the advancing public library leadership (apll) institute:

Grooming the Next Generationof Public Library Leaders

Lindsay Brock, Middlesex County LibraryJulie DeVries, Middlesex County Library

Anne Marie Madziak, Southern Ontario Library Service

OLA SuperConference 2010

A Program of Southern Ontario Library Service

The Advancing Public Library Leadership (APLL) Institute:

• Launched by SOLS in the fall of 2008, with assistance from an LSDF grant from the Ministry of Culture– In response to a training needs assessment

conducted in 2006– The growing complexity of the environment

in which libraries operate

• New cycle starts in September 2010


Program Design:

• A two year certificate program blending online learning with 2-day classroom sessions twice a year

• A strong focus on peer learning, going through the program as a cohort, learning together and from each other


Program design (cont’d):

• Public library community engaged as course reviewers, project evaluation team, mentors, role models, etc.

• Courses developed and delivered by experts in the public library, municipal and not-for-profit sectors

• Courses include Strategic Financial Management, Staff Development, Planning, Developing a Healthy Board CEO Relationship, Succeeding in the Municipal Environment


Program design (cont’d):

• Participants are also required to undertake local library projects; something of concrete benefit to the library; projects evaluated by 3 library practitioners

• Other leadership topics explored during classroom sessions, eg. creative thinking, intelligent decision making, True Colors, change leadership, etc.

• Program endorses a practice based approach to leadership, promoting 9 leadership practices


APLL leadership practices:


APLL

• Interest in APLL program

• Buzz in library world

• Suggested by mentor

• Workplace encouragement


APLL Participants

• Libraries across Ontario

• Range of management experience

• Varying aspirations


Intensives

• Offered a vibrant community of practice

• Opportunity to share best practices

• Discuss issues -> Finding solutions

• Building a community


Projects – Year 1 and Year 2

• Guided by CEO to find an appropriate project

• Year 1 - Plan

• Year 2 - Implementation


Organizational Commitment

• MCL employs best practices

• Organization is using APLL as a tool

• Support from organization

• Created a culture!


Reflection and Development

• APLL vs. Northern Exposure to Leadership Program

• Longitudinal leadership development

• Opportunities for reflection


Working Together

• Opportunity for discussion and collaboration

• Mutual support for projects and ideas

• Contrast of leadership techniques


Overall Commitment

• Hours spent at work

• Hours spent at home

• Approach to work

• Benefits the library as well as ourselves


What has APLL done for us…


What we know about leadership development:

• It happens best when it’s understood as a process that is collective, contextual and continuous

• There is a correlation between leadership and learning and an environment conducive to leadership development and a learning organization; leadership can even be understood as the capacity to learn your way out of unforeseen situations

• It requires a balance of challenge and support


What we know (cont’d):

• A practice of critical reflection is crucial to leadership development

• Conversation is a powerful means of cultivating leadership at every level of the organization

• Leadership development is both an organizational imperative and a personal responsibility


Organizational strategies:

• Conversation aimed at generating an organizational understanding of leadership

• An organizational commitment to learning individually and collectively

• Coaching• Mentoring• Job shadowing/ exchanges • A variety of training and development (build

in opportunity to reflect on learning)• Special projects


Personal practices:• Take responsibility for your own development• Get good at reflecting on and learning from your

own experiences (good and bad)• Present yourself as worthy of mentoring and seek

out mentoring relationships• Seek out peers with whom you feel comfortable

learning and sharing perceptions, experiences, etc.

• Adopt a framework that allows you to see your own progress, eg. APLL practices/ self-assessment

• Cultivate your own sense of purpose and commitment to that purpose


To paraphrase Lao Tzu, ‘the wicked leader is he whom the people despise. The good leader is he whom the people revere. But the great leader is he of whom the people say, ‘We did it together.’ Co-creation is the process of leaders and employees working together to build a supportive environment.

Gretchen M. Spreitzer

the advancing public library leadership (apll) institute:

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