OVERVIEW:
Let’s face it: managing employees in a public-facing environment like a library is not always easy. Sometimes staff don’t get along with each other, are not as service-oriented as you’d like them to be with your patrons, and can be dismissive, passive-aggressive, and even outwardly challenging toward your ideas, policies, projects, and approaches. Every employee that works for you has both a personality style and a preferred way to engage with you, other bosses, their colleagues, and the patrons. You already know there is no one “Perfect Way” to supervise people and manage for the goals you want to achieve and to get the collective outcomes your peers and other leaders are seeking.
If you have worked at any supervisory or leadership level in the library, you have already formed your opinions about which staffers are most aligned to your management style and which ones aren’t. While it’s not useful or fair to stereotype people based on their approaches to working, we can use the useful concept of “personality archetypes” (a collection of universally specific behaviors, shown over time) to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of library employees. This webinar focuses on 12 of the most common types of those employees who can be challenging, primarily with their workplace behavior, more than their work performance–and how to successfully supervise them.
National library service, safety, security, and HR expert Dr. Steve Albrecht has managed each of these 12. He has written about them, coached them on behalf of their organizations, and coached and consulted with library leaders as to how to get the best out of them.
LEARNING AGENDA:
This Library 2.0 webinar will help you successfully supervise:
- The Gossip
- The Passive-Aggressive
- The Workplace Bully
- The Challenger
- The Champion
- The Injustice Collector
- The Dolphin
- The Smart Slacker
- The Serial Harasser
- The Hygiene-Challenged Employee
- The Plowhorse
- The Idea Killer
- And a Bonus Employee, who we want to create more of: The Rising Star/Shining Star.
Want to know how each of these archetypes is defined? Join Steve for this entertaining, tool-based webinar. The presentation slides will be available to all who participate.
About the Speaker
DR. STEVE ALBRECHT. Since 2000, Dr. Steve Albrecht has trained thousands of library employees in 28+ states, live and online, in service, safety, and security. His programs are fast, entertaining, and provide tools that can be put to use immediately in the library workspace with all types of patrons. He has written 27 books, including: Library Security: Better Communication, Safer Facilities (ALA, 2015); The Safe Library: Keeping Users, Staff, and Collections Secure (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023); The Library Leader’s Guide to Human Resources: Keeping it Real, Legal, and Ethical (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2025); and The Library Leader’s Guide to Employee Coaching: Building a Performance Culture One Meeting at a Time (Rowman & Littlefield, June 2026). Steve holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration (D.B.A.), an M.A. in Security Management, a B.A. in English, and a B.S. in Psychology. He is board-certified in HR, security management, employee coaching, and threat assessment.
He lives in Springfield, Missouri, with seven dogs and two cats. More on The Safe Library at thesafelibrary.com. Follow on X (Twitter) at @thesafelibrary and on YouTube @thesafelibrary. Dr. Albrecht’s professional website is drstevealbrecht.com.
