Many people dislike going to campus events, talk only to people they work with, and leave feeling bad about their attendance.  If you ask them why they can’t really tell you. However, if you ask if they feel their attendance was a success they are likely to say “no.” If you give people a success metric that is reachable and within their control you give them a pathway to feeling good about the event. One such success metric is the 3-2-1 rule.  Stay at least 30 minutes, talk to at least 2 people you don’t see every day, and eat at least one cookie. If all of those metrics are achieved then it is a success.  It is also a metric that people can purposefully work towards.  

Deciding on success metrics at the start, and looking at a multi-layered success metric, provides more pathways to a self-decided success. Let’s think about a hypothetical library event. If the most important success measure of an event is how many people attended, with a particular number or range as ideal, then that needs to be made the primary focus of planning – where are the best places and what are the best times to attract that many people, what format will bring in the most people, how have other events attracted that many people. Without including these factors into the planning process but using attendance number as the most important measure the event is doomed to failure. If the primary focus is to make the campus community aware of the services the library offers, with a variety of outreach efforts, then the success metric is more easily met by listing those services on flyers posted or emails sent out or social media posts; the actual attendance of the event is one facet of a coordinated campaign. Another success metric might be making face to face contact with some of the campus community. This allows the library to make a more measured decision on what types of outreach efforts are most effective in meeting particular metrics. 

If library staff used to give tours of the library to admitted students but the university decided to have student guides include the library in the overall tour, how can the library still meet a success metric of interacting with admitted students? Suggest that library staff smile and wave at all tours that come through. This presents the library as a friendly, safe place, and also encourages the tour guides to point out the library staff and where the service desks are. Encourage library staff to be available to answer any question tour guides might have. This is a success metric within the staff’s control and one that is achievable. All of those students have still interacted with the someone in the library, even if only seeing the smile and wave.

Considering success metrics within the planning process or setting them in ways that make them within the control of the parties involved provide more pathways to success and increases morale.