The discipline of library and information science is a deep well of knowledge and study. When drawn upon, this well seemingly never runs dry in providing rich understanding and experience to help librarians and information scientists best serve their user communities. An essential part of this well is the theory and practice of management and leadership. Over the years numerous case studies and research papers examine, question, and study the topic of management and leadership. From the little one can study in the course of a university semester, leadership stands out as an essential element of the information professional. One cannot be a good leader without understanding the basic principles of leadership. This web site is designed to share some of the basic principles and tenets of leadership learned this school semester.
The research on leadership is exhaustive. Although it has been examined, divided, sub-divided, and looked at from various perspectives and contexts, it is still elusive to define.
The following are a collection of principles to help define leadership.
Leadership is about the relationship between leader and follower, not the sum of an individual's traits, skills, and decisions (Fairholm & Fairholm, 2000, p. 108). Without followers you can't have a leader. It is fundamentally a social process.
A sister principle to commitment to people, leadership is about helping people, not focused on the leader themselves. A great leader is first a great servant (Greenleaf, 1991).
The power to lead and make appropriate decisions derives from the trust between leader and follower. This trust comes from the leader serving the followers as well as serving side-by-side with them. For correct decisions to be made within an information organization there must be legislative leadership which "relies more upon persuasion, political currency, and shared interests" (Collins, 2005, p. 11).
The servant-leader is diligent in performing their role to the best of their ability. They don't just talk about what or how something should be done but they have the determination to act according to what they know and say.
Leaders exemplify "practitioner leadership" when they work "across traditional organisational and hierarchical boundaries, to tussle with and arrive as 'best solutions'" to the challenges facing organizations (Penlington, & Homstrom, 2013, p. 40).
Effective leaders are self-aware and have developed the skill to see things as they really are and as they really will be, not as they want them to be.
Since "[w]e tend to see what we expect to see" (Voros, 2001, 551), one's own perceptual biases and preconceived notions can interfere with seeing an organization's social, political, economic, and technological settings for what they currently are and what they may become in the future. We see "through perceptual filters. It is all about filters, mindsets and world views" (Voros, 2001, 551).
Leaders practice "lateral thinking" allowing them to make surprising connections and visualize new patterns to help motivate and inspire their followers in working towards a common purpose (Evans and Ward, 2007, p. 341).
Leaders know that good communication starts with good listening.
Studying the principles of management and leadership is both timely and timeless for aspiring librarians and information scientists. The core that drives librarians and information scientists is working with and helping people. The core of management and leadership is positively working with people to achieve a mutually shared goal.
Despite all the information on leadership that can be learned in the course of a university semester, it would be foolishly shortsighted to think there is little more to learn or discover. There is much about leadership that is still unknown. Leadership is just as much an art as it is a science and is an ultimate lifetime pursuit to understand, apply, and master.
Collins, J. (2005). Good to great and the social sectors. San Francisco, CA: Elements Design Group.
Covey, S. R. (1989). The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Evans, G. E., & Ward, P. L. (2007). Management basics for information professionals. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Neal-Schumann.
Fairholm, M. R., & Fairholm, G. (2000). Leadership amid the constraints of trust. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 21, 102-109. Retrieved from http://www.emerald-library.com
Greenleaf, R. K. (1991). The servant as leader. Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.
Penlington, C., & Homstrom, K. (2013). Practitioner leadership: a missing link in leadership theory. The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 9, p. 32-46. doi: 10.1108/IJLPS-04-2013-0008
Voros, J. (2001). Reframing environmental scanning: An integral approach. Foresight, 3, 533-551. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1463-6689