Leadership as a concept is often misunderstood.  This is the case not only in libraries but, in all situations.  People often equate leadership with power, a huge mistake and probably the worst you can make. 

For those of you who know me, you know that by profession I am an academic library director and that my other passion is natural horsemanship.  I am always seeking never ending self improvement, especially in leadership, in all areas of my life. My study of leadership easily crosses over from professional librarian to horse woman (and back again) but, the concepts are really the same! I have often taken pieces of knowledge from both areas of my life and found that the concepts were easily applied. It is interesting when one tries to understand and communicate with horses that this relationship transcends on how we interact with humans in all kinds of situations as well. I guess I'd like to believe that if I (a predator) can successfully communicate and partner with a horse (a prey animal), that I can just as successfully find a way to communicate and lead those working for me. 

I participate in leadership seminars and courses all of the time too and as I mentioned, I strive for continual improvement in all aspects of my life, a life-long project I suppose, and a truly good use of my time. Currently, I am using the FISH! Philosophy with my faculty and staff (and doing a self-study, Leader Fish for myself). It is fun! And, they seem encouraged, interested, and enjoying it–and it truly compliments my professional life and horse journey. The whole idea stems around four principles: Be There, Play, Make Their Day, Choose Your Attitude!

Rather than rewrite what I've written before about leadership, replacing the word "horse" with "person" – or something like that, I'd like to take the approach of just directing you to a blog post I wrote back in December 2009 on my personal blog, Natural Horse Lover called, Leadership with Our Horses  and be sure to watch the video if you'd like a good laugh. (Please note, that if you search the blog, there is a lot more on the blog about leadership and other topics that transcend horsemanship if you want to read more.)  

I challenge you to consider some of these ideas and morph your own ideas about leadership into something that is not just another power struggle between people (horses or whatever else in your life) but something that helps develop a positive partnership that fosters success, with a great leader at the helm. This is the place where one's dignity remains in tact, everyone is productive, and true leadership shines.  

[I had orginally posted this to the LMD Wiki thinking you all might be happier posting there, but LMD's blog - Impact is the happening place, so ...]

Thinking on Your Feet: Dynamic Communication

First LMD session of the conference began bright and early at 7 am on Monday and was a perfect start for me. Greg Hohn, from Transactors Improv, began the session by having us participate in
the Clam & Dragon exercise to wake us up (it worked). He went on to
show us how to open ourselves to dynamic communication. Take-aways for
me include:

• It is okay to be embarrassed – rarely fatal
• Important to be intellectually and emotionally flexible
• Plan for events but you don't need to stick with those plans (again, be flexible)
• Put
  yourself in the other person's shoes and communicate in ways that your
  listener understands, not necessarily how you feel comfortable (tap
  into their self-interest)
• 75% of communication is via body language and tone of voice
• Confidence
  often deserts you when you need it most. Take stock of how you sound,
  stand, talk, move when you are most confident and then practice so that
  you can emulate those behaviours when you need to fake confidence.  If
  you look and sound confident, people will treat you that way — will
  start a positive feedback loop
• Don't forget to breathe! Slow
  down, the slower you breathe, the more oxygen your system gets and it
  also helps to project confidence.

Although I didn't actively volunteer for going to the front, I
admire those who took a chance and helped us learn. My question is, how
would you describe e-mail and the microwave to Rip Van Winkle who had been asleep since 1809??

 - Patricia

Now it is your turn…

These quick notes come courtesy of Joe Groden (www.jgconsults.com) in his HME MONTHLY MEMO.

• Be patient
• Make  eye contact
• Take brief notes of key points
• Offer non-verbal encouragement e.g. head nodding
• Allow for periods of silence
• Let the speaker talk without interruption
• Ask clarifying questions at the end
• Summarize what has been covered

This is very interesting.  Likely mistakes we all make at some point.  The first two reasons are:

1. They’re too long.
2. They don’t reference the prospect’s pain.

Okay…you might have guessed those two, but what about #8:

They’re missing testimonials and client references.

To read about these and to see the entire list, go here.

I see on the Free Range Librarian’s, Karen Schneider, blog that Karen asks if email lists are still useful – or are they "last century".  And I must confess that I immediately felt very old – as I vividly remember when the SLA Toronto Chapter got its first list – way back when!  How handy it was!  No more mailing around to individuals!  What a great social network (to use a current phrase to apply to a time before the phrase existed) it was!  But I also immediately thought of the LMD list – which, perhaps fortuitously given the comments on Karen’s blog, has never been over-active.  This is one of the many questions that I am sure Ulla deStricker and her strategic planning team will explore next year in our quest to uncover the future of LMD.  But I thought I would interject this thought here in advance … what do you think of email lists in general and the LMD list specifically?  Are they "so last century" … or does the LMD list serve its purpose to communicate to our audience?  Please comment!

http://freerangelibrarian.com/2007/11/07/email-lists-are-they-last-century/#comments

Regards, Juanita – LMD Chair-Elect