Currently I am
taking two classes through the University and one for the library. All
three are online. Currently two have to do with project charters.
I hadn't made the connection of the
Grants Magic class being related to any of my schooling courses until after I
contributed my thoughts to the discussion of my other charter class. We
were supposed to come up with a scenario in a situation gone wrong and how more
productive it would have been to use a charter. I had read some material
and looked at countless videos and was still at a loss. I sent a few
links over to my husband and asked him to please review and dummy it down for
me. How would I possibly be able to
explain how a charter would work for me if I haven't ever remembered using one
before.
Roland did come up with a situation
that in which we had adapted the plan (or charter) of another but it really
wasn't accurate to what I thought that I needed. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think
a lot of trial and error has to take part before one actually knows what
to plan. It wasn't just me that lacked understanding. This particular week seems to have the entire
class at a loss. The scenario I finally
came up with is one we are currently trying to smooth over, and that is the
library staff and functions of the facility.
As of now, our library is not even
considered a public library by definition, but rather a third party
operation. There are many who are willing to assist in order to keep the
existence of the library, but not everybody knows quite "how" to
assist. Not everyone has been trained. Not everyone is qualified to
handle every aspect of what needs to be done. Our leaders have been
spread too thin or else haven't quite gotten the gist of all things either.
My instructor had asked permission
to use my example in her lecture.
Wow. I must have had a better
handle on it than I thought. Still there
are several class members who are still in the "Huh?" stage. I answered one class mate using the example
of Roger Bushell the great escape found here and here. I wasn't able to
create a project charter for the library as my understanding of the entire
aspect is still limited. In order to assist my fellow classmates with something visual, I
also created this mock charter according to my own understanding and shared it
with the class.
I realize I've
written many thoughts in this post that my average reader may not
understand. Welcome to My World! This is where I am Roger Bushell had served in the British military during World
War II and was known for planning and assisting in great escapes from prison
camps. When he arrived in what the Germans believed was an escape-proof
camp, Roger was asked to assist with the largest escape on record. Roger
accepted the challenge and met each prisoner of the camp in order to utilize
each skill so that the entire camp would be able to work together to make this
escape.
Now a
written charter would not have worked as they couldn't risk having the German
soldiers know what they were planning. Several teams had been created to
help the plan to move along. Some teams would dig tunnels, some teams
would hide the underground dirt, there was even a team of prisoners
practicing Christmas carols as a means to cover up the noise of the
digging. It was actually quite a genius plan.
Without
the verbal charter or organization of the teams and specific jobs of
communicating and working together, the prisoners would have not been able to
dig the tunnels or make their escape (WWII). Each of these team members would
also have a project charter. Danny (and Danny was not actually the leader
in the movie, but was the only name I could think of) would assign his team
members to dig certain parts of the tunnel and send another team member to
collect something to hold the tunnels in place. Hector would select music
and pretend to lead his choir in beat with the hammer (or other tool being
used) and the scavenger has to work with all groups to learn what is needed and
what to steal or trade. Probably not the best example of a charter, but I
think this is how it works. I asked for the class or instructor to please
correct me if I'm wrong - and perhaps add their own thoughts and fill in the
blanks that I still don't understand.
A proposal was made at the last library
meeting I attended for four teams to work on finances, PR, training; I
forget the other. I signed up for training. We have a new check
in/check out system (no longer on cards and pockets . . . yea!), public
computer assistance and Dewey decimal filing that we need to take care
of. Those are the three big ones that I see. Each team should create
a charter similar to that above and break each group down even further.
We need to utilize the talents of
our volunteers so that we can know how often to schedule, who specializes best
in each area and how they will best work together. I would really like
the opportunity to assist in training and get to know each volunteer. As
of now, I really don't know many of the volunteers and so I don't know where
their strengths are or where they feel most comfortable.
Reference:
Project
Charter. (2017). Retrieved from
GoLeanSixSigma.com: https://goleansixsigma.com/project-charter/
Sturges, J
(Director). (1963). The Great Escape [Motion Picture].
World War Two – The Great Escape. (2016). Retrieved from History on the Net:
https://www.historyonthenet.com/world-war-two-the-great-escape/
