Creating a Vibrant Future
Digital Shift: Ikaroa Hui
5 July 2014
Lynley Stone
The Information Workshop
lynley@informationworkshop.com
Creating a vibrant future for:
Our
profession
Ourselves
Our
organisation
Our
communities
Creating a vibrant future through:
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Understanding change
Personal responsibility
Strategies to ride the wave of change
Leadership development
You don’t have a job for life, you have a job for
now.
Your challenge is to make sure you do your
current job well, while constantly reinventing
yourself for the future.
WHERE ARE WE?
Are we doing what we thought
we’d be doing?
How did we get here?
• WE did it
– Our generation
– Our colleagues
– Our friends
– People like us
We made today happen
We are in the process of creating the future
How do we create a vibrant future?
• We keep doing our day job
• We keep up with the wider trends
• We try things out – sometimes detailed
planning, sometimes quick and dirty
• We work together – colleagues, customers,
consortia, funders
• We stay flexible
Reality check:
Some change is outside our control
• Workplace restructuring
• Ill health
• Family needs
Locus of control
Internal
External
Circles of Control and Influence
(Covey)
• List the things that are
worrying you
• Which ones do you have
complete control over?
Deal to them
• Which ones do you have
some influence over?
Do something about them
• What is left? Can you live
with the situation? Or is it
time to walk away?
CONTROL
INFLUENCE
CONCERN
SWOT Analysis
• Analyse the situation
• Strengths and
weaknesses – about
you
• Opportunities and
threats – about the
context
• Use this to identify
options and make plans
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Change the message – think positive
• Our internal voice can drag us down
• How do you tell the story of what is
happening?
Is it a disaster, or a challenge, or an opportunity?
Reality check:
What “vibrant future” means for a job
Everybody’s jobs will change
(a little, or a lot)
Some people’s jobs will disappear
(the job leaves you)
Everybody will resign or retire at some point
(you leave the job)
“one door closes, another one opens”
Be realistic about change
• It’s normal to be thrown by change, even good
change
• Things don’t always happen the way we want it
• Organisations need to change constantly, don’t
take it personally
• Change happens for all sorts of reasons
• Sometimes it’s time to say goodbye
• If you get dragged down by change it mostly
hurts you and those you love
Key strategies
• Give it a go
– Seeing and taking new opportunities
• Be prepared
– Gaining qualifications, training and experience
• Know yourself
– Self knowledge and self awareness
CREATING A VIBRANT FUTURE
THROUGH TAKING
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Take personal responsibility for:
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•
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•
•
your attitude
your behavior
your own learning and growing through CPD
your qualifications
being flexible at work
being involved in things
making things happen
Same people
Same job description
Different job content
Different attitude
The outcome
We have satisfied customers
WHO LOVE THE LIBRARY
We enable connected communities
WHO USE SKILLS WE SUPPORT
We ensure a library which is increasingly important
to its communities
WHO CONTINUE TO FUND THE LIBRARY
We are flexible and confident library staff
WHO HAVE JOBS THEY LOVE
“Embrace ambiguity”
Mal Booth, UTS Librarian
Roles in creating a vibrant future
• Some people drive change
• Some people participate in change
• Some people react to change
Your job needs you
You have a job and are
being paid to do it to
the best of your ability
– Do it well
– Think of ways to do it
better
– Look to the bigger
picture
We have to keep doing
the job
“This is not what I signed up for”, or
“Am I still a librarian?”
• Will I still have a job?
• Am I undermining the concept of “libraries”
• I did a library studies degree for this?
Community
Connection
Creation
Every contact leave a trace
• A small act can transform a life
• One size does not fit all
• Tell the stories of how we change the world
BEING PREPARED
How can we be strong and happy in the
future?
Build and use Strategies for your Resilience Toolkit
CC by Cassidyrose
This means…
• Having a can-do and positive attitude
• Making sure your skills are up to date and you are
confident and competent
• Completing appropriate qualifications
• Getting good experience beyond your core job
• Understanding the big picture
• Developing your personal networks
• Doing some analysis of difficult situations and
developing a Plan B
Learn by
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Reading/watching/listening
Doing
Playing
Exploring
Reflecting
Discussing
Observing
Don’t expect to master everything. Aim for
understanding
ICE – Interested, curious and engaged
Learn how YOU learn
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•
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Learning styles and learning theory
When can you fit it into your life?
What formats do you like?
How can you make it easy on yourself?
Qualifications for librarians
They matter – varies by sector
– Undergraduate qualifications under review
– Full degrees are important for professionals
– Other subject and vocational qualifications
Do the highest qualification you can do
It may be easier to study when you are younger
(but that’s no limit!)
LIANZA Professional Registration
Likely to matter more in the future
– Scheme is unlikely to fall over
– Shows an attitude that some employers require
and most desire
– May make a difference in a review or restructure
Don’t want to register?
– At least make sure you have all the requirements
for it in case you need it
– Use the BOKs as a guide for your CPD
Experience beyond your job
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Secondments
Projects
Committees
Professional Association committees (e.g.
LIANZA Ikaroa)
• Personal life activities (sports coaching, event
management etc)
• Library or other work-related study
Stay healthy
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Exercise
Diet
Sleep
Laughter
Time doing things you love
DEVELOPING YOUR LEADERSHIP
SKILLS
See yourself as a leader
• LIANZA has identified leadership as one of the
key strategies to developing a vibrant future
• We need people who understand:
– Leadership is not just what “the boss does”
– We are all leaders in different ways
– We can all make a difference
LIANZA Emerging
Leaders Project
Developing a sustainable system of identifying
and developing emerging leaders within the
profession
• many forms of leadership
• ability develop over time
• best practice skills + personal experience + self awareness
• provide support on this journey
Everybody has the potential to be a leader in the profession
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Who are Emerging Leaders?
All of us are leaders:
• our current leaders at all levels
• people who are developing leadership skills
• people who don’t realise they are leaders yet
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YOU
are a
leader!
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Emerging Leaders Strategies
Online CDP Course
LIANZA
Statement
on
Leadership
Resource
Portal
On
Website
LIANZA Emerging
Leadership
Programme
Resources to
define, support &
develop
Region
& SIG
ideas
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Different approaches to leadership
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Strategic vision
Managerial control
Supervision of routine activity
Leading by example
Project management
Roles within teams
Organising social activities
Sharing information
Having ideas and taking initiative
Taking responsibility for things
Being part of things
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Get involved in things
• Volunteer, offer to help, suggest an idea, apply
for places on committees and project groups,
seek secondments, etc.
• Learn new skills
• See bigger picture
• Build personal networks
• Develop self confidence
“Take and make opportunities”
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Know yourself
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See things from other people’s points
of view – it’s about US not ME
• Do the right thing
• It’s not about what you want
• Think how can you
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help your team
support your boss
give better service to your users
contribute to the strategic objectives of the organisation
• Analyse problems, and present solutions or strategies
“the way we handle the workflow around the returns bin
seems awkward to me – could we have a look at it and
see if we could do it differently?”
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Build and manage your relationships
• Build relationships across hierarchy
• See people as human, not positions
• Understand different personality and
communication styles
• Learn to network
• Understand what is important to them
• Be open, listen, learn, share
“Communicate communicate communicate”
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Learn more about Leadership
• Read!
• Be part of the LIANZA Leadership Strategy and
use the courses and resources we are developing
• Develop related skills e.g. public speaking, self
assertion
• Talk with leaders
• Observe what others are doing
• Take leadership opportunities
• Reflect on your learning
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Last Words
Our
profession
Ourselves
Our
organisation
Our
communities
• Things will be different in the future
• Believe in yourself
• We have the power to change lives
• Take personal responsibility for being actively engaged in creating a
vibrant future for ourselves, our communities, our organisations
and out industry
• Be prepared, and never stop learning
• Take opportunities, and make opportunities for yourself and for
others
• Get involved – make things happen
• Understand that you are a leader, and develop your leadership skills
Together, let’s create a vibrant future for libraries in Aotearoa!
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