I’m a Chair, but I Feel Like a Folding Chair

Abstract

I have had a lot on my mind lately, with the ALA Annual Conference and the start of my year as RUSA president. But what I have been thinking about the most is leadership development and mentoring. There are things that all of us need throughout our careers, with different needs at different points along the way. In my experience, two of the best things about being part of a professional organization are meeting people who have become my mentors and developing as a leader. My mentors have helped me to develop as a leader, so this quarter's column is about both. FROM FOLDING CHAIRS TO STEADY LEADERS As I was starting to think about this column, a RUSA member popped up online to chat with me and said Can I talk to you about RUSA? I am a chair, sometimes I feel like a chair. We talked and I offered some advice. I had been thinking about leadership development for months, folding chair really brought around how all feel sometimes. How leadership really is a challenge, how can feel isolated and adrift as chairs, as librarians, even as committee members--which is by definition being part of a group. RUSA, the library profession, our workplaces, should all be communities, sometimes see leadership as a solo act. If need help figuring things out, are good leaders? The answer, clearly, is yes. The challenge for RUSA is how to make sure that our members feel that they have the support to develop as leaders within the organization, in their workplaces, and in the profession. In case you are thinking, but I don't want to be a leader; that just isn't me. I think I'll stop reading, I am going to share a couple of stories about my grandfather. He used to tell me we can't all be Captains. He never sought leadership positions, other people sought his advice and leaned on his strength and kindness. He wrote home from basic training during WWII, They (the other enlistees) made me team leader for exercises, I guess no one else wanted Leadership is not a title, it is an attribute. You do not have to be bold or extroverted. There is no one set of traits that makes a leader. You do not even really have to want it. If you do what you do well, others might want you to do more of it. You can always decline to lead, likely you are now--or one day will be--more of a leader than you intended. MENTORSHIP AS A MUTUAL BENEFIT After the folding chair discussion, I have a new mentee. It has been really a great thing for me. It seems like a good thing for her, too. The reason that it is great for me is that I have been on sabbatical and away from the graduate assistants whom I usually mentor. Having a new mentee has given me that role and I feel like my experience and wisdom (ahem) are of some use on a personal level. Why should you be a mentor? There is the desire to give back or pay forward the kindnesses and advice that helped you. There is the desire to shape a future career. There is the desire to help someone work through a problem with a committee or in his or her career and know that you were part of that. It also is just nice to feel useful outside of the workplace and to be useful for what know and who are. My RUSA mentors are why I got involved in RUSA rather than some other organization within ALA or my state. Perhaps some of them were examples rather than mentors, people I wanted to emulate more than have a personal relationship with. Observation and reflection are one way to improve your own leadership skills. Mentors were able to answer questions and to help me with problems, and they were there for me to bounce ideas off. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AS A CAREER-LONG PROCESS If you have stopped developing as a leader, it is time for a new career. If you have not started to develop as a leader, maybe it is time for that challenge. We encounter leadership opportunities in our jobs, even when do not have an administrative title. …