Reading has begun in earnest

Well this weekend I started the daunting task of beginning to read the readings that we have been assigned. It has proved to take longer than I thought. sure wish I could speed read like Kath Day- Knight in Kath and Kim.....Sure would make it quicker. Oh well thank goodness I had to sit and wait for my middle child at cricket trials today(never thought I would hear myself utter those words). anyway I put my time to good use and read.

Reading 1: Donham, J, 'Leadership'
This reading was interesting as I realised that I knew nothing about the previous topics I had written about on this blog.

Leadership Attributes
* Technical competence
* Conceptual skill
* People skills
* Judgement
* Character
Above all Leaders know and respect the limits of their circles of influence.

Leaders are can do people who look to themselves to make programs great and inspire others to join in the enterprise.
Donham also tells us the Hatzell suggests that proactive people look for change opportunities, they anticipate and prevent problems, they take action and tend to persevere.
I loved what Jim Collins said were required to make a good program great.
* Understand what you can and cannot be best at. a leader knows what areas they are best at and strive to be as good as possible in the other areas.
* Pursue what you are deeply passionate about because the passion for one aspect of the field will generate the intense enthusiasm to invigorate and inspire students so that you will also stay energized.

Fullan suggested 3 attributes for a sound vision: 1. Concreteness
2. Sharedness
3. Clarity

Lao Tzu said "When the best leader's work is done, the people say, 'We did it ourselves'"

In order to lead from the middle, librararians need to put themselves into influential positions by volunteering to serve on curriculum committees or leadership teams.
Clear and articulate communication is a key element in asserting leadership among colleagues.

Strategic Leadership
You need to have a vision. A vision is a clear mental picture of the future result that is clearly communicated and easily perceived.
You need to set standards for performance and measure performance against those standards.
Seize opportunities as they arise.

Reflection
Reflect periodically on progress made and goals to be met.
Journal regularly.
Mentoring
Mentor students by sharing enthusiasm.

Action Strategies
Learning and Teaching
Information access and delivery
Program administration

Never be self-serving. and always project a professional image.

This was a really good reading and cleared things up. It was also good to mentally picture leaders that exhibited the qualities talked about in the article to make it make a bit more sense. Clearly I have a long way to go to become a good leader if the points listed above are anything to go by.
Oh well on to my next reading from section 1 on Organisational theory. Maybe I will give an update on that tomorrow.