Register by May 27, 2022, to join the next cohort of institutional teams planning their change process!
ACRL’s Fostering Change Cohort is a 12-week program designed for teams from institutions planning any type of organizational change. Each team can be made up of 2 to 5 library workers, and a full scholarship will be awarded to one team from a minority-serving institution. The 2022 Cohort will run from Monday, June 6, 2022, through Friday, August 26, 2022.
To get the most out of this cohort, we recommend that your team enters with a clear idea of an initiative that will have change implications for your organization. Examples of possible changes could range from altering an existing service model to developing new organizational structures; creating a communication toolkit to implementing a new technology or platform.
Participating teams will each be assigned a facilitator to help them scope a specific change within their institution. Facilitators will aid in identifying and establishing team dynamics, provide strategies for working with people who are struggling with change, and demonstrate project management tools for organizing your work. The facilitators and your cohort will help you create a plan that can help take your organization from where you are today to your imagined future. Groups also meet biweekly as a community to help you examine your cultural readiness for change, create inclusive practices, build outcomes-based goals, and learn best practices in project management.
“I found the cohort rewarding, inspiring, and affirmative while also guiding participants to be realistic and practical.” —2021 Fostering Change Cohort member
Participants will:
- share and learn from other groups, and define their own team norms and processes for moving forward with change
- complete a project plan and a communication plan for their change by the end of the program
- be able to succinctly describe the change process and need to a variety of stakeholders
- gain a community of practice that they can continue to engage with after the end of the cohort
The Fostering Change Cohort hopes to build a community of change agents in academic libraries, armed with the tools to spark, lead, and sustain change no matter your organizational position and with a network of peers to lean on as you embark on your change process.
Registration is capped at 12 teams.
Questions about the Fostering Change Cohort should be directed to Erin Nevius at enevius@ala.org.