Can Do Café and Peer Assist

I recently attended a Can Do Café event.  The main focus of the Café was a Knowledge Management Tool – Peer Assist.

Definitions – Can Do Café is a method to facilitate change.  In small groups you have a topic to debate.  Individuals move around the group joining in with different discussions.  A host updates the new joiners on the discussion.  Notes can be made and shared with the group. This more informal approach stimulates discussion and within the groups provides an opportunity for everyone to be involved.

Peer Assist – is a tool which supports a ‘learning before doing’ processes in which advice to solve a problem/make an improvement usually in a group setting.

Knowledge Management – is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organisation.^[1] It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organisational objectives by making the best use of knowledge.

The Discussion Item

Standardising the collection and use of statistics in a department.

Process

The individual seeking solutions to the issue seat in the centre of a small group (in my case about 6 people).  The group ask questions of the proposer, make suggestions and raise any concerns.  For each category the feedback is noted.  One of the group has the role of facilitator and time keeper.

Reflection

This is the first Peer Assist I have attended.  I found it to be very helpful technique to share a challenge.  The environment was supportive and encouraging.  The method made me stop and think about what we are doing, why and what the ultimate goal is.

The suggestions made are practical and have merit.  My next task is to meet with my manager to examine each one and establish what we start trying.

I also have a responsibility to feedback to the group so they are aware of has been tried and tested, what has worked or not and what lessons have learned.

If you have the opportunity to participate in a Peer Assist I would recommend it.

I would equally recommend attending a Can Do Café.  This type of event provides an opportunity to meet and discuss issues with colleagues and share experiences in an informal setting.

CanDoCafe

I recently attended the 2nd East of England Health Libraries CanDoCafe event.  These events are based on Knowledge Cafe formats – championed by our very own @lawilk.

A small but perfectly formed group gathered in Cambridge.  @ilk21 chaired the day, smoothly and expertly.  Post introductions,  groups discussed the following question

“Given that there is a perception that there are limits to the library’s reach within an organisation, how would you create, capture, share, utilise or reuse knowledge in the organisations you serve?”  (Any one who is following this blog and would like to comment will be happy to hear your thoughts).

Points were captured on post it notes.  For photographic evidence go to https://t.co/T4QOx51s9u  Initially I was not sure where to begin with this as a topic – it is such a biggie!  But over gentle discussions with colleagues in my group  we came up with some good ideas.  For example –

• creating more partnerships
• increasing awareness and profile of the library within the stakeholders
• offering  library space as meeting area for groups (Knowledge Cafes, journal clubs etc)
• librarians as facilitators to the organisation
• libraries offerings spaces/resources/skills for basic numeracy and literacy
• Creating a local knowledge directory for new staff/members
• Repository for publications

Clearly thought needs to be applied to ensure boundaries with other teams are not crossed and there is no confusion as the library is offering xxxx which is very similar to xxx offered elsewhere.

These group discussions are run on the lines of ‘speed dating’.  (As I am reliably informed!)  So when the alarm went off, a number of us moved around the room to continue discussions with other colleagues.

Suitably refreshed – the next discussion topic was;

“How can we work more closely with public libraries , social care and mental health to improve our information provision for patients and the public? Tweet as you talk, using the hashtag #candocafe”.

We stayed in our groups to debate this one.  Evidence of the day (including this discussion can be found via Storify of the event.

After lunch the afternoon we shared between 5 colleagues – “Sharing their stories”.  first – https://twitter.com/PeterJRansome

Peter spoke about the successful partnership  between health and public libraries for Dementia Awareness Week

Seek out friendly, supportive staff, use their language, discover who is in charge of health projects.

Isla shared her work with Evidence Aid – Inspiring and enabling those guiding the humanitarian sector to apply an evidence-based approach. Papers/case-studies are provided to volunteers, who then read, synthesize & summarize publications which are then hosted onto Evidence Aids website.

Deborah Lepley (@DebsL72) spoke about project on making trust guidelines and policies easier to find at Mid Essex Hospital.  Great idea, good promotion of what libraries can offer and utilises the skills of library staff.

Penultimate presentation from helen from @wshlibrary talking ‘how to make a conference poster.  Excellent presentation – everyone in the room wants a copy of this poster! Useful information on what colours and font types work together (or clash horribly!), landscape is better than portrait.

Final presentation was mine – on the positive benefits of moving from a paper book ordering system to using an online method.  Book ordering form is a Google doc.  Responses tabulated in an Excel spreadsheet – meaning more reporting and filtering options, reducing the amount of time a piece of paper is handled, no more lost order slips and its better for the environment!

I left the CanDoCafe with a spring in my step!  The informal nature of the event, having a running theme and structured questions to debate meant (for me at least) a really good opportunity to ‘pick apart’ some of the large and small challenges facing us.  I spoke to new colleagues in the region and debated with colleagues who I don’t always get to see and network with.  Good ideas and practice were shared.  I came away with some ideas that I would like to explore for the library service I work in.  Isn’t that the point and real success of an event.

I would encourage colleagues in the region to attend the CanDoCafes in the future.  The intention is to run them on a quarterly basis.  Better still don’t just attend – get involved! You won’t regret it 🙂