Are you a boss? Are you thinking of being a boss? Do you want to be a boss? Do you have a boss? This workshop is for everyone. Speakers were Kimberly Bolan, Indianapolis librarian & trainer and Catherine Hakala-Ausperk, Deputy Director Cleveland Heights, Ohio. They started out by having the audience say outloud the first name of their "best boss." It was a loud chorus, there are lots of good bosses, that's the good news! The first slide of the presentation illustrated that supervisors/leaders/bosses should know how to and be prepared to do any job. The slide was of a toilet.
From there, they talked about 3 kinds of bosses:
1-Newbie - the brand new boss
2-Know but doesn't have time - the busy boss, most fit in this category
3-Don't know what they don't know - only a few, not a good place to be
What is needed to achieve greatness is:
1-committment
2-time
3-a plan
By spending an hour a week on personal development. How to find time...
-arrest the time thieves
-check email only twice a day
-stop "polishing the pearl"
-master the art of nonfinishing
-skip a lunch...it's your career
A plan can be developed by taking any mangement, supervison book, there are many, and the author has one to be published in April by ALA Editions. Then divide the book into a one-year plan. Focus on each topic, and apply.
Handouts and further information available at: indielibrarian.blogspot.com
The presenters in this workshop seemed like they are definitely "good bosses." I liked their idea of having all staff do outreach, and go out into the community to promote the library, not just the supervisors, but everyone at all levels.
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Thanks to Karye for this nice blog post about this very good program. She definitely captured the essence of the program that I also enjoyed very much. I'll add a few things I took away as well.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the q&a at the end was actually quite good with some good clarifying questions. One director spoke and said that as a boss she tries to understand that everyone in her organization has a different size cup (lots of laughter at this point). Her cup is very large with lots of things being put in and taken out each day. Other people, she recognizes, have smaller cups, perhaps containing the same thing day after day. Each type of cup is valuable to its owner and should be nurtured and cared for. So, her learning as a boss was to respect the size of everyone's cup. :)
Another speaker was an example of what not to do. Unbelievable, but a young woman got up and said that she had a bad boss and wanted to know how to improve her boss (noticeable murmur from the audience). The speakers were pretty taken aback and told her something like maybe it's time to move on. Gotta wonder!
Just one more overall observation, that the three factors to being a good boss - commitment, time, and a plan - really apply to anything we might try to become better at. I think they offer a nice framework for making changes individually and moving forward and I'm hoping to give them a try.