Here's a story I have occasionally used in board training...
Once upon a time, there was a library. The board and staff were very dedicated, and they worked hard to make the library as good as it could be. They made sure the collection had all the new titles from the bestseller lists, they ran new programs they heard about from other libraries and they put rules and procedures in place to make sure nothing ever went wrong.
One day a patron came in and said, "This is a very nice library but you should do something about the front door."
"What do you mean?" asked the librarian. "What is wrong with the door?"
"It looks so old and beat up," answered the patron.
The librarian and the board chair, who was conveniently in the library at the time, went outside to look at the door. Sure enough it was weathered and chipped. Why had they never noticed this? Because they always entered the library through the back door, where the staff parking lot was.
The moral of the story: Patrons know stuff you don't know. Even if you are a professional librarian and/or an experienced trustee; especially if you are one of those things; the public has a different perspective than you. Your very expertise and your institutional perspective blinds you to their reality. What seems important to you is unimportant to them, and what is important to them may be invisible to you.
Once upon a time, there was a library. The board and staff were very dedicated, and they worked hard to make the library as good as it could be. They made sure the collection had all the new titles from the bestseller lists, they ran new programs they heard about from other libraries and they put rules and procedures in place to make sure nothing ever went wrong.
One day a patron came in and said, "This is a very nice library but you should do something about the front door."
"What do you mean?" asked the librarian. "What is wrong with the door?"
"It looks so old and beat up," answered the patron.
The librarian and the board chair, who was conveniently in the library at the time, went outside to look at the door. Sure enough it was weathered and chipped. Why had they never noticed this? Because they always entered the library through the back door, where the staff parking lot was.
The moral of the story: Patrons know stuff you don't know. Even if you are a professional librarian and/or an experienced trustee; especially if you are one of those things; the public has a different perspective than you. Your very expertise and your institutional perspective blinds you to their reality. What seems important to you is unimportant to them, and what is important to them may be invisible to you.
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