What does leadership mean? For me, it means being willing to grow and learn new things and to leverage the experience I have. Part of being a leader is also recognizing when you need to tend to your own garden as well as supporting the growth of others.
When I found the Lilead Fellows program, I was seeking something. After years of leading in a small district, I was both looking for growth for myself, and for fellowship of other leaders. Beyond that, I wanted to add more structure and background knowledge to my ad hoc leadership skills learned “on the job” and from local mentors.
The Lilead Fellows (and other programs like it, like Texas’ wonderful Tall Texan program and the new TLA Executive Leadership Immersion Program) allows me to connected with other district lead librarians across the country and with mentors who were there to support my job embedded projects. And it was also an opportunity to formalize some of my knowledge about leading and put some language to some of it, to learn new strategies, and ultimately o become braver as a leader.
Doing a program like Lilead is different than attending conferences — it’s more akin to going back to school, but going with a team of colleagues through the entire program. And any program which lets you step back mid career or later in your career and lets you assess and learn new skills is a worthwhile endeavor. Participating in Lilead was meant as a rare gift to myself as a learner, I have to admit. So, whether or not this particular path interests you—find one that does—find a support group—an institute, a workshop—something that can help you reach new levels of your abilities and offers you support.
We’ve had some valuable experiences this year in the program. One of the most helpful things for me has been reading the book Strengths Finder (Rath, Gallup Press, 2007) and assessing my own strengths. Strengths Finder was such a positive experience and doing it with other library leaders nationwide allowed us all to see the diversity of talents that different individuals bring to their library programs. How much better is it to build a learning network around you that complements your own strengths!. It’s also a great tool to bring to your own library team in your district or to do across teams that work together like librarians and instructional technology.
Another book that was impactful was Simon Sinek’s Start With Why (Portfolio/Penguin, 2013). We’ve spent a lot of time in Lilead Fellows talking about our “why” and honing our ability to state our why. Why are we librarians at all? What is the “why” behind our projects in our districts? Being able to articulate that is an effective part of being a campus leader. I should add that the benefits haven’t just from reading the book—the benefits are from spending time reflecting on your goals in an intentional way. Find a small book group, if you aren’t part of any other group, to read the book with and then share your “why” with as a way to hold yourself accountable to taking that reflective step.
As part of Lilead, we have also generated lists of our most important priorities so we could gauge if that’s where we were spending our time, have learned about things that hinder or help a change effort, have learned about how to design our messages effectively, and discussed how to communicate with our administrators more effectively.
The last book that has been very influential for me is one I discovered via an article we read. It’s John Kotter’s Leading Change (Harvard Business School Press, 2012). Kotter has written a lot about what prevents change from being successful and how to navigate a change effort that works. It’s been hugely helpful for me. There are things that trip up many librarians when trying to change things in a new school or to try something new, and his articles and books were really helpful guides in how to avoid those pitfalls.
While I’m thrilled that Texas has three members in the Lilead Fellows, there are many other leadership opportunities too. Whether you are a district leader or a librarian at an individual campus, take the time to grow your own leadership skills. Every moment we spend showing our staff that we are willing to step up as educational leaders, not just library leaders, are moments that we demonstrate the power of a librarian to our administrators.
Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press, 2012.
Rath, Tom. Strengthsfinder 2.0. Gallup Press, 2007.
Sinek, Simon. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Portfolio/Penguin, 2013.
Doing a program like Lilead is different than attending conferences — it’s more akin to going back to school, but going with a team of colleagues through the entire program. And any program which lets you step back mid career or later in your career and lets you assess and learn new skills is a worthwhile endeavor. Participating in Lilead was meant as a rare gift to myself as a learner, I have to admit. So, whether or not this particular path interests you—find one that does—find a support group—an institute, a workshop—something that can help you reach new levels of your abilities and offers you support.
We’ve had some valuable experiences this year in the program. One of the most helpful things for me has been reading the book Strengths Finder (Rath, Gallup Press, 2007) and assessing my own strengths. Strengths Finder was such a positive experience and doing it with other library leaders nationwide allowed us all to see the diversity of talents that different individuals bring to their library programs. How much better is it to build a learning network around you that complements your own strengths!. It’s also a great tool to bring to your own library team in your district or to do across teams that work together like librarians and instructional technology.
Another book that was impactful was Simon Sinek’s Start With Why (Portfolio/Penguin, 2013). We’ve spent a lot of time in Lilead Fellows talking about our “why” and honing our ability to state our why. Why are we librarians at all? What is the “why” behind our projects in our districts? Being able to articulate that is an effective part of being a campus leader. I should add that the benefits haven’t just from reading the book—the benefits are from spending time reflecting on your goals in an intentional way. Find a small book group, if you aren’t part of any other group, to read the book with and then share your “why” with as a way to hold yourself accountable to taking that reflective step.
As part of Lilead, we have also generated lists of our most important priorities so we could gauge if that’s where we were spending our time, have learned about things that hinder or help a change effort, have learned about how to design our messages effectively, and discussed how to communicate with our administrators more effectively.
The last book that has been very influential for me is one I discovered via an article we read. It’s John Kotter’s Leading Change (Harvard Business School Press, 2012). Kotter has written a lot about what prevents change from being successful and how to navigate a change effort that works. It’s been hugely helpful for me. There are things that trip up many librarians when trying to change things in a new school or to try something new, and his articles and books were really helpful guides in how to avoid those pitfalls.
While I’m thrilled that Texas has three members in the Lilead Fellows, there are many other leadership opportunities too. Whether you are a district leader or a librarian at an individual campus, take the time to grow your own leadership skills. Every moment we spend showing our staff that we are willing to step up as educational leaders, not just library leaders, are moments that we demonstrate the power of a librarian to our administrators.
Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press, 2012.
Rath, Tom. Strengthsfinder 2.0. Gallup Press, 2007.
Sinek, Simon. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Portfolio/Penguin, 2013.
