LONG VERSION - Soft Skills for Hard Times: Essential Business Strategies to Empower the Library Leader
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LONG VERSION - More Content than Presentation New York Library Association Leadership and Management Section Luncheon November, 2017
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LONG VERSION - Soft Skills for Hard Times: Essential Business Strategies to Empower the Library Leader
- 1. Essential Business Strategies to Empower the Library Leader Emily Clasper Suffolk Cooperative Library System
- 3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/flavor32/140095063 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
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- 10. https://www.flickr.com/photos/giuseppemilo/16436597548 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
- 11. 1. Don't be afraid to fall in love with something & pursue it with intensity. 2. Know, understand, take pride in, practice, develop, exploit, & enjoy your greatest strengths. 3. Learn to free yourself from the expectations of others and to walk away from the games they impose on you. 4. Find a great teacher or mentor who will help you. 5. Don't waste energy trying to be well rounded. 6. Do what you love and can do well. 7. Learn the skill of interdependence. - E. Paul Torrence, Creative Manifesto for Children (1983)
- 12. Curiosity is the engine of achievement. ― Sir Ken Robinson
- 14. Leaders should encourage experimentation and accept that there is nothing wrong with failure as long as it happens early and becomes a source of learning. ― Tim Brown, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
- 17. Leaders who value good outcomes more than assertion of their own authority understand that serious errors are avoided by the use of Intelligent Disobedience. ― Ira Chaleff, Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You're Told to Do Is Wrong
- 18. https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/2559864872 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
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- 21. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/6245106345 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
- 24. https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/5307951871/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
- 26. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nalejandro/15127215755 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
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- 29. (n*(n-1))/2
- 30. (n*(n-1))/2
- 33. 1. Giving Advice / Fixing 2.Analyzing/ Evaluating 3.Storytelling. 4.Sympathy 5.Reassuring / Consoling 6.Shutting Down 7.Correcting 8.Interrogating 9.Commiserating 10.One-upping
- 34. Empathy is a strange and powerful thing. There is no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of “You’re not alone.” ― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
- 36. https://www.flickr.com/photos/vidyo/23045603152https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
- 38. https://www.flickr.com/photos/vlumi/16500090215/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0//
- 39. https://www.flickr.com/photos/robgallop/1463546432 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
- 40. Source: Discovering the Leader in You. Sara N. King, Robert Altman, and Robert J. Lee. San Francisco,: Josey- Bass, 2011. Adapted from materials in Leading to the Future Leadership Institute, The American Library Association, 2017. VISION VALUES SELF AWARENESS BALANCE
- 42. Essential Business Strategies to Empower the Library Leader Emily Clasper Suffolk Cooperative Library System
Notas do Editor
- When I first became a librarian, it very quickly became evident to me that librarianship is not about doing a job – it’s about practicing a profession. And a big part of the responsibility involved in practicing a profession is actively and intentionally seeking out and participating in opportunities to enhance, refresh, and grow our skillset With the many demands placed upon our time and resources, it is often easy to frame this in the sense of engaging in library-centric professional development (taking classes in library topics, attending a conference or two a year, etc) But we sometimes forget that there are vast bodies of knowledge out there across many diverse disciplines to help us grow and develop our skills Librarianship is inherently interdisciplinary, and we can use that to great advantage In order for each of us to become stronger leaders and practitioners of our profession, there are a lot of skills we can draw from other disciplines and professions
- In order to be truly successful and effective in our professional practice, we need to develop multiple intelligences Often Framed in terms of IQ/EQ or Technical skills vs People skills The skillsets often categorized in the world of professional development as Hard Skills and Soft Skills But it’s not a dichotomy, and as leaders in our field we need to look at the way we integrate different skill sets What makes each of us here a successful library professional and leader in our field is the way we can synthesize skillsets and use them in conjunction with one another Reference Knowing how to use the tools Engaging in an effective reference interview Being able to communicate Assessment skills
- Everyone here has a set of skills I will refer to as Library Skills – gained through education and experience Technical skills unique to our profession, centering around the organization and provision of access to information Often this includes transferrable skills, but the things I count as “Library skills” are usually somewhat limited in their direct application outside the library field Often professional development and continuing education focuses on these skills, But Training that only applies to the direct responsibilities of an employees’s current role is not enough.
- Another part of the puzzle is what I often hear referred to as “Business Skills” These are the kinds of skills that are truly transferrable between professions, although their particular applications may vary
- Hard Skills Learned in formal setting Objective Measurable certifications Rules stay the same regardless of company/library Programming languages Data analysis Accounting Engineering Library – Using reference resources (must be combined with ss reference interview) Maybe the skills you build the foundations of your business practice on, but that foundation is not made of bricks alone. It is only as strong as the mortar that joins them together And it is in this mortar where we find the so –called “Soft” skills that join hard skills together in conjunction with out library skills Data from several recent reports (Business News Daily, Udemy report) tells us 72 % of companies focus on hard skills development BUT This does generally not help at all with developing Soft Skills
- Additional research has revealed that employers consistently rank so-called “soft skills” as the most desirable skills they look for in hiring new talent, as well as being the skills companies most wish to see their workers develop. Other research has indicated employers rank SSs as the most difficult to develop in their employees Soft Skills Sometimes seem easy, taken as a given, underestimated, under appreciated Often not supported enough Intangibles, difficult to measure and assess, difficult to learn and improve Best developed as a practice Librarianship is a customer service based profession
- Development of Soft Skills may be reaching a point of being more important than ever The robots are coming AI, Automation, etc are predicted to have a very significant impact on the workplaces in general within the next ten years Some experts are predicting a “Fourth Industrial Revolution” where a new wave of rapid automation takes over another level of jobs and responsibilities in many fields. But a People Profession such as ours cannot rely on machines alone. We need a renewed focus on Soft Skills in order to keep libraries providing services that continue to align with our core values
- Categories of Soft Skills – All are interrelated This is how I organize the myriad of Soft Skills in my own mind Most of my focus here is on Cognitive and Interpersonal Skills, but I will quickly mention a few from the other two categories as well
- Making Connections Creativity Critical Thinking Problem Solving Judgement Includes analytical behaviors and thought processes
- One of the “Soft Skills” foundational to developing others Also one of the most difficult to learn Boils down to a willingness to take risks, and enabling creativity in ourselves and in others requires breaking down barriers that prevent us from taking risks – done in an active and deliberate manner
- E. Paul Torrence “Father of Creativity” (Creative Manifesto for Children – 1983) Advice that has stood up - not only in an educational setting, but in the development of more modern business practices. Educators influenced by his work used it to educate a generation of students who then brought those teaching into the workplace Good advice for growing as individuals, learners, innovators, and leaders Focus on mentoring, identifying talents, and risk taking has been influential Translates well into a modern business environment where Soft Skills are more and more valuable Especially when education has more recently been steering away from SS
- More recently, the work of Sir Ken Robinson delves into the areas of creativity, risk taking, and curiosity and the relationship of these to educational and business success, and to innovation Educators focusing on Creativity today Identification of and Examination of barriers to creativity From tradition and habit Perceptual blocks Emotional blocks Resource constraints And look for ways to remove these barriers through Practicing of convergent and divergent thinking Pursuing new experiences Seeking out differing POV Incorporating opportunities for Collaboration Making time to think and study Making time to engage in exploration, discussion, and play Our mission as leaders within our field is to identify ways we can remove barriers to our own creative development, and provide others with the same freedom Within the bounds of the practical constraints of the workplace and in alignment with the core values of our profesion
- Development of creativity is closely related to the ongoing development of critical thinking and problem solving. The more individuals are able to develop their creativity, the more they are able to engage in critical thought processes and apply their creativity to solving problems Critical thought takes what we learn form engaging in a creative practice and ties it back to the constraints we removed to get into our creative mode Harnesses creative thought within the bounds of what’s practical and leads us to finding smarter, more innovative alternatives to solve real life problems
- Work being done to help encourage more of this in business and professional development Methods for performing qualitative analysis or outcomes analysis Logical analysis techniques (deductive reasoning, etc) Argument analysis Design thinking Design thinking – Approaching problems as non-linear (opens possibilities) Engaging in a cycle of revisiting and revision as a way to make progress “Fail fast” mentality Tim Brown – creating a structure that makes it easier for people to bring non-linear, creative thought into a framework that allows for connections to be made between creative inspiration and practical situations G David Hughes – suggests models for decision making that REQUIRE looking for alternate solutions as part of the process
- Take creativity and Critical Thinking/problems solving skills and add an element of experience and incorporated feedback --- Judgement But judgement is not only a function of experience Judgement can not be exercised or practiced without a structural framework that supports both coming up with new ideas and solutions, but also for supporting critical feedback Organizations looking for their employees to exercise judgement must establish an environment where suggestions, solutions AND criticism are actively encouraged at all levels
- Decision Making A good model for thinking about how pwople make decisions – Chris Argyris, building on the work of S.I. Hayakawa and Alford Korzybski, and articulated further by William Isaacs and Rick Ross The fundamental problem here is that the Ladder carries us rapidly away from our actual, lived experience into a cloud of abstraction, where it can be extremely difficult for reality to penetrate This ladder of inference shows...that the evaluations or judgments people make automatically are not concrete or obvious. They are abstract and highly inferential. Individuals treat them as if they were concrete because they produce them so automatically that they do not even think that their judgments are highly inferential." [Overcoming Organizational Defenses, pp 88-89] Work from bottom up, then return to beginning – Reflexive Loop Use this to become more aware of the decision making process and examine it critically What is influencing our decisions – recognizing this helps us identify logical fallicies and other flaws in our decision making process
- Intelligent disobedience – Ira Chaleff An important part of developing good judgement is the practice of ID Defying authority with good reason Often encountered in reference to training service animals Now used as part of business technique – risk management strategy In order to have an organization the benefits from ID, leaders must create a culture where ID is accepted and criticism is welcomed as part of a healthy feedback and improvement process Empower people to speak up Invite candor Train people to be assertive without being aggressive Management needs to pay attention Chains of ID – multiple people speaking up in support of one antoher A responsibility to speak
- Shifting from Cognitive Skills – Organizational Skills Making connected elements work together in relation to one another Goal Setting Time Management Project Management Can sometimes involve using “hard skills” but the interrelation of elements to reach a desired outcome is the “soft” part
- Going beyond SMART Goals Learning to assess priorities, assign value Relate goals to motivation – base on values = one strategy Formalize goals (write them down) Map goals – interrelationships, connections, plan for overall success As individuals, this is another area where practice is important – make sure that we, as leaders are giving others the opportunity to practice with us! Collaboration is a huge benefit to developing effective goal setting, especially within an organization like a library where we have a reasonably clear basis for the goals we set – core values of the profession, of the community, and the organization All goals and objectives should, ideally be basedon these!
- Related to goal setting is the Organizational skill of time management – LinkedIn data ranks TM as one of the skills most highly valued and frequently cited as essential by employers seeking to hire new staff Refers to the combination of a subset of skills closely related to goal setting – since determination of time use is not really separable from the understanding of individual and organizational goals Not just simple math equations Based on goals – efficiency, productivity, stress management, motivation Involves prioritization of tasks in relation to goals Recognize influences on time requirements Process based Personal TM vs Managerial – managing one’s own time effectively Working with less skilled staff to help develop their skills Assigning tasks within a healthy TM framework Modeling good TM habits
- PM is a complex discipline Not just the delegation of tasks, or making to do lists Not about software Methodologies for getting things done efficiently Managing overlapping and sometimes conflicting demands and constraints Hard skills from other areas of Business expertise (accounting, budgeting, it stuff, estimation, etc) but with a LOT of SS mixed in Synthesis of hard and soft skills Requires the mastery of many of the skills listed individually here today In order to become a certified PM, experience and success developing soft skills must be documented and demonstrated (not just course work, test) Includes time management, risk assessment, exercising creativity, judgement and critical thought processes, loads and loads of interpersonal skills (discussed in a few) I personally enjoy delving into this field (for many reasons) – but primarily because it is such a challenging discipline due to the necessity of mastering and coordinating so many soft skills and joining them with “hard” skills for the overall impact
- PMI “Talent Triangle” The ideal skill set — the Talent Triangle — is a combination of technical, leadership, and strategic and business management expertise. Technical: skills, competencies, and behaviors related to performing a job in the specific domains of project, program, and portfolio management • Requirements gathering • Project controls and scheduling • Risk management • Scope management • Agile tools and techniques Leadership: Leadership is the ability to articulate a vision and guide or influence others to help achieve that objective • Communication • Negotiation • Conflict management • Motivation • Giving/receiving feedback • Influencing • Problem solving • Team building • Emotional intelligence • Creating a vision • Aligning the team to a vision • Ethics Business and Strategic: overall understanding of business context. • Business acumen • Finance • Operational functions—for example, marketing, legal • Strategic planning/alignment • Contract management • Complexity management • Customer insight • Go-to-market strategy • Decision making In order to become a certified PM, experience and success developing soft skills must be documented and demonstrated (not just course work, test) Includes time management, risk assessment, exercising creativity, judgement and critical thought processes, loads and loads of interpersonal skills (discussed in a few) I personally enjoy delving into this field (for many reasons) – but primarily because it is such a challenging discipline due to the necessity of mastering and coordinating so many soft skills and joining them with “hard” skills for the overall impact
- Personal Confidence Assertiveness Self awareness Motivation Things we can work on in ourselves to help enhance our professional skill set Things that we can work on in all areas of our lives, not just within a professional environment
- Risk related (like creativity, other areas we’ve discussed) Active pursuit of confidence Feedback dependent Recognition for accomplishments, celebrating success Assertiveness - closely related and often cited by library professionals as something they want to work on Building assertiveness – calling out inequity surrounding this for women, POC Supporting others in their confidence quest Mentors, support communities What we can do is come at the development of confidence as the work of a community Work to encourage others and building their confidence Create a culture of supportive feedback Recognize the pitfalls associated
- Adaptability comes from cultivation of confidence People who lack confidence can not be addaptable
- Developing motivation is an exercise in self awareness and values assessment What is important to you What is important to your organization What is important to the profession What is important to colleagues What is important to all stakeholders, patrons Aligning professional pursuits with these values sets the stage for motivation
- Teamwork Communication Public Speaking
- Includes “Oral and Written Communication Skills” Public speaking Networking Documentation Non Verbal communication Brainstorming and elements of collaboration
- Communication paths
- Communication networks (All channel) Wheel, circle, chain , hierarchy – all with pros and cons depending on the circumstances Must cover all of the possible paths – complicated enough on its own Also consider Communication types Oral, Written, Collaborative, electronic medium Communication styles Language, jargon, and cultural influences Clarity Self disclosure Degree of emotional involvement Bottom line – communication is extremely complex, and we are not as great as it as we may think
- Developing communication skills – not just practice of what we already do, but also incorporating new ideas and challenges Alda Center for communicating Science – SBU School of Journalism cross disciplinary New ways to help intellectuals (scientists) become better communicators of information Incorporating writing, drama, performance skills, audiovisual methods – all of develop new and Flame Challenge – Answer the question “What is Energy” in a way 11 year olds can understand and identify with. 21K 5th graders are the primary judges - $1K prizes to encourage creativity in communication
- Effective communication does not happen without empathy – understanding and sharing in the feelings of others The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner Empathic Communication Valuable tool to consider: Non-Violent Communication techniques Active listening Recognition of
- Empathic Communication – studied a lot in relation to medical professions, counseling, etc 1. Giving Advice / Fixing: Tell the other person what you think they should do. “I think you should leave your boyfriend and find somebody else to be with.” 2. Analyzing: Interpreting or evaluating a person’s behavior “I think you are taking this out on your ex-wife when you are actually frustrated about your divorce.” 3. Storytelling: Moving the focus away from the other and back to your own experience. “I know just how you feel. This reminds me of a time that I…” 4. Sympathy: Either feeling sorry for other, or sharing my own feelings about what they said. “Oh, you poor thing… I feel so sad for you.” 5. Reassuring / Consoling: Trying to make the person “feel better” by telling them things will improve. “You might be upset now, but I’m sure you will feel better soon.” 6. Shutting Down: Discounting a person’s feelings and trying to shift them in another direction. “Quit feeling sorry for yourself,” or, “There is no reason to feel that way!” 7. Correcting: Giving the person your opinion or belief about a situation. “Wait a minute – I never said that!” or, “You don’t remember this accurately.” 8. Interrogating: Using questions to ‘figure out’ or change the person’s behavior. “When did this begin?” or, “Why did you decide to do that?” or, “What got into you?” 9. Commiserating: Agreeing with the speaker’s judgments of others. “I know what you mean – your cousin is one of the biggest jerks I have ever met!” 10. One-upping: Convincing the speaker that whatever they went through, you had it worse. “You think that’s bad? Let me tell you what happened to me when I was in that situation!”
- Empathic Communication models stress the roles of Active Listening Acknowledgement Discerning needs All based on a strong level of Emotional Intelligence Methods from Non-Violent Communication have proved valuable for me for Conflict Resolution, Change Management, Professional Relationships Marshall Roseberg and Others Observing without Evaluating Mirroring Self disclosure Formulating Requests Resources from the center for NonViolent Communication
- Working effectively with others within our professional environment towards a common goal Absolutely dependent on Communication Shared Values Clearly defined goals Cooperative sense of motivation Trust
- Finding relationships within our communities where values, goals, and desired outcomes overlap Leveraging these areas of overlap for mutual benefit of everyone involved While there are some exceptional examples of this, it’s an area of our profession that will not develop without intentional focus on identifying these opportunities and developing creative ways to connect the dots and create interorganizational efforts programs that help meet mutal goals Many unexplored opportunities to develop partnerships between different kinds of libraries (academic, public, special, school) with overlapping stakeholders and community aspirations We need to make space and create a framework that supports activelycreating these opportunities Red billed oxpecker
- With these (and other) soft skills in mind, we have an opportunity within our profession to enhance our skillsets far beyond simply focusing on Hard Skills
- Approaching the development of these skills as a practice Self identifying areas you wan to work on and devoting time and energy to intentionally peruse the development of these skills
- Developing a leadership practice For the growth of your own skill set To provide a framework for helping others to do so as well Creating a culture of leadership where development of soft skills has as high a priority and level of support as “hard” skills Don’t just send people for classes Give opportunities to learn through practice Create an environment where every stakeholder is encouraged to work on soft skills in an intentional way
- Intentional Leadership – for personal growth and development Sara King, Robert Altman, Robert Lee Personal leadership model w five elements Vision (personal) Values (core values) Self Awareness (continual assessment) Balance (integration between leadership practice and other aspects of personal and professional life) Changing context and demands Provides a developing a personal leadership practice that operates within the context of ever changing demands and expectations Self assessment is key to incorporating this model into a practice of professional growth
- Professional Development is not about so called “hard skills” alone – and perhaps less and less of the focus should be on that We don’t want robots, we want human beings who can do things AI and automation can NOT do To be effective and reach our goals, we need humanity. It’s our responsibility as leaders in our profession to build our own set of “Soft” skills and to empower those around us to do so as well in a collaborative and supportive way. Lucky for us that, although this is a complex and difficult challenge, we have strategies and communities to help us do this. We just have to be intentional about finding them and using them.