There's something in the PR literature called coorientation, which is when an organization looks for similarities and differences between the organizations' opinion about the public AND the publics' opinion about the organization. Now, this is something I urge libraries to take seriously! in LibQual, this happens some with gap analysis, but is rarely extended to be combined with a real and open discussion of how we honestly view our public. Why? Because there are stereotypes that we know we'll get bashed for sharing or even that we might get heat for voicing an opinion against the stereotype. But, if you don't look honestly at what you think and compare it to what the public thinks of you, then you are shading all your actions with only your own perceptions.
Some questions to ask when tackling an issue:
Some questions to ask when tackling an issue:
- What's our organizational view of the issue?
- What do our stakeholders think about the issue?
- Does our perception of the stakeholders' view match their views on the issues?
- Do the stakeholders have a peception of the organizational view point on the topic, and does that match reality?
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