Developing Library Leaders: a management responsibility

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Developing Library Leaders a management
responsibility
PLA Conference 2002 Carden Park, Chester

• Sheila Corrall
• Director of Academic Services
• University of Southampton
• President
• CILIP

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PLA Conference 2002Carden Park, Chester

• Developing Library Leaders
• a management responsibility
• A profession in crisis?
• Leadership vs management
• Development pathways
• The role of managers
• Making it happen

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The leadership crisis

• The general consensus was that there was a lack
  of leaders in the public library profession, and
  no identified way in which a new generation of
  leaders might be fostered.
• Bob Usherwood et al.
• Recruit, retain and lead
• the public library workforce study.
• Resource, 2001.

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A cross-sectoral issue

• Research in the higher education sector found
• a lack of suitably skilled and experienced
  candidates for heads of service posts
• gaps in key generic management skills
• strategic management and leadership
• ability to manage change
• an understanding of customer focus and service
  orientation
• Pete Dalton Clare Nankivell. HIMSS
• final research report and recommendations. 2002

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A cross-domain concern

• Leadership development is
• a priority for action in the isNTO Workforce
  Development Plan
• one of ten key objectives in the Resource Annual
  Workplan
• a concern for the whole cultural sector
• NMDC Leadership Working Party
• CDF Cultural Leadership Initiative
• to prepare a larger pool of potential leaders
• to improve the performance of existing leaders

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Leadership or Management?

• There is a difference between leadership and
  management. Leadership is of the spirit,
  compounded of personality and vision its
  practice is an art. Management is of the mind, a
  matter of accurate calculation . . . its practice
  is a science. Managers are necessary leaders are
  essential.
• Field Marshal Lord Slim (quoted in
• John van Maurik. Writers on leadership, 2001)

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Management v Leadership

• The Manager
• administers
• is a copy
• focuses on systems and structure
• relies on controls
• has a short-range view
• asks how and when
• imitates
• accepts the status quo
• does things right

• The Leader
• motivates
• is an original
• focuses on people
• inspires trust
• has a long-range perspective
• asks what and why
• originates
• challenges
• does the right thing

Warren Bennis. On becoming a leader. 1989
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An alternative view

• Distinctions between management and leadership
  are often unhelpful. Increasingly, a managers
  role can be described in terms of his/her impact
  on others, so much of management is executed
  through leadership.
• Chris Lake, Director of Roffey Parks
• Developing Leadership Potential Programme (quoted
  in Developing People, Winter 2001/2)

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Management \ Leadership
Managing
Leading

• Strategic thinking

• Planning

• Visioning

• Coaching

• Setting goals

• Aligning

• Inspiring

• Developing others

• Monitoring

• Innovating

• Controlling

• Networking

• Doing the right things

• Acting as a role model

• Improving

• Effectiveness

• Doing things right

• Opening doors

• Creating a climate

• Efficiency

• Building alliances

• Budgeting

• Removing blocks

Roffey Park Management Institute
Developing
People, Winter 2001/2
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Management / Leadership
Managing
Leading

• Strategic thinking

• Planning

• Visioning

• Coaching

• Setting goals

• Aligning

• Inspiring

• Developing others

• Monitoring

• Innovating

• Controlling

• Networking

• Doing the right things

• Acting as a role model

• Improving

• Effectiveness

• Doing things right

• Opening doors

• Creating a climate

• Efficiency

• Building alliances

• Budgeting

• Removing blocks

Roffey Park Management Institute
Developing
People, Winter 2001/2
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Management and Leadership

• Management and leadership are not mutually
  exclusive they can and should be complementary
  and overlapping
• Management does not work well in todays volatile
  and unpredictable environment without leadership
  to accompany it
• Both management and leadership are needed at
  every level of an organisation so we must develop
  capacity accordingly!

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Leadership theories

• Trait theory leadership depends on the
  possession of extraordinary qualities
• Behavioural theories leadership is about
  adopting the right sort of behaviour
• Contingency theory leadership depends on
  matching the style to the situation
• Transformational theory leadership is about
  being an effective agent of change
• NB Theories are not mutually exclusive

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Development questions

• Q Nature vs nurture are people born to lead or
  can they develop required attributes?
• A People can examine, learn and practise
  leadership behaviours, but they must also have
  the will to lead and a need to achieve
• Q Generic vs specific are standard courses
  suitable or is a tailored programme needed?
• A Cross-sectoral perspectives add value, but
  programmes need to be culturally sensitive and
  incorporate context-specific elements

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Recommended approaches

• PLWS
• Co-operation among library educators and
  practitioners
• National traineeships with reserved posts
• Fast track schemes
• Leadership dev progs
• Staff college
• Compulsory CPD

• HIMSS
• Raising awareness of job roles and career paths
• Management dev progs
• Succession planning
• Opportunities for developmental work
• Mentoring and peer group support networks
• Web-based skills toolkit

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Practitioner feedback

• Practitioners would like to be able to afford
  to go on development courses to develop the
  entire senior staff of their organisation to
  take time out for study and reflection to
  develop professional and support networks to
  have access to coaching and informal learning to
  be able to go on secondment and to be mentored.
• John Holden. Cultural Leadership Initiative
  progress report, June 2002.

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Clore Duffield proposals

• A new cross-sectoral leadership development
  course for the whole of the cultural sector
• A cross-sectoral mentoring scheme
• Research fellowships a sabbatical period to
  complete a dissertation at a university
• Secondments to relevant organisations
• Bursaries and other support for organisations
• A professional coaching scheme
• An annual summer school
• John Holden. Cultural Leadership Initiative
  progress report, 2002.

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Overseas examples

• Balancing theoretical and experiential learning
• for new, mid-grade and senior professionals
• Snowbird Leadership Institute (US)
• Northern Exposure to Leadership (Canada)
• Aurora Leadership Institute (Australia)
• NLM / AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program
• ACRL / Harvard Leadership Institute
• Frye Leadership Institute
• (CLIR / EDUCAUSE / Emory University)

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Programme components

• NLM/AAHSL Program
• One-day orientation
• Half-day institute
• Mentoring relationship
• Two-week placement
• Three online courses
• Three-day final event
• Heavy subsidisation of fellow mentor costs

• CLIR Frye Institute
• Two-week residential
• Year-long practicum
• Short seminar
• Scholarships (c50)
• ethnic, racial and gender diversity
• liberal arts and small colleges

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Process requirements

• Emerging consensus about the need for both
  theoretical and experiential learning with
  generic and context-specific elements
• Short courses, residential programmes / summer
  schools, structured frameworks
• Role models, mentor relationships, coaching
• Challenging assignments, cross-functional
  projects, broadening experiences, sabbaticals
• Professional networks, peer support and
  benchmarking, communities-of-practice

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Barriers to development

• Barriers to training and development included a
  lack of time, lack of management support and lack
  of suitable opportunities
• HIMSS final research report. 2002
• The indications are that the public library
  sector may not only have to identify and
  cultivate its future leaders, but may also need
  to modify the organisational culture in which
  they operate
• PLWS executive summary. 2001

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Critical enablers

• Growing awareness of other fundamental issues
  requiring attention, eg
• aspiration raising
• cultural change
• management behaviour
• Developing library leaders should begin with
  the local library the head librarian must create
  a work environment that recognizes potential
  leaders and provides the resources for their
  leadership development.
• Donald E Riggs. The crisis and opportunities in
  library leadership. Journal of Library
  Administration, 2001.

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Management responsibility

• Line Managers need to understand the value of
  learning on the job and accept responsibility for
  developing themselves and others, eg
• appraising performance and potential
• identifying and monitoring development needs
• finding and facilitating learning opportunities
• giving clear and timely feedback on performance
• demonstrating leadership and learning behaviours
• looking for deputising / delegation opportunities
• encouraging people to share experiences

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Managerial behaviour

• Examples of behaviours facilitating learning
• a democratic/participative decision making style
• the ability to listen
• the ability to give explicit direct feedback
• the ability to engage in processes of
  questioning, reflecting and planning what to do
  next
• the ability to be a good role model to show how
  to learn by personal demonstration
• the ability to recognise learning opportunities
  within the prime managerial activity
• Alan Mumford, How managers can develop managers.
  1993

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Conclusion

• We all need to take responsibility for developing
  future library leaders, by
• allocating time and money to development
• ensuring that managers understand their roles
• identifying and acting on development needs
• contributing to sectoral leadership initiatives
• forming partnerships with educators and others
• encouraging people to raise their aspirations
• promoting a diverse and inclusive profession
• creating real learning organisations

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A Learning Workforce

• Definition of the Learning Organisation
• Creating an environment
• where the behaviours and practices
• involved in continuous development
• are actively encouraged
• Peter Honey and Alan Mumford, 1991.

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Sheila Corrall, CILIP PresidentEmail
S.M.Corrall_at_soton.ac.uk
Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E
7AE Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
0501 Textphone 020 7255 0505 Email info_at_cilip
.org.uk Website www.cilip.org.uk