Ubuntu, in the sub-Saharan language of Bantu, translates to “I am because we are.”
“It is an idea that there’s no place where I end and you begin,” explained Shola Richards, opening keynote speaker of the 2024 Public Library Association (PLA) conference in Columbus, Ohio, on April 3.
Richards—author of professional development books Go Together: How the Concept of Ubuntu Will Change How We Work, Live, and Lead (Sterling Ethos, 2018) and Making Work Work: The Positivity Solution for Any Work Environment (Sterling Ethos, 2016)— shared how practices derived from the concept of ubuntu can be used to build positive workplace culture, particularly in libraries.
Richards said he was inspired by his own mental health struggles related to toxicity in the workplace, emphasizing the importance of personal wellness amid stressful professional situations.
“I feel like a lot of people talk about mental health as something to be avoided or with a weird stigma to it,” he said. “People say, ‘I’m too busy to worry about mental health.’ That’s like going on a road trip and being like, ‘I’m too busy driving to stop and get gas.’”
According to a October 2020 study from Oracle Corporation and Workplace Intelligence, which surveyed 12,000 workers in 11 countries, 70% said the past year at work had been the most stressful of their lives, and 78% say their mental health has been affected as a result. This is likely to still be true among public library workers, Richards said, as they continue to face record-breaking censorship attempts, troubling state legislation, and, in some areas, bomb threats to facilities.
Richards listed three questions to consider when incorporating ubuntu into workplace practices and interactions:
- Is it kind? (In other words, are you working and leading with civility and care?)
- Is it true? (Are you contributing to a psychologically safe space?)
- Is it necessary?
Focusing on these three questions can be difficult when life and work get tough, Richards acknowledged. His advice is to take it one day at a time. “You don’t have to do the right thing every day,” he said, “but you do have to do the right thing just today.”
“These days are going to be hard when you go back to your libraries,” Richards continued. “There are folks who stand in opposition to the freedom that you all [protect] to create this beautiful country that we have. Please remember that you only have to bring the fight and show up just today.… We’re going to need leaders in this movement.”
Designing solutions
Later Wednesday, PLA attendees heard how service design principles have allowed staffers at Richland Library (RL) in Columbia, South Carolina, to transform not only their interactions with patrons but also their team and community by facilitating grassroots projects.
Melanie Huggins, RL’s executive director, presented “Leadership by Design: A Human-Centered Approach for Library Leaders” alongside Patrick Quattlebaum, CEO of Harmonic Design, a consulting firm that has been working with RL for the past decade. They talked about the library’s approach as it sought to address staff capacity after renovating all its branches.
“Service design became the tools by which we started to transform our processes, systems, who we hired; it touched every single element of the library,” Huggins said.
He defined service design as the application of design methods and craft to define, create, orchestrate, and evolve services and service organizations in a complex world, and the process of defining the what, why, and how of providing services to people. It is meant to answer core questions, Quattlebaum said, like, “Are our services addressing the needs around us?” and, “Do we consider all kinds of people and lived experiences when we design or deliver services?”
“It’s a way of seeing,” he said. “It’s a way of seeing what’s not in existence yet, it’s a way of seeing would-be challenges and barriers to something existing … and it’s making a lot of hard choices and tradeoffs, which is what strategy and leadership is about.”
Beyond using these practices internally, Huggins said RL uses them to host Do Good Columbia, a series of workshops in which groups of community members organize into teams over a specific problem and pitch ideas to improve it. Previous problem statements have included: “How might we increase access and enjoyment to Columbia’s rivers?” and “How might we strengthen support for, and collaboration among, service producers working with people facing homelessness?” With grant funding, both of the winning pitches from those workshops were put into action.
When adopting service design concepts, Quattlebaum explained that posing a proper problem statement is vital. It can’t be too broad of a task, like, “How might we end homelessness in our community?” Similarly, it should not be too specific to limit innovation.
“Structure is good, constraints are good,” he said. “It actually sparks creativity.”
Getting comfortable with communicating
With library crises becoming increasingly prevalent, Brandi Cummings reminded library leaders that now, more than ever, would be a good time to learn to manage their messages.
Cummings, assistant director of Kenosha (Wis.) Public Library (KPL), led “How to Say the Hard Things: Lessons Learned in Years of Crisis.”
One of the most important things to remember in crisis communication, she explained, is to always put kindness over righteousness. “We fall into righteousness time and time again, especially when we’re thinking about these difficult conversations, because we want to win people over to our side,” she said.
“When you’re communicating for an organization, you’re never going to get someone to realize they’re wrong,” Cummings continued. “We can deliver our message, and it can stand on its own, but we’re not going to be able to change every mind, win over everyone who wants a book ban, [or] every person who wants you to close your doors or privatize. You need to let that lie at your feet because you can’t carry that banner and be successful in the work you do.”
Cummings previously served as KPL’s marketing and public relations coordinator, guiding colleagues through the pandemic, local outrage following the August 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, and issues related to book challenges and bans.
To prepare for future crises, Cummings said the skills most needed for library workers handling communications are vulnerability, candor, and building trusting relationships with others around you. It’s also vital, she said, to establish a strong community profile and sense of belonging for all residents.
Cummings outlined the three C’s of communication: clarity, connect, and conflict. Library workers must have the ability to sit in conflict, she explained, especially in the face of opposition. Cummings mentioned how KPL received some local criticism in 2022 for selecting Yaa Gyasi’s novel Homegoing for its Big Read community event. The novel, by Ghanaian American author Gyasi, chronicles one family’s experiences from the era of slavery to the present day.
“I had to coach my team that we would not apologize for that,” Cummings said. “We would not give in to the barbs and quips and the things they asked for. Libraries’ neutrality doesn’t mean we don’t have an opinion; it means we provide access to multiple viewpoints.”
