations. Even the "pearl-clutchers".
I share these questions with the caveat that there is a likelihood--possibly a high one-- that your staff doesn't feel psychologically safe enough to share their thoughts on these questions with a supervisor or another in a position of perceived power, especially if the supervisor has historically been the main creator of the program. It might be good to get a facilitator from another department or an outside source. Facilitation isn't for everyone. Feel free to reach out if you need help with figuring out this crucial aspect.
Because of how BIG countywide support for SRP is, we decided on two conversations: one at the central level, and one that spans multiple meetings of the county's Youth Services Committee. I changed some of them slightly to make them more general. Feel free to use these questions when planning your own changes to SRP with your team!
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS ON SRP IN GENERAL
-What is the purpose of our Summer Reading Program?
-How do libraries get the kids who need to read over the summer the most to participate in the Summer Reading Program?
-What is meaningful participation in the Summer Reading Program?
BIG PICTURE QUESTIONS ON THE SRP PLANNING PROCESS
-What do I value most about the current model of Summer Reading?-If I were to change one thing about the current model of Summer Reading, it would be _________
-My favorite thing about Summer Reading is _________
-The most frustrating part of Summer Reading for me is ___________
-If I had a chance to tweak/streamline/adjust the current model of Summer Reading, the first thing I would want to do is ___________
-If I had a chance to create a Summer Reading program (from the angle I’m involved) completely from scratch, the first thing I’d want to try would be _______
A lot of these questions have similarities, but approaching questions in different ways can help enhance responses. For example, "your favorite thing" and "the thing you most value" could be the same, but they also could be different. Example: someone could say their favorite thing about being a librarian is seeing kids smile at programs, but what they most value could actually be the feeling they get knowing they're helping kids make memories. While I might advise to do you best to not remove anyone's favorite thing from their job, you may be able to approach it in a similar way to still get at what they value ("we're not doing active programs anymore. What else can we do to make sure kids are making memories here?").
Remember these questions are big-picture only; try to keep the group from coming up with concrete solutions yet. As I've mentioned before, Youth Services needs space to think about things on a level we rarely get to. Afford your team the indulgence this time; it'll make a stronger program! (I think! Nothing's happened yet!)
What other considerations have you made when reshaping SRP?
*When I Onboarded at My Last Job Everyone Talked About SLP And Coming From the Education World I Thought They Meant "Speech Language Pathologist" for an Entire Two Months AMA
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