Future leaders: what do they think?

1. Future leaders: what do they think? Dr Graham Walton*, Dr Anne Goulding + and Dr Derek Stephens +, Loughborough University, UK Moving in , moving up and moving on: strategies for regenerating the library and information profession 8th World Conference CPDWL, IFLA Bologna, 19th August 2009 *Library + Department of Information Science

2. Contents of presentation Origins of project How data was collected Resulting key questions on future library leaders

3. When and where did the project start?: 15th July 2007, 7th CPDWL Conference, Birchwood Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

4. Discussion between Liz Burke from University of Western Australia and myself about what leadership skills in libraries at 07 CPWDLAgreement to do joint UK/ Australia project exploring view on leadership skills in library senior managersQuestionnaire sent out to senior university library managers in two countries (including section to identify key leadership skills) Walton, G., Burke, L. and Oldroyd, M. (2009) Managing university libraries: a cross Australian/ UK study of 2nd tier managers in university libraries, Library Management, 30 (4/5), 240 – 252.

5. Interpersonal Skills identified in 2007 survey Good communicating with internal/external ‘audiences’ Tact Compassion, kindness and respect Thick skin Emotional robustness

6. Management Skills identified in 2007 survey Financial management, budgets Staff management Project management Strategic planning/thinking Negotiating and influencing Time management Change management Managing priorities in a context of time constraints Ability to deal with performance issues Organisational skills Process management

7. Contextual Awareness identified in 2007 survey Knowledge of university structure/ operations ‘Political awareness’ and sensitivity Awareness of HE trends Ability to see the big picture and its local relevance

8. Mental Skills/Attitude identified in 2007 survey Leadership – firmness of direction, decisiveness Flexibility Blue sky thinking Analytical and problem-solving skills Willingness to transform ourselves and our services; ‘the vision thing’ Synthesising information from various sources Creativity in relation to problems and new initiatives Risk taking Ability to see an opportunity and act on it

9. Technical Skills identified in 2007 survey Familiarity with current technological developments relevant to libraries Expertise in your specialism/professional competence Awareness of trends and innovations in the LIS context IT skills – ‘you need to keep up’!

10. Follow up study: rationale Aim to explore views on leadership of newly qualified librarians Gain further perspectives from other experienced library leaders on leadership skills

11. Follow up study: collecting data Telephone interviews with 8 senior public librarians and university librarians Questionnaire basedon leadership skills identified in previous work Sent to 162 librarians who graduated from Loughborough University between 2001 – 2007 (37 responses: 23%)

12. Key questions and findings: 1: are there new leaders out there? Interviews with senior library managers indicated they believe future leaders are there Feel that new recruits to the profession had necessary skills, personality and flair to be ‘great future leaders’ …..but questionnaire showed recently qualified professionals had low confidence in their own leadership skills When asked if they had leadership skills new library staff used words like ‘moderate’, ‘slight’, ‘reasonable’, ‘some’

13. Key questions and findings: 2: is leadership just needed at the top? Both senior managers and newly qualified librarians see leadership is needed throughout library Flatter organisational structures lead to staff having responsibility for day to day decision making One newly qualified librarians wrote the best leaders allow their team to use their own initiative (whilst still being supportive and guiding where necessary

14. Key questions and findings: 3: isn’t being a good leader about being a good communicator? 100% recently qualified librarians agreed that library leaders should have good communication skills Newly qualified librarians identified other communication skills such as patience and tolerance, managing consultation, inspiring as being important Library leaders saw communication skills as crucial: need to get people on your side, managing relations

15. Key questions and findings: 4: do you need to be a good librarian to be a good library leader? Difference in opinions between newly qualified staff , university librarians and public library leaders 89% newly qualified staff indicated leaders needed to be aware of LIS trends and innovations No university librarians made any reference to the need for LIS skills Two public library leaders thought there should be a mix between professional and managerial skills

16. Key questions and findings: 5: does an effective library leader also have to be an effective politician? Difference in opinion between experienced library leaders and newly qualified librarians Only 62% newly qualified librarians thought library leaders should have political awareness and sensitivity All experienced leaders emphasized the need to engage with organisational politics at local and national levels

17. Key questions and findings: 6: is effective leadership about risk avoidance? Only 46% newly qualified staff felt that risk taking was a skill needed by library leaders Risk seen by newly qualified staff in context of danger or threat In contrast, one public library leader wanted leaders who can see opportunity and are willing to take a bit of a risk to achieve it

18. Key questions and findings: 7: is the best way to become a good leader to be taught leadership skills? Value of national leadership programmes questioned by senior library staff Newly qualified librarians learnt leadership skills through experience, training and observing colleagues Value in being introduced to concepts of leadership and then enhancing skills in practice

19. Some key points on future library leaders (bearing in mind small scale nature of study) Current and future library leaders all agree leadership qualities essential due to changes in internal and eternal environment Library leaders need confidence and ambition but these qualities not evident in graduates surveyed Debatable extent to which people can be taught to be confident and ambitious…but the importance of these two attributes can be highlighted at library school