Creating a Vibrant Future

Digital Shift: Ikaroa Hui5 July 2014

Lynley StoneThe Information Workshop

lynley@informationworkshop.com

Creating a vibrant future for:

Ourselves

Our communities

Our organisation

Our profession

Creating a vibrant future through:

• 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:

• 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 peopleSame job description

Different job contentDifferent 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 LIBRARYWe 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

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

Your job needs you

“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?

CommunityConnection

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

• Reading/watching/listening• Doing• Playing• Exploring• Reflecting• Discussing• ObservingDon’t expect to master everything. Aim for understanding

ICE – Interested, curious and engaged

Learn how YOU learn

• 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

• 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

• 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

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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

Resource Portal

OnWebsite

Resources to define, support &

develop

LIANZA Emerging Leadership Programme

Region & SIG ideas

LIANZAStatement

on Leadership

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Different approaches to leadership

• 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

– 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• 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!

Ourselves

Our communities

Our organisation

Our profession