pilot complete!

Well we've had our final workshop to conclude the mentoring pilot. All the pairs made it through and found it beneficial. The atmosphere at the final workshop was joyous. I don't think this was just my feeling because it was the end of a long year that involved me being outside my comfort zone a lot.

I think others felt it too.

But for me it represented the end of a process I hope to be part of again and again: identifying something that needs to be done for the benefit of positive culture and finding a way to fill the need. Starting something that has never been done from scratch and seeing it through to the end.

For me it will be a benchmark. When I think a project is too big I'll be able to think back on 2014 and know that I can do it. My leadership skills have been developed, I can see aspects of all the ICVF roles have come into play and worked together. I'll admit I didn't understand them at the start of Inspire but now, when confronted with a tricky situation I can actually answer the question - which role to I need to use here?

It's been a hard and rewarding year, I feel honoured to have had the opportunity for the experience.

final Mentoring workshop planning

We have had our planning meeting for the final mentoring pilot workshop. We met once, planned and finalised everything for this workshop a week before the workshop. This was an object lesson for me that shows leadership growth. At the start of the year we met six weeks out, had multiple meetings and I was very nervous.

This meeting was fast and only a week before-hand and I was excited! I came out of the meeting fired up by spending time with the wonderful people on the team. I've learned more from seeing them operate than I could ever learn from reading a book, not that research is an unworthy pursuit - not at all. 

I just mean that I was surprised by how much I had to learn and how much some very young people know already. The collaborative process with Abby, Kelly and Christine is one that I will treasure and one that will have a permanent influence my leadership style. Abby tells me that this experience is rare so I will cherish it all the more. 

what did I learn this week?

I learned that it's really hard to be a leader when you're busy. Well if I'm honest I've been leading this all year not just in the last week but in the last week as I was feeling overwhelmed with my workload, leadership duties, HMM modules that need to be done, visiting with mentoring partners ... 

I looked at the leaders I admire at work. They must be busier than me but they never show it. I'm going to add this into my leadership aspirations: work out how to be calm on the outside even if I'm feeling overwhelmed on the inside.

Negotiating change

I got some handy insights from the last Inspire workshop, listening the Angelo Kourtis, UWS Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students), speak about negotiating change and influencing others that I can use as I endeavour to develop the ICFV innovator. This is my main driver for Inspire. As I go I realise when you develop one ICVF quality you actually work on them all, but I really want to improve the service as much as I can while I'm acting in the team leader role, undertaking an higher duties appointment (HDA). 

I'm starting small - just improving as I can that which is already in place. One day, if I get the job permanently I might be able to look at bigger innovations. There's lots of options to harness the power of our new Library management system to revolutionalise the way we currently do things and I hope that after Inspire I will have the confidence to investigate this further.

From Angelo I learned the importance of understanding and developing the narrative that supports the change, to compelling reason for why change needs to happen. This is part of the strategic communication around change. this can be done using conversation outside the formal process by taming and engaging with water-cooler conversations to develop a support network.

It's important to articulate what is not changing and to communicate clearly to eliminate heat that can come from fear of the unknown by highlighting certainty were certainty exists. leaving some room for people to provide feedback and influence proposed changes. 

Design & deliver change from an ethical values based framework. It's harder for people to get angry about a change that effects them if it's done with integrity and in a way that values them. It needs to be empathetic and professional. 

Be clear. Constantly and consistently reinforcing the message because it promotes engagement. Inspire the influencers but don't shut the nay-sayers because they need to have their voices heard.

All of this wisdom in one talk! It was great listening and learning leadership from someone so knowledgeable and, as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) i imagine hugely busy, so it was an honour to have him take the time to visit and speak with our Inspire cohort.

Team leaders

A couple of weeks ago the Library Leadership Team facilitated our team leaders meeting. It was so good to have Kelly and Abby there from ODU to talk to about the UWS response to the MyVoice survey. They talked about all the MyVoice working groups, which includes the group collaborating with us on the UWS Library MyVoice mentoring program.

It was a good symmetry since we started the mentoring journey meeting with the same team leaders group. I consider myself very lucky to work with such talented leaders. Their generosity in sharing their knowledge is a great leadership example. I find myself wishing that more staff could attend this meeting to hear just how clever these people are.

Leadership can be seen if you're looking for it, and learned if you're willing. From the experiences I'm having doing Inspire and the HDA position I've discovered that a sign of a good leader is not only their ability to step up but their willingness to teach.

inspired mentoring

Mentoring is an aspect of the Inspire leadership program and one which I anticipated with enthusiasm because I had heard great things from colleagues who had already completed the program. For my cohort mentor pairing was done geographically as much as possible. 

This was to facilitate face to face meetings, didn't quite work from my point of view because I'm on a split campus so it still meant a drive, and park in the middle of the day on a campus with no spare parking spots. This added a pressure point to an already busy schedule and I would often arrive to our lunch time meetings quite flustered.

I was in a group of three and this is one of the advantages of this type of mentoring - we now know someone who works in a different department of the uni. I often find myself thinking of the impact for these departments of decisions and events. And I know I could drop in on them anytime and ask their advice or help. 

In fortnightly meetings we shared our stresses and thoughts on projects. We shared a little of our personal lives and things that worked/didn't work. At some points I was worried that we weren't doing it right because I've never having been involved in formal mentoring but in talking to other groups at an inspire workshop it turned out that some were impressed at our fortnightly schedule, having never met face to face or only managing irregular catch ups, and regarded our group s quite successful.

It was an interesting experience - although not at all what I pictured. For me there was the added coincidence that my Inspire project was focused on mentoring. Working with my partners gave me a complimentary insight that helped me support the participants in the pilot program - serendipity at its best.

Workshop 1 DONE!

Well after the most excitingly collaborative process the UWS Library/MyVice mentoring pilot has begun! We launched it in a workshop at Frogmore house a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing.

Abby facilitated and we had guest speakers: sponsors Sue Craig (University Librarian) and Steve Marsh (School of Science and Health). We started out together doing the river of life exercise and then broke into groups for concurrent mentee/mentor sessions so that they could inspire and learn from each other.

After lunch we came back together for some more work on resources and toolkits. Getting to this point has been such a steep learning curve for every aspect of my leadership skills. I'm excited by my progress which is noticeable by the fact that I feel much more confident in my ability to do tough things.

Now when an obstacle is in my path I have skills to overcome it, not the least of which is not being scared of it. I also have the buoyant response to workshop 1 to spur me on. As we were leaving Frogmore House at the end of the day it was not just me that was walking on air, all the participants seemed to really get a lot out of the day and are looking excitedely forward to the mentoring process to come.

will add some photos to this post later 

Inspire workshop

The Inspire workshop in July could not have been more perfectly timed. We listened to Anthony Critchly talk about moving people from where they are now to where they need to be, focusing on the difficult conversations, because - let's face it - the happy ones are fairly easy to have.

The timing was so good for me because it gave me some skills and confidence to have some outside-my-comfort zone conversations as I worked on the ICVF Developer role. But I've got ahead of myself let's back up a bit to the EOI responses, which poured in - not just from the library but from other units too.

Well if felt like they poured in, it was actually only 22 but that's perfect, any more and the pilot would become too unwieldy. The next step was the matching and I will admit to being awed by the process. Christine and I helped but the lion-share of the work was done by the ODU experts, Abby and Kelly with input from Steve and Jenny from other UWS units. With pairs matched the applicants accepted and then came tricky bit  some of the pairs had concerns.

I met with them individually to see if it would be possible for them to continue and I was nervous. I took my notes from Anthony's talk in with me as a reminder but I didn't need them. 

These are the points that really helped

• focus on conversation that adds value
• I made myself available in whatever format they felt most comfortable
• used active listening to build trust and gain agreement
• kept discussion clear, simple and non-judgmental
• steered the conversation away from gossip

One other point that Anthony made that I didn't have to use in the conversations above but that I want to remember is that if I get angry the neurological emotional reaction only lasts for 7 seconds. 7 seconds that's how long my brain has me at it's mercy, so if I count those 7 seconds without responding I should be able to think clearer and respond more effectively. Comforting to know that Mum wasn't too far off the mark with her "count to 10 rule".

Oh and all the worried participants decided to stay so thanks for the wisdom Anthony Critchly.

EOI!

The day has arrived! Time to take the first step of my Inspire leadership action plan - send out the Expression of Interest.

It was on my action plan but it certainly was not only my actions that brought this about. I've developed the ICVF Innovator by identifying a need, exploring new concepts (new in the UWS context) and designing something new to meet the need - but not alone.

I've developed the Broker, influencing others to get behind the pilot - but not alone.

Focusing on the ICVF Deliverer has helped me set and communicate goals, delegate jobs and ensure they are delivered on time and anticipate workflow problems - but not alone.

Picking up on my theme? At the start of the Inspire project I was completely daunted, wit no idea what project to do and once I decided on mentoring - completely overwhelmed by the size of it. I did think I'd have to change my project, downsize maybe do some informal mentoring on my own, then I realised I am not an island!

I can develop the ICVF roles with the help of the Inspire program, the HMM modules AND clever people! I consider myself amazingly blessed to have this opportunity to give something to others through my working life and I am just starting to realise just how much I am receiving in return.

I was worried that the pilot might not get off the ground due to lack of interest but the EOI went out today and I have already had so many excited conversations from interested people it is so encouraging - I hope they ALL apply.

going viral

Abby and Kelly suggested that mentoring would work well for some within the library structure ie mentor and mentee both from within the library, but that it is important to consider broader options that would 

• allow for external expertise to be shared with library staff
• cultivate a heightened sense of confidentiality
• involve other units to benefit from the work going into the pilot
• demonstrate the desire for mentoring to the University funding body 
• improve prospects for longevity of the program (moving beyond the pilot)

ODU are aware of other units who are interested in mentoring and have helped make connections with the library. It is amazingly exciting to see this project grow beyond the rather nebulous idea and start to become not only a reality but a true cross-unit collaboration.

collaboration excitement

One thing I wasn't prepared for when undertaking my Inspire project was how thrilling the collaborative process is. I've been doing some reading and dipping into the HMM modules because I know now how important the ICVF broker role is.

I've learned from the Inspire manual that the broker exerts influence within the university and influences decisions in his/her area. At the first couple of meetings to get the mentoring pilot off the ground I was so nervous and a little lost that I just watched Christine as she used her brokering skills. The reading and Inspire workshops have been great for the theory but seeing it in action was a privilege and really rounded out the learning experience.

As we gear up to send out the EOIs (Expression of Interest) we've been working with Kelly and Abby from UWS ODU and oh how exciting those meetings are! I come out of them walking on air and so enthusiastically inspired. I guess I'm using some brokering skills in the meeting process but it's certainly not hard. We bounce ideas off each other and come to a consensus quickly and naturally, and I feel my confidence growing after each one.

Encouraging article and clever actions

I was starting to feel that my leadership skills were not up to the task of getting my Inspire project happening, especially after meeting with the TLs and realising how much I don't know. I read a good article about setting goals, it's old but I found it helpful because it mentions "goals that are both specific and difficult lead to the highest performance” (Locke, 1996, p. 119). I'm hoping that the fact that I find my goals difficult will lead to high performance.

Also the leader of the LLG invited some extremely clever people to our meeting. I was surprised, I thought we never do this, I wonder why? Three seconds after they started speaking I understood. It is clear they are experts in their fields and will bring so much to the mentoring program that we clearly cannot supply in the timeframe through simple research. They bring experience and a different level of thinking to the group.

This was a great experience for me to see that asking for help, seeking out experts beyond the frame of reference is an important option that i will now never forget.

Locke, E. A. (1996). Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 5(2), 117-124.

Mentoring

At the end of 2013 he Library Leadership Group (LLG) visited all the campuses to talk to the staff in small interview groups about their desires for our leadership model and to describe one thing that would make their working life better. The most requested thing mentoring.

LLG took this fabulous idea to the Library Team leaders meeting and their feedback will live in my memory forever! LLG went to the meeting full of enthusiasm - YaY let's doing mentoring! We decided to go around the room to get feedback and the first speaker asked us for our definition of mentoring. We suggested a few things that had come up from our discussions with staff and the reply was 'half of that is mentoring as I see it and the other half is coaching' - from this LLG learned we needed more refined parameters.

The next person asked how would it work and how much time would team leaders be expected to incorporate into their regular workflows.

The next asked if there would be an expectation that TLs be mentors ... they were all sensible, informed questions. It was a great jumping off point for further research that was most clearly urgently required. It was also a great demonstration of the "thinking hats" procedure as, in looking back at it I can see the value particularly of the black hat in this situation.

In short there were more questions than we had answers for and I felt both embarrassed at my own naivete as I headed back to the drawing board and awed by the experienced talent in the room.

workshop 1: 6 March 2014

My first Inspire workshop - wow what a lot to take in. I'll admit I felt a bit lost probably because I hadn't done the HMM module beforehand. That was because Feb-March is so crazy busy at work I just couldn't fit it into the work day - one of the things I hope to get out of this program is some time-management skills. this is an area I really need to get under control.

One takeaway from this workshop is that I can do the Inspire work at work.  This might not seem amazing but the idea of blocking out some time just for this work, like setting aside time for a meeting, was an epiphany for me.

Going through the 360 survey was very interesting, I learned a lot about myself but mainly that I perceive myself differently to my peers. The main thing I think I need to work on is having confidence in myself. If I can develop my confidence it will make things easier for me but also for my team because it will help me to be consistent and stable.

Actions from this workshop:

• start reading
• get the material organised
• start the HMM modules

starting out

One of the amazing opportunities I've had working in an academic library is to be part of the library leadership team. This in itself is not amazing, it's a great place to work, what makes it amazing to me is that I was not management HEW level (Higher Education Worker) at the time of joining the team.

The ethos was, and still is, leading from all levels so I joined the team as a HEW 4. I'm not sure if this is a unique approach but it is one I can certainly get behind. Although it took me a long time to start a sentence without saying "I know I'm only a HEW  4 but..." I am starting to see the benefits to both me and the organisation of this ethos.

For me the benefits are perhaps obvious...opportunity to learn, to see how things are done, to participate in culture formation/improvement: I was, however dubious about how much my organisation would benefit. Sure it would benefit from a newly formed leadership-zealot but I was only one person, lucky enough to be invited on to the team after the EOI (Expression of Interest) - how would that benefit the whole organisation?

It's true, I am very lucky to have this opportunity and that my career will become so much richer for it but I also came to see that, as I develop I can give back. I've been involved in visiting and talking to all the staff about the library leadership model, which at first scared me witless but as I stepped outside that comfort-zone I realised I was just talking to people. People who were engaged, clever, inspiring, scared, overwhelmed or worried and that I could relate to them all.

I have been involved in running leadership workshops for all staff which at first scared me witless but as I stepped into that unknown I learnt that the other members of the leadership team had impressive skills they were willing to share and by the end of the workshop week I wasn't just doing it, I was really enjoying myself - up the front of the room talking to large groups of people. This to me was quite an eye- opener.

After 18 months on the leadership team I received another opportunity to take on a higher duties appointment (HDA) not necessarily related to, but I'm not sure a factor in making me brave enough to apply for this position. It was a big leap from a HEW 4 to a HEW 7 and I needed help. I put my hand up for a university-wide leadership program called Inspire and was accepted. 

So here I am learning to be a leader.