According to the authors of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (2002), there are three building blocks to execution. The first is “the leader’s seven essential behaviors;” the second is “creating the framework for cultural change;” and the third is “having the right people in the right place.”
Of course, you can’t have the last one without the first two, but I think the last is the most important “building block” of execution.
The reason for this is that all these building blocks (would) exist between or within individuals. If the individuals are not open to these ideas or share a common energy, the aforementioned blocks are doomed to never be stacked. Bossidy and Charan (2002) explain, “over time, choosing the right people is what creates that elusive competitive advantage” (p. 110).
Part of the reason many public and academic libraries seem so behind on the user experience seems to be the fact that they do not have that competitive advantage of having the right people. Could this be because the leadership is not as passionate about the success of the library as, say, a businessman might be about a profit-yielding company? I think that might have something to do with it.
If libraries are to compete with for-profit companies like bookstores and search engines, how are they to have any hope of proving their relevance while they seem to keep having the wrong people in the wrong places (or the right people in undefined places)?
It’s hard to find the right people for the libraries that need to justify their value because those “right people” are more likely to work at for-profits than at unproven libraries. Perhaps the institution of the library needs to look into advertising (read glamorizing) for the right people (read competitive employees).