Today was Day 1 of the ARL Library Management Skills Institute at UAlbany. What a day. I arrived in Albany late yesterday, after driving five hours from Hershey, PA, where my in-laws reside. That, after spending three days in Oswego earlier in the week. I can't wait for Wednesday night...
Attending the institute are librarians from all over the country: a few from Princeton, one from Harvard, a couple from Kansas State, a gentleman from Florida, one from North Carolina; LOTS of SUNY folks, and I actually met one public librarian, from a library in the Albany area. I'm finding that I tend to gravitate at functions to the SUNY people, usually because of the commonality of our experiences, but I'm trying to talk to other academic librarians at private and public institutions, to see what they are doing differently. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
We've been covering a lot of ground; discussing communication, differences between management and leadership, and the leaders of the institute created a great icebreaker activity. Take a piece of paper and either draw an image or write a word or phrase that best describes what you hope to learn or gain from this workshop. Then we did Speed Introductions; four rounds with four different people, telling them what our "signs" meant. It was difficult (since I am soooo shy!), but well worth it. Definitely talked to some people and I have talked to more people at this workshop than I ever would have if the leaders didn't integrate some of these group activities into the course content.
Another particularly useful tool we are using/learning about is a self-assessment instrument called the DISC profile. I've taken Myers-Briggs personality tests before, but this profile was looking at behavior styles and how you might behave in work situations by using a test that looks at how you view word associations. As I thought, I scored high in the S column (which in the DISC parlance indicates Steadiness) and in the C column (which indicates Conscientiousness). There are also particular "patterns" of behavior that tend to emerge; mine indicated a preference for the Perfectionist pattern of behavior. While these don't seem a surprise on the face of it (doesn't it seem likely a librarian would fit a Perfectionist pattern??), the more I read about this particular behavior style and pattern, I'm not totally convinced. Yes, I may fit into a general profile, but this by no means defines me. I looked at several of the other patterns of behavior, and I have characteristic behaviors that fit those categories as well. I'm very task focused, but I love to talk with people. I think a lot about how to influence and communicate with others and don't always rely on data, many times going with emotional or "gut feelings" decisions.
It just reinforces my opinion that we cannot be put in boxes; none of us. Past experience counts, but it is not everything. We are adaptable and can change behaviors and styles to suit the situation. I think that is one of the important things I've learned today is to find out how people you work with, prefer to work. Especially those you manage. What is their preferred style? Do they want someone to delegate tasks or do they like to take initiative and have a say in their workload?
More tomorrow...
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