Leadership Nuggets

Last week's DLC meeting took the form of a leadership session led by Nancy Dering Martin. (www.nderingmartin.com)

Something she said during the introduction struck a cord with me. She said, "Manage what's going on outside the room so that it doesn't interfere with what's going on inside the room". Wow! How applicable to everything we do! How often are we "really" focused on "what is going on inside the room (library)"?? I've been around people who may be physically "inside the room (library)", but not "really" there--they are distracted by everything happening on the outside, they aren't "managing" their life "outside the room (library)" so it not only "interferes", it completely dominates! Hard to "manage" or "lead" anything when you are that distracted.


Our two days of discussions revolved around "library improvement", both locally and statewide. Both of which are dependant up the leadership! "Intent doesn't always bring results; good leadership yields results."

We talked about "institutional entropy" and things that cause it:

- disconnect from the top to the bottom;
- territorialism (prisoners of "what is"; preservation of "what is" instead of being the shapers of "what might be";
- hampered communication (right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing);
- information distortions (up, down and sideways!)--some intentional, some not;
- dampening of new ideas (the more people that have to approve an idea the more likely that NO will be the answer--which often causes people to stop communicating new ideas).

Organizations become "less agile"; not "built for speed".

"We as leaders & shapers of -what might be- MUST:

- encourage a culture of change & creativity;
- raise the level of accountability;
- eliminate the warm & fuzzy;
- reinvent the profession & the institution: WE MUST SURPRISE PEOPLE!
- LEAD MORE, LAMENT LESS!

In an email from Karen Kern during those two days, she copied a posting from Seth Godin's Blog (author of Tribes, http://sethgodin.typepad.com). It was so "in tune" with the discussions we were having and the advice from the group (& Nancy) that we must "surprise people":

"You're boring
Sorry, someone had to say it.

Your products are predictable. Your insights are recycled. You don't bring surprise with you when you enter a room.

That's why people are ignoring you.

Which used to be fine, because you could just buy attention for your brand or your company or your sales efforts. But that half-price sale on attention is now over.

The only path left is to lean out of the edge and become interesting, noteworthy and yes, remarkable."


http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Let's consciously make an effort to "manage what is going on outside the room" so we can really "manage what is going on inside the room"! Then and only then will we be able to "surprise people" and "lead more".