Leadership – mystery or mastery?

Roxanne MissinghamParliamentary Librarian

Information Service Management PG (7939)

Contents

• What is leadership?• Why is it important?• Libraries

– Our behaviour/models– Risk– Motivation– Gen X and Y

• Leadership narratives

What does leadership mean to you?

• keywords?– From you!

• Leadership has been a fertile area for study – you can’t read it all!

Leadership vs management

"There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial" (Bennis)

Managers vs leaders• The manager administers; the leader

innovates. • The manager is a copy; the leader is an

original. • The manager maintains; the leader develops. • The manager focuses on systems and

structure; the leader focuses on people. • The manager relies on control; the leader

inspires trust. • The manager accepts reality; the leader

investigates it.

Managers vs leaders(2)• The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a

long-range perspective. • The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what

and why. • The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom

line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon. • The manager imitates; the leader originates. • The manager accepts the status quo; the leader

challenges it. • The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is

his or her own person. • The manager does things right; the leader does the

right thing. • (Bennis, also read Cosgrove)

Why is it important?

• What do leaders do?

• Who do you think of as great leaders – for discussion…..put in your ideas

The basics

• Guiding vision• Passion• Integrity• Trust• Curiosity and daring

(Bennis)

• Do the leaders you have thought of have these basic ingredients?

• Where do you think there are gaps?

Leading from any position

• Leaders are not always “the boss”• Who do you go to for advice:

– About specific work issues– About new ideas and trends– To manage budgets/staff

• There are many leaders

(Schreiber and Shannon – log in to the webinar)

Libraries

• What type of librarian are you? Take a quiz or two – http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/

1222642/noaction

– http://apps.facebook.com/quizcreator/quizzes/51660

What do the differences mean?

• Importance of thinking about how we work as a team with different styles and preferences – and a leader needs to bring these together

TMS Global

RiskSpecific audits have highlighted a number of other factors

that are worthy of agencies’ attention:1. Know your organisational responsibilities in a joined-up

world• In today’s world, where achieving better outcomes relies

on more effective relationships between the Commonwealth and the States/Territories, central agencies and line agencies, and central and regional offices, it is critical to know ‘who is responsible for what’.

• It is also important to understand where the chickens will come home to roost if risks aren’t managed effectively by one of your ‘partners’. This might be called contingency planning, and increasingly for politically sensitive programs, it is a wise investment for public sector agencies.

2. The role of management:• It is critical that managers (read managers and leaders)

have ownership of their responsibilities, and are actively involved in risk management from the design of the proposal for a policy measure through to its implementation. This includes being aware of leading indicators of issues arising and guiding any extraordinary action. We have noticed in more than one recent audit that senior management considered their responsibilities had been discharged by offering extra support as required, but not really understanding a range of matters that suggested the program was far from being on track.

(McPhee)

• If the task is important enough, get the right people, and enough of them, to get the job done. As highlighted by Jim Collins in his best-selling management book ‘Good to Great’, people are not your greatest asset; the right people are.

• McPhee

Motivation• How to have the right people doing the right thing

• evidence that a high value in the public sector is placed on the values of society and satisfaction is related to the nature of the work itself (Georgellis, et al)

• Australian research (Pocock) finds that 60% of people would enjoy having a job even if they didn’t need the money. But professional and managerial workers had different motivational priorities to other workers.

Motivation

• Think about how libraries can encourage motivation

• For further reading the State of the Service 2010 report analyses motivation, but assumes that all in public service have the same motivations

Gen X and Y

Offer new challenges • Matures – born between 1929 and 1945• Boomers – 1946 and 1964• Gen X - 1965 and 1979• Gen Y – 1980 +

(See K. De Meuse & K. Mlodzik for an overview)

Gen X and Y1.Room to grow. Offer Gen X employees clear statements of goals, but allow them reasonable latitude on how to achieve those goals. Build on their interest in gaining new skills and knowledge by providing opportunities to grow on the job. Gen Xers tend to have a "work hard, play hard" mentality.

2.Opportunities to make choices. Since this generation has become accustomed to "fending for themselves," provide options--options for task selection, options for challenges, options to formulate new processes, and options to develop creative yet appropriate conclusions. You also want to allow them the freedom to use their own resourcefulness and creativity to achieve success.

3.Mentoring. Strong, relationship-oriented mentorships are a great value for young employees. Be careful not to micro-manage them or suggest rigid guidelines for completing projects.

Gen X and Y1.Multi-tasking. Provide more than one task to accomplish at a time, but

without overwhelming them. They are accustomed to multitasking and can most likely sort out what has to be done and when. What's more, they look forward to the challenges of having several tasks to perform at once.

2.Collaboration. Create work teams or partners to work with, where appropriate. They are accustomed to working in tandem with others.

3.Structure. Provide structure and clear guidelines, and at times, specific processes or approaches for achieving goals. While they appear confident, they still need input from management.

4.Technology. Encourage and allow them to use the latest technology in the work setting.

5.Challenges. Positively challenge their interests, abilities and achievements.

Gen X and Y6.Relationship building. Create a bonding relationship with them so that

they feel comfortable asking for input and direction and know they can rely on you as the authority figure when the need arises.

7.Positive reinforcement. Reward them frequently with positive feedback and citations for successful accomplishments and milestones on the road to longer-term achievements.

8.Engaged leadership. Set up specific and regular times to meet with and supervise them. Demonstrate your sincere interest in their professional growth and success.

9.Communication. Understand that they prefer using electronic means to communicate with you as opposed to face-to-face meetings. This generation is far more fluent and comfortable with technology than any other group.

• Remember there is a little bit of all generational stereotypes in all of us

• And think about whether our organisations fit generational stereotypes– consider Virgin vs Qantas

One final point on motivation

Role of leaders to keep staff engaged “eyes open” staff and to either motivate to engage or move on those with their “eyes shut” – a view from young librarians

Challenge session, ALIA biennial conference

Innovation

Without innovation, the public sector is destined to disappoint – both those it serves and those it employs. An effective public sector must be one that recognises, rewards and nurtures innovation.

Leadership narratives

• Finally I read Stephen Denning’s book to talk to you about the conversations and stories that leadership needs to work.

• I encourage you to view his video http://www.stevedenning.com/Videos/LeaderIsMoreThanAManager-256.wmv

Final thoughts

• Remember the leaders you thought about first as great leaders

• What were the characteristics that impressed you?

• What have you learnt about other characteristics?

• Finally, leaders are made not born…practice leading in your position now!

ReferencesAustralian Public Service Commission. State of the Service report.

Canberra, APSC. http://www.apsc.gov.au/stateoftheservice/index.html Bennis, Warren. On becoming a leader. Milsons Point, NSW, Random

Century, 1989.Cosgrove, Peter. A very Australian conversation. HarperCollins Publishers,

c2009. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/boyerlectures/about/ Challenge session. Australian Library and Information Association 2005

Biennial Conference 2004. http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2004/program.html

De Meuse, K. and Mlodzik, K. “A Second Look at Generational Differences in the Workforce”. People & Strategy, Vol. 33, No. 2 (2010), pp. 50-58

Denning, Stephen. The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Erickson, Tamara. “Gen Y in the workforce”. Harvard Business Review. February 2008. 43-49

Georgellis, Y., Iossa, E., and Tabvuma, V. "Crowding out intrinsic motivation in the public sector". Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2011,

Henry, Avril. “Generation Y be a public servant?”. Canberra Times (Informant). 1/9/2009 p. 25

Javitch, by David G. “Motivating Gen X, Gen Y Workers”. India tribune http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5599:-motivating-gen-x-gen-y-workers&catid=114:youth&Itemid=478

Management Advisory Committee. Empowering change: fostering innovation in the Australian public service. Canberra, MAC, 2010. http://www.apsc.gov.au/mac/empoweringchange.pdf

McPhee, Ian. Risk is all around. Paper presented to Risk Management Institution of Australasia - ACT Chapter Conference 'Building on Experience‘ 24 September 2010, Canberra http://www.anao.gov.au/~/media/Uploads/Documents/risk_is_all_around.pdf

Pocock, Barbara. “Meaningful work in the 21st century”. Adelaide, Centre for Work + Life, University of Adelaide, 2009.

Schreiber, Becky and Shannon, John. Leading from Any Position: Influencing Library Effectiveness and Responsiveness. http://infopeople.org/training/leading-from

TMS Global. The concept: work preferences http://www.tms.com.au/tms07.html

Varlejs, Jana and Walton, Graham. Strategies for regenerating the

library and information professions : Eighth World Conference on Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning for the Library and Information Professions, 18-20 August 2009, Bologna, Italy. Munchen : K.G. Saur, 2009.