Info-entrepreneurs, represented by the Association of Independent Information Professionals, stand out as innovative, forward thinking, and client focused information professionals.  This series of posts delivers future ready solutions and strategies from current and past presidents of AIIP.  As industry thought leaders they have much to share about staying ahead of the curve and delivering cost effective solutions to clients worldwide.  In this insightful series of postings readers will learn how to create a job for life by listening for opportunity, watching for changes, stretching to acquire new skills, finding a balance, planning for the long term, and drawing on your strengths. -  C.S.

by Marge King

Management and leadership gurus as well as sociologists and psychologists have discussed and debated the differences between management and leadership for a number of years now.  If you follow Peter Drucker, you know that he prefers the term “management” over leadership.  But many other scholars believe there are subtle but very real differences between the two roles.  Management is all about exercising administrative, supervisory, and executive direction to a group of people or an organization.  Leadership, on the other hand, is a process where an individual influences a group of people to achieve a common goal.  The two roles are not mutually exclusive, though.

SLA and AIIP members, in general, have superb technical skills, a key ingredient to being a competent and successful manager.  But having technical skills is not the only piece; to be truly effective as a manager we also need to have conceptual (the ability to see opportunities and/or work with ideas and concepts) and interpersonal skills.  Leadership requires us to develop broader and deeper interpersonal skills—become effective coaches and to be empathic, good listeners, inspiring, while being willing to delegate tasks and give recognition to others.  Leadership also requires us to expand our conceptual skills to establish direction, clarity, and vision to influence others to achieve a common goal. 

We are often presented with opportunities to hone our management skills, but generally it is up to us, as individuals, to seek out leadership roles.  So how does one find leadership opportunities?  The answer is simple: Volunteer.  Several years ago Women’s Way conducted a study that showed critical business skills like problem solving, coaching/mentoring, and public speaking are developed and improved through volunteerism.  By volunteering for a leadership role for small projects or even unpopular or tough projects, you can develop your leadership skills and visibility.  If your corporate setting doesn’t have any leadership opportunities available for you, look for committee or board positions in your favorite professional association or local nonprofit.

Aside from connecting with your regional nonprofit association, three of my favorite resources for finding volunteer leadership opportunities are:

• Boardnetusa.org: A clearinghouse for matching potential board candidates with nonprofit organizations.
• Opportunityknocks.org: A job site that lists both volunteer and paid positions.
• Volunteermatch.org: A clearinghouse for matching volunteers with nonprofit organizations.

Finally, I recommend that you read Bridgestar’s article on finding a rewarding nonprofit board position.

As your career develops and you consider becoming an information entrepreneur or moving up the ladder in a corporate setting, your leadership skills will help you make the leap with ease and grace. 

Marge King is president of InfoRich Group, Inc. (www.inforichgroup.com), a research-based fundraising consulting firm, and current past-president of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (www.aiip.org). In addition to raising millions of dollars for her clients, she has broad experience developing and organizing nonprofit boards and advisory councils. She is a highly–skilled researcher and proposal writer; she is adept at researching individuals, corporations and foundations. She also speaks and writes about contemporary fundraising issues.

By Dennie Heye, Europe Chapter, Petroleum & Energy Resources Division

Very often, leadership is considered to be the same as management. The simplest difference between those two terms is that you can be appointed a manager, but can only become a leader. A manager can only be effective when management techniques are complemented by leadership skills.

If you are not a manager, you can still be a leader – being a leader is about being able to influence teams to work towards a common goal. As a leader, you do not have employees but followers, who believe in your leadership to actually “lead the way.” There are many different kinds of leadership, and each of us should be able to find a style that fits us.

As an information professional, you can be a leader in the information management discipline, in your organization or your community. In my career I have was lucky to work with several leaders who have influenced my work and personality. A good leader inspires you to do great things and facilitates the road towards a goal.

Being a leader is a competency that is gained over time. Below are three insights and techniques that have helped me expand my leadership capabilities.

Enthusiasm

Nothing is more contagious than enthusiasm. If you encounter someone who is clearly excited about a new idea and simply radiates enthusiasm, it is hard to resist sharing that enthusiasm. Enthusiasm helps others to build willingness to change, to work harder, cooperate, study or make decisions.

You can stimulate enthusiasm by telling others what the ideal solution would be, what it takes to get there and how people will feel when the ideal solution is reached. Genuinely describe how you feel about the proposed solution, why it makes you feel good and interact with people to share those feelings and build enthusiasm.

Trust

If you are leading others, trust them to do as you agreed – give them time and space to do it their way. Let them gain your trust by showing results but achieving them in their particular way. Try and steer on the outcome of peoples’ actions, rather than the way others achieve the outcome. If you are like me, you will find it hard as a perfectionist that others do not do things they way you would do them. So sometimes I refrain myself from ‘trying to help the other,’ as I know my trusting the other will result in better results in the long run. If you do not trust others to perform their work, they will frustrated and unmotivated.

Challenge

If you have young kids, you know the period in their lives when they keep asking “why?”. They will start asking simple questions and then keep asking for the reasons why for every answer: “Why do cars drive on the road?” “Otherwise they would collide with the pedestrians” “Why?” Etcetera. Kids are curious by nature and do not accept things just because. That curious nature is still inside the adult of us and should be used more often. We will often feel that asking ‘why’ will make others thing we are not smart or “don’t get it.” Wrong. Challenge established procedures or new ideas by asking ‘why’ a couple of times after every explanation. It is very clarifying to see how easy it is to get to the bottom of things!

Dennie Heye is Global Knowledge Manager at Shell International. He is also a member of SLA’s Information Outlook Advisory Committee and the International Relations Chair for the Petroleum & Energy Resources Division.

by Nora Martin, Australia and New Zealand Chapter, Leadership & Management Division

In May 2007 I began employment as the inaugural Library Manager at the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). AUSTRAC is Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulator and specialist financial intelligence unit (FIU). My major contribution included the establishment and maintenance of an online library and the implementation of a new library and research centre service.

I attended the 11th Aurora Leadership Institute in February 2008 as a result of being awarded the inaugural AGLIN Scholarship. Subsequently I served on the AGLIN Executive Board from 2008-9. AGLIN is an independent organization established to coordinate Australian Federal government libraries. The Aurora Leadership Institute assists future leaders in the library and information sector to maximise their skills and potential. This was also an opportunity to spend time with and learn from leaders in the library profession.

My participation as an AGLIN Executive Board member for 2008-9 gave me an insight into how an executive board operates and was a valuable learning experience. I would describe the benefits of participating at the Institute as increased self awareness and learning about the difference between leadership and management, especially the importance of leading from within.

Aurora increased my confidence to such a degree that I applied for and obtained a 9-month reassignment within AUSTRAC as Senior Analyst within the Strategic Analysis Unit. This role included conducting detailed research to provide internal and external stakeholders with proactive intelligence on money laundering and terrorism financing typologies, trends and vulnerabilities. This reassignment turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for professional development, leading to an increased understanding of the information needs and requirements of our Intelligence business unit. Another benefit was that this knowledge greatly assisted me upon return to my substantive capacity as Library Manager in early 2009.

Information professionals have exceptional research and analytical skills, often not recognised by the intelligence community. These skillsets are very transferable and it’s a positive sign that increasingly government agencies are strategic in their approach to the exercise of professional development within human resource management. Governments worldwide continue to deal with the threat of terrorism and organised crime plus work together to combat global threats, such as those concerning the environment and climate change. As a result, the need for the services of government information professionals has increased in recent years. The need for current information and qualified information and knowledge services staff cannot be underestimated. The challenge is to reinforce this message to key stakeholders within government agencies, to prove our value and become indispensible.

In July 2009 (due to operational requirements) I was permanently reassigned to the position of Senior Analyst within the AUSTRAC Operational Intelligence branch. My responsibilities included the evaluation and dissemination of Suspect Matter Reports to domestic and international partner agencies. Concurrently at this time I took on a mentor role and trained another information services colleague in library procedures. My mentee demonstrated her commitment to the library profession by taking on the responsibility of maintaining a streamlined library service in addition to her normal duties.

Whilst enjoying the challenge of working in the intelligence field, library work remains and is my passion! Late last year I obtained a promotion to an executive leadership role at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Library. Our ATO eLibrary model is linked to the 2011 SLA Annual Conference sub-theme “using knowledge sharing to encourage collaboration.” The library team is placing a particular emphasis on web 2.0 and emerging web 3.0 services, demonstrating a capacity to innovate and develop new information products and services to meet an identified need.

The moral of the story is to think outside the square in terms of professional development opportunities. Often a break from “traditional” library work will reenergise and reinvigorate you leading to other exciting opportunities down the track!

After working in a public library as a paraprofessional for over twenty years, Nora Martin completed her degree in 2005 and is now Assistant Director, Library & Information Services at the Australian Taxation Office. In 2009 Nora was the recipient of the SLA Diversity Leadership Development (DLDP) award and International Travel award. She previously worked as Library Manager at AUSTRAC, Australia’s anti-money laundering regulator and specialist financial intelligence unit. Prior to this time, Nora was employed as a Research Librarian at Fairfax Media, providing high-quality research and information services to journalists, working on local print publications and helping journalists from various interstate and overseas bureaus.

by Noël Kopriva, Pittsburgh Chapter, Food, Agriculture & Nutrition Division

Lead? Me? When I was asked to run for Chair-Elect of the Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition Division (FAN) after only a few years as a member, I couldn’t help saying to myself: “I don’t know what I’m doing yet!” Now, nearly a year later, I’m reflecting on the experience of learning to lead.

When I was asked to run for Chair-Elect, I had qualms about my inexperience, both as a FAN member and as a librarian, but those were not my only doubts: I was convinced that I was temperamentally unsuited to a leadership position. I like to listen to people and encourage them, but I’m not fond of giving directions; that is to say, I unconsciously equated leadership with bossiness.  As I thought about FAN and the people I knew in leadership positions, however, I realized my experiences with the division had actually shown me that leaders do not “boss” if they want to be effective. Good leaders listen well, they encourage you to play to your strengths, and they help you to learn from failure. These are all qualities I wanted to cultivate as a librarian and as a leader, so I ran for Chair-Elect and got the position.

In my son’s favorite episode of The Backyardigans, called “Super Team Awesome,” one of the characters is a tour guide without super powers. Not to worry: “You have the gift of leading people,” Tyrone the Tour Guide’s friends tell him. “You’re a real superhero!” And it’s true: Tyrone gently leads his team of certified superheroes through an obstacle maze of sticky bacteria, slippery rocks, and active volcanoes to help them save the earth.  His is a perfect example of servant leadership, which is characterized, according to Fillipa Manulo (2007), by “the desire to serve authentically and with purpose (par 36),” not by a desire for power or control. It’s an example I aim to follow each day as I communicate, plan, and organize in the virtual world with my colleagues in FAN and in real life as a subject librarian and instruction coordinator. In either context, I see my primary mission as one of empowerment—helping students to become lifelong learners, helping faculty to succeed in their research, helping colleagues obtain access to the professional development tools they need to do their jobs effectively.

The desire to serve, the desire to lead: to do both effectively, we must be future ready. We need to think not only in terms of our skill sets, whose currency we anxiously monitor, but in terms of our openness to change, our commitment to thoughtful stewardship of our resources (Anzalone, 2007, par. 30), and to a realistic assessment of our ability to be effective in innumerable environments and platforms. If we do these things, we will not only be ready for the future ourselves, we can show others the way.

Since 2007, Noël Kopriva has been the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design Librarian at West Virginia University Libraries; since 2008, she has served as the Instruction Coordinator for Evansdale Library. Prior to her career as a librarian, Noël worked as a college writing instructor and in the production end of medical and educational publishing. She holds a BA & an MA in English, and an MLS, all from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

References

Anzalone, F. (2007). Servant leadership: a new model for law library leaders. Law Library Journal, 99(4), 793-812. http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_journal.asp.

Berstein, AD, Burgess, J., Gray, S (Writers) & Kim, D (Director). (2010). Super team awesome. In Janice M. Jacobs (Producer), The Backyardigans. New York, NY: NickJr.