Demonstrate professional leadership and communication skills
Introduction
In this fluctuating information age, it is critical for librarians and LIS professionals to possess both leadership and communication skills to be successful. Academic librarians are working on multiple endeavors throughout their daily jobs including projects, instruction, collection development, and other duties. Regardless if a librarian desires managerial responsibilities in the library, being a leader and needing leadership skills is a necessity. Communication is a critical skill in any profession, but especially in the LIS profession. Working with the public and collaborating with other internal and external stakeholders on projects and services is a part of the job. These skills can be learned and developed by anyone at any time, but knowing and having these skills is a necessity to be a librarian.
Leadership
Leadership is focused on managing change (Albright, 2022). There are many definitions for the term leadership, one created by the author of Emotional Intelligence Travis Bradberry is “leadership is a process of social influence which maximizes the efforts of others toward the achievement of a greater good” (Albright, 2022, p.502). Leadership involves a continuing process where individual leaders make connections with and influence others to create a cohesive collaborative process and achieve success in organizations (Romaniuk & Sheldon, 2018). “Leadership can be summarized as the ability to draw people together to set and accomplish goals that are intentionally directed toward positive outcomes” (Albright, 2022, p.503). A leader is someone who has the skills to connect people together and to achieve collaborative goals which requires a specific set of leadership skills (Albright, 2022). The demonstration of these leadership skills is referred to as competencies and the Library Leadership Administration and Management Association (LLAMA) lists fourteen competencies as foundational for leadership and management in the LIS profession. These competencies include communication, change management, team building, collaboration and partnerships, emotional intelligence, problem solving, evidence-based decision-making, conflict resolution, budget creation and presentation, forward thinking, critical thinking, ethics, project management, and marketing and advocacy (Albright, 2022, pp.507-508). Leadership in libraries can exist in many different areas of the profession including the library leader bringing about change, project managers working to achieve an organizational goal, and other influential leadership roles where the person is not in management but leads others through organizational influence and motivation. Proactive leaders recognize that people make things happen, and that getting to know their needs is vital to changing their behavior, so extra effort needs to be put into communication and developing relationships to gain support and get commitment from people (Englund et al., 2003).
Communication
Leadership and communication go hand in hand, as evidenced by communication skills being one of the fourteen competencies of leadership (Albright, 2022). While people communicate daily and it may seem like a skill everyone has perfected, it is a lot more complex. To bring it back to its basic form, “communication occurs when an individual (sender) delivers a message to others (receivers) by employing a variety of oral, written, and nonverbal techniques” (Alman, 2022, p.375). Communication is known to be successful when the receiver understands the exact message that was sent via a communication technique (Alman, 2022). Even though people communicate throughout their daily lives, communication is often unsuccessful and people frequently miscommunicate which can greatly affect services that libraries provide to their communities. Soft skills like communication are critical to forming interpersonal relationships, and LIS professionals need to communicate effectively using the correct techniques depending on the audience to be successful (Alman, 2022). In order to be a good leader and bring about change, certain communication skills are needed. Communication skills can be learned and polished through professional development opportunities and professionals should focus on improving their skills in having more effective speaking and writing skills, be an active listener and not get distracted when communicating, understand nonverbal cues, and be able to effectively work in teams or individually (Alman, 2022). Being genuine and open to new ideas is a great way to collaboratively work with others to enact change. Communicating through storytelling is an effective approach because people gravitate toward truth and making a human connection (Barefoot, 2023). Opening up communication with a team, getting their input and being personable and collaborative with others, is an effective way to get a successful project where everyone has a personal desire to seek project completion and develop collaborative change processes (Barefoot, 2023). Good communication is vital to the success of a leader, but also for the success of projects and library services. Developing good communication skills is a requirement to be a successful librarian or LIS professional.
Evidence
Info 282-11 - Skills Inventory Assignment
My first piece of evidence is a Skills Inventory Assignment created for Info 282-11 Seminar in Library Management - Marketing Your Skills in a Networked World. This assignment was to create a detailed list of our professional skills, and then provide detailed examples and statements on how we showcased these skills in our past and current professional positions. Essentially this assignment was to create the employment section of a resume with extensive detail into our professional skills. This assignment shows my skills in leadership and management as well as my extensive knowledge of communication and teamwork skills. This piece of evidence shows my fulfillment of most of the fourteen leadership and management competencies created by LLAMA. My skills include evidence-based decision-making, assessment, budgeting, mentoring, customer service, management, project management, stakeholder management, teamwork, training, communication, interviewing, supervisory, and organizational skills to name a few. My recent leadership skills include working as the circulation supervisor for the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) Henderson Campus Library, and being a team lead for the Recognition team/committee which is to lead a team of ten LIS professionals in recognizing staff success and planning events and training days. My recent communication skills include providing customer service to the CSN Henderson Library community, working collaboratively with the CSN Henderson full-time team to ensure excellent services and resources are available to our community, and being a member of four library teams/committees to assist in improving services and seek effective change such as through the Assessment team, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team, the Alma Working Group team, and the Communication, Outreach, and Marketing (COM) team.
My second piece of evidence is an essay titled Project Management Strategy written for Info 282-12 Seminar in Library Management - Project Management. The goal of this essay was to discuss ways that a project manager can keep their project on track and improve the probability of success. In my essay I explain how project management strategies such as finalizing project details, setting clear expectations, establishing clear communication, and mitigating project risks are all needed to ensure a successful project completion. I also emphasize the importance of communication throughout every aspect of project management because without effective communication skills, a project is unlikely to be successful. This piece of evidence shows my knowledge in the importance of communication skills and showcases the importance of leadership as a project manager. Librarians can often lead projects or teams in their profession and this piece of evidence shows my knowledge and understanding of how to be successful in this role.
Info 282-14 - Single Service Point Assignment
My third piece of evidence is a paper written for Info 282-14 Seminar in Library Management - Change Management. This assignment was to write a paper on how to utilize the Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) tool for enacting change and analyze a specific case study and how the tool would assist someone in leading others through change. We were to also answer the questions of what did staff need during the transition period and what tips and techniques did I find useful in their approach. I found that both internal and external stakeholders need to feel involved in the change process for it to be successful. Building relationships with others and developing a shared vision are a critical part of the change process. This evidence shows my knowledge of communication and leadership skills particularly in the context of change management. This evidence shows the importance of communication through relationship building and stakeholder open communication.
Conclusion
As a future academic librarian, my background in leadership and management and my communication skills will assist me in being a great contributor to any library faculty and staff. My ultimate career goal is to be a Dean or Director of Libraries at an academic institution and plan to continuously update and grow my knowledge of leadership and communication skills. I currently seek professional development opportunities in these areas and will continue to do so as a librarian by using various online resources such as webinars through ACRL and ALA, online courses through LinkedIn Learning and other platforms, and any available conference sessions.
References
Albright, K. (2022). Leadership skills for today’s global information landscape. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information Services Today (3rd ed., pp. 501-512). Rowman & Littlefield.
Alman, S.W. (2022). Communication, marketing, and outreach strategies. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information Services Today (3rd ed., pp. 374-387). Rowman & Littlefield.
Barefoot, R. (2023). Week 4: Motivating staff to innovate [Lecture notes]. SJSU Canvas.
Englund, R.L., Graham, R.J., & Dinsmore, P.C. (2003). Creating the project office: A manager’s guide to leading organizational change. John Wiley & Sons.
Romaniuk, M.J., & Sheldon, B.E. (2018). A conversation on leadership: Taking another look. In K. Haycock & M.J. Romaniuk (Eds.), The Portable MLIS. (2nd ed., pp. 85-102). Libraries Unlimited.