Multi-District Staff Development Workshop: Effectively Dealing with Challenging Individuals

Dealing with challenging people and situations can be a fact of life, particularly while working in a public library. The Central Pennsylvania, Altoona, and Johnstown districts hosted an interactive session on August 17 at the Blair County Convention Center to address this topic.

The workshop Effectively Dealing with Challenging Individuals drew nearly 60 participants from the three districts, as well as folks from other parts of the state.

The session was presented by Mary Kay Williams, owner of MindShift Consulting. MindShift Consulting is a Human Resources training and consulting firm that focuses on helping individuals and organizations ‘shift’ their perspectives. Mary Kay earned both her B.S. in Education and M.Ed. in Training and Development from Penn State. She has two national Human Resources certifications—Senior Professional in Human Resources (S.P.H.R) and Senior Certified Professionals (S-CPA). As a former Human Resources Director for Centre County Government, she understands the joys and challenges of working with challenging people and situations.

Williams used her personal approach to bring humor and levity to the session, which encouraged active participation from those in attendance. She presented an overview of the communication process, including both verbal and non-verbal elements, and stressed the importance of maintaining control and composure. Williams explained tips and tricks for managing anger, both yours and theirs, and gave suggestions for how to determine what angry people want and need.

Williams also recommended the CARP system, which stands for Control, Acknowledge, Refocus, and Problem Solve. This system offers an accessible framework for finding success in challenging situations by having users control their anger, acknowledge the situation, refocus their thinking, and problem solve to come to a solution. In addition, participants were encouraged to respond rather than react to challenging situations. This means that participants should avoid making an immediate, off the cuff reaction when challenged. Instead, they should carefully consider a well-thought out response to address the situation.

Participants earned four hours of continuing education credits for their attendance at this free program.

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submitted by:
Ashley N. Flynn, MLS
District Library Consultant
Cambria County Library

This event was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor.