ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 292 / C&RL News ■ A p ril 1999 Learning to lead It’s not just in classroom s anymore! by Raynna Bowlby L eaders are perpetual learners . . . [Learn­ ing] is absolutely indispensable under today’s conditions of rapid change and co plexity . . . Leaders have discovered not just how to learn but how to learn in an organi­ zational context. They are able to concen­ trate on w hat matters most to the organiza­ tion and to use the organization as a learn­ ing environm ent.”1 ACRL President Maureen Sullivan’s theme o f “Leadership and Learning” catches none of us by surprise. Indeed, the “L w ords” are constantly on the lips of many in our librar­ ies. Yet, they are spoken with the hint of mystery and awe. Just w hat is leadership anyway? And, even for the many of us w ho work in institutions of higher education, just w hat is learning these days? And, seemingly most mysterious of all, how does one learn to lead? Are you born w ith it? Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus remind us through their work that our view o f what le a d e rs h ip is a n d w h o e x e rcise s it has changed over the centuries. Explanations have shifted from the “Great Man” theory that leaders are born, not made, to the “Big Bang” theory that great events make leaders o f oth­ erwise ordinary people. Current belief is based to a great extent on the work of James MacGregor Burns and Bernard M. Bass on the “Transformative Lead­ ership” theory, that is the transformational m ­ leader is one w ho motivates others to do more than they originally expected to do. Bennis and Nanus maintain that “effective leadership can move organizations from cur­ rent to future states, create visions of poten­ tial opportunities for organizations, instill within employees commitment to change and instill new cultures and strategies in organi­ zations that mobilize and focus energy and resources. These leaders are not born. They em erge w hen organizations face new prob­ lems and complexities that cannot b e solved by unguided evolution. They assume respon­ sibilities for reshaping organizational prac­ tices to adapt to environmental changes. They direct organizational changes that build con­ fidence an d em pow er their em ployees to seek new ways o f doing things. They over­ com e resistance to change by creating vi­ sions o f the future that evoke confidence in and mastery of new organizational practices.”2 Learning to lead If leaders, then, are not born, w hat is critical is learning to lead. Peter Vaill proposes “learn­ ing as a way of being” for “survival in a world o f perm anent w hite w ater,” that is, the u n ­ predictable environment of constant change.3 According to Vaill’s innovative philosophy of learning, just as w hite w ater continuously puts people in challenging situations that they have never en c o u n te re d o r experienced, learning how to successfully navigate con­ stant change cannot be left to formal, insti- A b o ut th e au th or Raynna B o w lb y is O rganizational & S ta ff D evelopm ent o ffice r o f th e B ro w n University Library a n d a m e m be r o f th e ACRL President's Program Committee, e-mail: raynna_bowlby@ brown.edu LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING mailto:raynna_bowlby@brown.edu C&RL News ■ A p ril 1999 / 293 tutional training and degree programs, rather integrating the discipline of learning into everyday practice is necessary. Vaill describes this learning as multi-faceted and he defines seven types of learning— self-directed, cre­ ative, expressive, feeling, online, continual, and reflexive learning. Another important dimension o f learning, action learning, is increasingly being applied in modern organizations. Initially pioneered by R. W. Revans, action learning involves taking action in “real time,” learning from the results, and incorporating that learning into future action using the organization it­ self as the learning context. This is a new mental model for learn­ ing, differing from our traditional learn­ ing model in many ways. It is work-based rather than classroom-based, has a group orientation rather than an individual ori­ entation, focuses on output rather than input, is active rather than passive, is con­ cerned with the present and future rather than the past, deals with reality rather than hypothetical situations. Action learning abounds in our academic and research libraries today, though we may not label it as such. For example, participa­ tion in library-wide strategic planning initia­ tives and development of self-managed teams are significant action learning opportunities. Through these activities we are learning by doing and at the same time “emerging” as leaders, recalling Bennis and Nanus’ descrip­ tion above. As we all engage in this new work, we not only develop ourselves but we also lead the learning process in our organi­ zations. “Organizational learning is the process by which an organization obtains and uses new knowledge, tools, behaviors, and values. It happens at all levels in the organization— among individuals and groups as well as systemwide. Individuals learn as part of their daily activities, particularly as they interact with each other and the outside world. Groups learn as their members cooperate to accomplish common goals. The entire system learns as it obtains feedback from the environment and anticipates further changes. At all levels, newly learned knowledge is translated into new goals, procedures, expectations, role structures, and measures of success.”4 (co n tin u ed on p a g e 3 1 8 ) 318 / C&RL News ■ A p r i l 1999 S cience an d T echn ology Allison V. Level, associate professor, South­ w est Missouri State University, M eyer Library 901 South National, Springfield, MO 65807; allisonlevel@ m ail.sm su.edu Slavic an d East E urope Bradley Schaffner, Russian/Soviet Studies b ib ­ lio g rap h er, W atson Library, U niversity o f Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-2800; bschaffn@ ukans.edu U niversity Libraries Lori A. Goetsch, director o f Libraries for Public S e r v ic e s , U n iv e rs ity o f M a ry la n d , 3 1 1 5 ( “Image is everything” continued from page 2 7 7 ) Tired o f the im age problem? B e part o f the im age solution. In your next triathlon, w ear a T-shirt that says, “C onan the Librar­ ian.” W hen you accep t your Oscar, thank the d ean o f your library school. And w hen som e­ o n e rem arks that you d o n ’t look like a librar­ ian, take a page from Gloria Steinem and ( “learning to lead” continued from page 293) Recent articles in C&RL News on ACRL Presi­ dent Maureen Sullivan’s them e o f “Leadership and Learning” challenge all o f us to b e both leaders and learners and have offered insights into ways to do so within our libraries today. Another challenge is to stop thinking about learning as som ething that happens only in a classroom. B y participating in various groups and teams doing real w ork in real time, w e can both learn and lead. ( “ULS activities at Midwinter” continued from page 316) to validate users’ passwords. T he user sta­ tions are passw ord-protected at night, w hich effectively limits a ccess to UT students, staff, and faculty. Som e universities have adopted op en policies toward W eb access, w hile oth­ ers have initiated strict sign-up policies. T he final topic under discussion .dealt with electron ic referen ce services. Most libraries n ow offer som e type o f e-m ail referen ce ser­ McKeldin Library, College Park, MD 20742- 7011; lgoetsch@ deans.um d.edu W om en’s Studies D aren Callahan, associate professor, Library Affairs, Southern Illinois University, Delyte W. M o rris L ib r a ry , 1 8 0 3 W. F r e e m a n , Carbonctale, IL 6 2 901-2105; d callaha@ lib.siu. edu W estern E u ro p ean Specialists Thom as Izbicki, collection developm ent c o ­ ordinator, Eisenhow er Library, Jo h n s Hopkins University, 340 0 N. Charles, Baltim ore, MD 21218; Izbicki@ jhu.edu ■ say, “Yes, I do. This is w hat a librarian looks lik e .” M aybe o n c e p e o p le realize that librar­ ians, like th ose in m ost o th er professions, co m e in every sh ap e, size, sex , sexual pref­ ere n c e , tonsure, d ecib el level, and body-fat com p osition , w e ’ll feel free to just relax and b e ourselves. It just so h ap p en s that I do w e a r m y h a ir in a b u n . I t ’s g r e a t fo r kick b oxin g . ■ Notes 1. Warren B en nis and Burt Nanus. Lead­ ers: Strategies fo r Taking Charge (N ew York: HarperCollins, 1997): 176. 2. Ibid., 17. 3. P eter B. Vaill. Learning as a Way o f Be­ ing: Strategies f o r Survival in a World o f Per­ manent White Water (San Francisco: Jo ssey - B ass, 1996). 4. B e n n is a n d N an u s, Leaders Strate­ gies‚ 1 7 8 - 9 . ■ v ice although not all have established pro­ cedures for monitoring these services or track­ ing statistics. T h e n ex t discussion at the An­ nual C on feren ce will focu s on GIS and data services, planning for s cien c e libraries, and 24-hour library access. T h e Discussion Group w elcom es all librarians w h o are interested in these topics to attend its m eeting in New Orleans.— Anne Garrison, reference librarian at Georgia Tech Library, e-mail: anne. garrison@library.gatech.edu ■ mailto:allisonlevel@mail.smsu.edu mailto:lgoetsch@deans.umd.edu mailto:dcallaha@lib.siu mailto:Izbicki@jhu.edu mailto:garrison@library.gatech.edu