Developing Leaders Developing the Profession

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Developing LeadersDeveloping the Profession

• Professor Jennifer Rowley
• Department of Information and Communications
• Manchester Metropolitan University

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Themes

• Leadership and challenges in the information
  profession
• Becoming a leader
• The Leadership Diamond
• Leadership journeys
• Comments and discussion

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Leadership and challenges in the information
profession
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Leadership and challenges in the information
profession 1

• Three facets of leadership capacity
• Senior leaders who will set the direction and
  reputation for the information profession and its
  organizations, influencing key political and
  community stakeholders
• Dispersed leadership capacity throughout
  information organizations to
• promote more local innovations and change
• develop the individuals who will be the senior
  leaders of the future succession planning
• Superleaders who will and can develop other
  leaders

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Leadership and challenges in the information
profession 2

• The Great Divide
• On one hand
• There is evidence that librarians are reluctant
  to become leaders, preferring to focus on
  professional library issues (Mullins, 2005,
  OConnor, 2007)
• Librarians lack a wider, strategic view and this
  means that they are not suited to leadership
  (OConnor, 2007).
• On the other hand
• the challenges facing the information profession
  are such that even traditional leadership theory
  and practices are probably not sufficient unto
  the task.

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Leadership and challenges in the information
profession 3

• What are the challenges?
• In general
• Todays leaders act in a global, complex,
  uncertain and interconnected business
  environment (Maak and Pless, 2006)
• For LIS
• Technological change driving economic and social
  change
• Complexity from digitisation and mix of
  resources, changing service delivery and ethos,
  changes in user expectations
• Less homogenous (IT and LIS and ? )and more
  distributed workforce, with changing portfolio of
  skills and knowledge
• Uncertain political and marketplace arenas (Pugh,
  2008)

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Leadership and challenges in the information
profession 4

• Some comments from Lyn Brown (Nov 2008, Update)
• public libraries need a single-minded sense of
  purpose, linked to an understanding of the bigger
  picture
• the delivery of good projects is not leadership
  it does not produce a narrative, it does not
  provide advocacy
• You must assert yourselves as part of your day
  job
• Ultimately the problem is an endemic
  professional uncertainty about the role of public
  libraries and just how to influence change rather
  than be passive recipients of change.

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Becoming a leader
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Becoming a leader 1

• Not everyone starts out thinking I want to be a
  leader
• Ways in which you might find yourself being a
  leader
• Because you aspire to the status of leadership
  (and maybe the salary of management)
• Because you seek career progression
• Because you want to be a good and successful
  manager
• Because you get satisfaction from and enjoy
  developing and inspiring other people
• Because you like to be at the centre of things
• Because you want to make a difference
• Because you are impatient with others attempts at
  making things happen.
• And, most importantly, because you realise that
  others are following and looking to you for
  leadership

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Becoming a leader 2

• Taffinders (1995) leadership questionnaire
• Imposing context
• Can you stand outside your own organization and
  see it as it really is?
• Do you understand the context of your business
  and organization?
• Have you articulated the core of what matters to
  your business, what you stand for?
• Risk making, risk taking
• Are you serving the future of your organization
  or merely guarding it past?
• Are you willing to make mistakes and take the
  consequences?
• Do you actively take risks by seeking
  opportunities?

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Becoming a leader 2

• Do you want to be a leader?
• Taffinders (1995) leadership questionnaire
• Imposing context
• Can you stand outside your own organization and
  see it as it really is?
• Do you understand the context of your business
  and organization?
• Have you articulated the core of what matters to
  your business, what you stand for?
• Risk making, risk taking
• Are you serving the future of your organization
  or merely guarding its past?
• Are you willing to make mistakes and take the
  consequences?
• Do you actively take risks by seeking
  opportunities?

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Becoming a leader 3

• Taffinders (1995) leadership questionnaire
  contd
• Unpredictability
• Are you prepared to experiment?
• Do you create adventure in your organization?
• Conviction
• Do you believe in yourself?
• Are your opinions your own or someone elses?
• Do you thoroughly believe in what you are doing
  in your organization?
• Generating critical mass
• Can you make what you believe in happen?
• Can/have you convince(d) people of the urgency of
  the need to change, to grab opportunities?

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The Leadership Diamond
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The Leadership Diamond 1

• What is a leader?
• A leader is someone who has followers
• You cant have a leader without a group
• You cant lead others if you cant lead
  yourself
• Post-it exercise Complete
• A good leader.
• Handy (1993) suggests that understanding the
  nature of leadership and how it can be developed
  is like the quest for the Holy Grail
• There will be no easy answers!

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The Leadership Diamond 2
Our summary of what leadership is..
Personal Qualities (self-knowledge)
Vision and Direction (broader perspective)
Working with Others (relationship building)
Managing Performance and Implementation (action
and perseverance)
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The Leadership Diamond 3

• Facet 1 Personal qualities Leaders have a
  range of personal qualities that will provoke
  followership, and they understand their own
  strengths and weaknesses. They continually seek
  to develop their leadership, managerial,
  professional capabilities and have a commitment
  to learning and development both for themselves
  and others.
• Facet 2 Working with others Leaders work
  effectively with others and develop successful
  relationships both within teams and across the
  wider organization. They motivate, inspire, and
  empower others, and facilitate effective team
  working. Further, they establish and embed values
  and cultures and support others in developing
  their capabilities and confidence for and in the
  future.

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The Leadership Diamond 4

• Facet 3 Vision and direction Leaders take the
  wider perspective looking to the context and the
  longer term future. They scan the horizon, engage
  in networking and influencing outside the
  organization so that they are able to make
  intelligent and well-informed decisions about
  strategic direction. They encourage others to do
  the same, and are able to formulate shared
  visions. Leaders are prepared to formulate
  visions in an often unknown and fragmented
  future, and accept the personal risk that this
  involves.
• Facet 4 Managing performance and implementation
  Leaders make sure that things happen, that
  tasks get done. This facet involves quality
  management day-to-day working energizing
  communicating and reiterating performance
  expectations making effective plans for
  implementation and, attending to budgets and
  resource allocation and management.

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Leadership journeys
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Leadership journeys 1

• Leaders are made not born, and how they develop
  is critical for organizational change
• (Rooke and Torbert, 2005)
• Your leadership journey
• Recognising and reflecting on leadership moments
• Seeking out and capitalising on leadership
  opportunities
• Gathering leadership experiences (some of the
  best of which will involve failure)

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Leadership journeys 2

• Authentic leadership
• focuses on the experience of being a leader
• recognises that all leaders are on a leadership
  journey
• Authentic leadership is achieved through
  self-awareness, self-acceptance, authentic
  actions and relationships, and being aware of
  ones own vulnerabilities.
• Authentic leadership theory suggests effective
  leaders work with and understand
• Trigger events - events that lead to personal
  growth and development
• Values experienced and embedded in
  self-identity
• Emotions acknowledge and embrace their own and
  others emotions

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Leadership journeys 3

• Seven transformations of leadership
• (Rooke and Torbert, 2005)
• Action logic how leaders interpret their
  surroundings and react when their power or safety
  is challenged
• few leaders understand their own action logic
• few have explored the possibility of changing it.
• Opportunists, Diplomats, and Experts (55 of
  sample) below average corporate performance.
• Achievers (30 of sample) - better at
  implementing organizational strategies.
• Individualists, Strategists, Alchemists (15 of
  sample) showed the consistent capacity to
  innovate and to successfully transform their
  organizations.

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Leadership journeys 4
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Leadership journeys 5
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Leadership journeys 6

• Some practical pointers
• Understand how you learn
• Seek out opportunities for experiential learning,
  through
• Work experiences
• Job shadowing
• Action learning
• Coaching and mentoring
• Identify formal leadership programmes
• Leading Modern Public Libraries programme (DCMS/
  MLA/ SCL)
• The Future Leaders Programme (SCONUL/ UCISA/
  British Library)
• Organizational leadership development programmes

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Reflections, comments, questions?

• Thank you for listening

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Comments and discussion

• So, where are you on your leadership journey?
• Leadership its a habit of mind
• (borrowed from Jolly et al, Library Information
  Update, Oct 2008, 36-38)
• If you want to know more
• Roberts, S and Rowley, J (2008) Leadership the
  challenge for the information profession. Facet.