TLA
HOMEby Brooke Sheldon
Toward the end of the 1970s a growing awareness emerged among organizational theorists and management gurus that one of the key problems in organizations is that they are under led and over managed. Certainly, efficient management is crucial to any organization. Competence and technical expertise must be pervasive in the organization, and both managers and leaders must possess strong management skills. At the same time, Warren Bennis (1989) has provided some definitions that serve to illustrate why the leadership function is so important.
There is a difference between "doing the right things" and "doing things right." Although there is no scientific evidence on which to base this statement, in my view our profession tends to err on the side of "doing things right." This observation is based on the years I spent working in libraries, consulting with library staffs, and observing students who choose to enter a library and information science (LIS) school. It may be also partially the fault of the LIS schools placing most emphasis on technical skills with little explicit concern about leadership skills or even interpersonal skills.
While this is not a direct correlation, it is also significant that Myers-Briggs studies (the most popular instrument in the study of librarians to date) show that "the most consistent characteristics of librarians from all the studies [since 1971] remained introversion, thinking and judging." (Agada,1998) Studies by Schadrin and Beaubien, Brimel and Leach, and Lyson (as cited in Agada, 1998) have suggested that librarians are mostly ISTJ's and INTJs. The ISTJ is described in the Meyers-Briggs manual as "serious, quiet, earn success by concentration and thoroughness. Practical, orderly, matter of fact, logical, realistic, and dependable. See to it that everything is well organized. Take responsibility. Make up their own minds as to what should be accomplished and work toward it steadily, regardless of protests or distractions."
The INTJ types on the other hand usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes. In fields that appeal to them, they have a fine power to organize a job and carry it through with or without help. They are "skeptical, critical, independent, determined, sometimes stubbornmust learn to yield less important points in order to win the most important." (Agada, 1998) Employees in Texas libraries varied considerably from the general population, with library employees being "introverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging." (Bounds, Patterson and Bailey, 1994)
Attempting to improve our leadership skills by cultivating the characteristics Bennis describes helps us move away from a tendency to rely on control, accept the status quo, and be intolerant of ambiguity. The latter point is a very important one because clearly libraries may rely on managers for survival, but they are dependent on leaders for initiating change. The ability to make decisions that involve some risks without having all the information at hand is the hallmark of the leader. Other qualities include the ability to plunge ahead on a project, to articulate a vision thatwhile it may potentially lead to failuremay lead to success that can be very important to the institution or the profession. Many examples of this could be described, but the establishment of the TALL Texans Leadership Development Institute comes immediately to mind. Several leaders in TLA had looked at the Snowbird Institute and the Michigan Leadership Program and concluded that something similar would be beneficial for Texas. But it was Bonnie Juergens (Executive Director of Amigos) who chaired the planning group, kept it on track for many months when naysayers said is must "make money" for TLA, and never let the group lose sight of the ultimate goal. TALL Texansa great success story!
In discussing examples of leadership in the workplace, we tend to focus on the projects that transcend one's individual job and involve many players. I believe this is because we take for granted the normal leadership traits we exhibit daily in our jobs, an environment that may lack that added element of risk-taking that occurs when one tries to represent or lead a complex group of individuals with varying agendas.
When I contacted Julie Todaro, in-coming President of TLA, she told me the following story:
"One day, almost five years ago, Pat Smith called me and asked me to take on a new role. She explained that, as I was a current member of the TLA Executive Board and someone who lived in Austin, I was a likely candidate to be the representative to a new committee. She had just gotten a call from the First Lady's office asking for someone from the Association to meet with a small group to discuss putting on a book festival for Texas. I was excited about the idea, dubious about the work, but let's face it, who says no to Pat? So I said yes and from that moment until now, I think the primary thing that has gotten me through this exciting and enormous project was leadership.
Here I was, surrounded by non-librarians and having to communicate with them,
educate them, learn from them,
and work with them while representing the entire Association. In addition, I
had to gather ideas from Association members, take them back to this new group,
get all Association members on board, all members excited, and many members
involved."
To the question of which leadership skill became the most important, Todaro replied,"Well, first and foremost VISION. We had to create a shared vision of what the festival was going to be and for whom it was going to be. When you stop and think that all of us came to the table with different views of festivals and different views of libraries, you can imagine how challenging that was. My role was to bring a clear vision of library needs, specifically public library needs, in Texas.
Successful WORK WITH GROUPS ? a major factor in leadership ? was important, as our workgroup became larger and more disparate as we grew. I had to be sure I understood group dynamics and applied what I knew AND used all the techniques I had for building teams as well as making them work together.
COMMUNICATIONS became critical as we had to learn each other's lingo as well as what to say and how to work with these very diverse groups such as city departments, authors, entertainers, state government departments, and a huge variety of other organizations. Our core group had a shared vision, but we had to consistently and constantly communicate that vision and make it clear to these diverse groups, all of whom were 'in it' for different reasons.
MOTIVATION is always a major leadership issue. We had to not only find ways to motivate state and local groups in both profit and non-profit sectors to help us, join us or give us money (!), but we had to find ways to continue motivating ourselves ? the core group of volunteers ? and also the other enormous number of volunteers we had to marshal to make it all work.
I had to be a CHANGE AGENT in many ways and in one particular way: I had to move people toward a different perspective. Many volunteers, who only work in special, academic or school libraries, had to pull together at a Festival designed to raise money for only one group of libraries in Texas, public libraries.
Now, don't think all of this was done or is being done without conflict. I REALLY have to remember my CONFLICT MANAGEMENT skills (yes, I have them!). The closer we get to each festivalthe more testy we become!
And finally, it is important to involve others in leadership roles through MENTORING and NETWORKING. It has always been a priority goal of mine to involve as many other people 'at the top' and doing the fun things as quickly as possible in order for things to run smoothly without key players ? hence, the ongoing TLA Grants Committee and now the Book Festival Committee.
The Festival has certainly been the most challenging but rewarding of all my leadership roles to date."
In a recent conversation with Harold Billings, who directs one of the largest ARL libraries in this country (University of Texas at Austin), he said:
"Leadership should really be based on what one can give rather than get. Giving should not only be a hallmark of a service-based organization, it should be the mark of adept administration. Nothing is more important than the dedication towards the public good of one's resources, whether that resource be information, human resources, finances, time, or space. Some of this library's greatest rewards have evolved from our sharing of space in a time of campus need.
The recent dislocation of UT's Academic Computing and Instructional Technology Services Divisioncaused by a new construction projectoffered an opportunity for our library to move an uncommitted 'bubble' of space about in such a way that we could provide a temporary home for some of these misplaced academic computing personnel. This has provided an opportunity for closer collaboration between library and computing staff, and to improve significantly library connectivity because of the needs of computing. It supplied the stimulus for and opportunity to move and make more publicly accessible our new journals collection, to consolidate previously separated parts of our Interlibrary Services Division, to gain space for and consolidate previously dispersed units of our Digital Library Services Division, and to enhance our ability to provide better-secured 24-hour library service for students.
While my initial decision to make this space available was criticized by some as 'giving away' library space, it has proved of benefit in promoting action that had been under consideration for some time, but which might otherwise still be in abeyance. And it certainly helped an otherwise difficult time for computing personnel. Taking chances plays a huge role in 'leadership,' just as does farsightedness, the longer view."
Billings' comments reminded me of what happened when I came to U.T. Austin in 1991. There was an opportunity to save the Conservation Program at Columbia's Library School and bring it to Texas. Billings immediately saw the benefit of having such a program at The University of Texas and he joined the Graduate School of Library and Information Science group in not only helping convince the University administration that there was real research merit as well as training opportunities in such a program, but also made the contribution that cinched the dealfinding space for the extensive laboratories required for the program.
These are just a few of the hundreds, no thousands, of examples one might draw upon. If there is one message from these Texas leaders, it is this: Don't be afraid to go out on a limb, take a chance to lead the development of a project that can significantly improve the quality of your library or libraries in general.
Brooke E. Sheldon, TALL Texans Institute mentor in 1994, is a professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, The University of Texas at Austin.
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