Manage Your Way Into Management

So, you're stuck in another catch-22 situation. You want to move on to the next level of your career, something which involves management but you find it difficult as you have little or no experience of management. And you can't get experience without having the job. Many people are stuck in positions like this and it can be frustrating. You can either save up and pursue a qualification on you own time and dime or you can get creative and look for experience elsewhere.

MOOCs

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I'm a big fan of MOOCs. They allow you to learn where and when you need to and cover a variety of topics. One thing MOOCs are really good at is fulfilling a specific training need - in this case management training. I'm currently taking a course via FutureLearn called Managing People: Engaging Your Workforce which I'm finding both engaging and interesting. The course features a lot of opportunity for interaction and discussion and makes me think about some of the issues I've previously taken for granted. There are plenty more business/management MOOCs available so even if you can't commit to one at the moment there will likely be another opportunity in the future. A good list of management related MOOCs can be found on Class Central.

Reading

This is also something easy to fit into your everyday commitments. Do you have a commute? A spare lunch hour once a week? Why not do something productive with your time and read a management book. They're not always as dry as they seem and they can produce some really valuable advice. Something which gets you to think and reflect is always good. Many of these books can be purchased cheaply, either second hand or through apps such as Kindle. And of course there is always the local library! As with any sort of professional reading I would advise you to make notes about what you read - not only does it make it easier to remember the information but it helps you to really absorb it and relate it to your own experiences. Why not get together with others to discuss what you read? This can be done in person by setting up a reading group or joining in with an online group such as the Library Leadership Reading Group on Twitter. Writing book reviews is also a good way to reflect. The O'Reilly Reader Review Program offers bloggers a chance to read books on management and leadership in return for reviews. 

Volunteering

It's worth remembering that experience doesn't have to be in the workplace. Volunteering on a committee can be a valuable way to develop management skills such as negotiation, communication and people skills. For those in the library profession CILIP committees are always an option but there are many more ways to get involved. Perhaps you could join a group at work or an organisation you support or why not help to organise an event? There are many ways of gaining the skills used in management without actually being a manager and you get to make new friends/contacts at the same time.

Coaching/Mentoring

This is another important skill and again, something that doesn't have to be developed in a formal way. I like to help colleagues with their CPD so if I see something that might be of interest then I pass it on. I also act as a sounding board when people have advice/problems (as other people have done for me). If you're Chartered then CILIP mentoring is also an option. I think that mentoring is something really important and can show you the kind of manager you would make. It's important to remember that management is about people as well as productivity.

Shadowing/Observing
Why not see if it's possible to shadow your manager or a manager in another department? What they do on a daily basis may surprise you. If shadowing someone isn't appropriate then why not just try observing someone who you think is a good manager to see how they handle things? You can also observe those you think are bad managers in order to learn what NOT to do! Again, the important thing is that you make a note of your experiences and use them for later reflection.

I'm sure there are many, many other ways of developing management skills on little or no budget but these are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head. If anyone can think of things to add then please share them in the comments section below. Remember that leadership and management are two different things. You don't have to be a manager to be a leader and you don't have to be a manager to look at developing some of the skill set. Hopefully even if I don't decide to pursue a formal management qualification there are still ways for me to develop the skills that will lead to my next career step, management or otherwise!

photo credit: pennstatenews via photopin cc

#Chartership Portfolio

I recently found out that my Chartership portfolio has been accepted! This means that I can now officially use the postnominals MCLIP.

It's been an interesting process, at time very frustrating, but one I'm glad I did. I'll post some final reflections soon but in the mean time I wanted to share my portfolio. I found looking at example portfolios really helpful when I was completing mine and although the regulations have changed slightly since I submitted I hope having my portfolio up here might still help people. 

Please remember when looking at any example portfolios that everyone is different and has different experiences to draw on. Just because you have done something different with your portfolio does not make it in any way wrong!

If you're in the process of doing any of the CILIP qualifications good luck to you. Remember that there IS light at the end of the tunnel and it will be such a great feeling when you can finally use those post-nominals! 

Chartership Portfolio

#Chartership Chat - 15/5/14

Below is the Storify of the most recent Chartership chat. Remember that the write-ups of previous chats, as well as general information on the professional registration process, can be found here.

How I Learnt to Stop Worrying and Reflect

When I'm running the Chartership chats on Twitter I notice the same concern popping up again and again: reflective writing. I think that most people understand what it is but they're worried about how they can make their own writing reflective rather than narrative. Firstly if you are worried about this then stop. I would guess that nine out of ten people who undertake CILIP qualifications are worried about the same thing so you're far from alone. If this is a particular concern for you then please talk to your mentor about it, that's what they're there for. 

Reflective writing is practiced in many disciplines and provides a great way to think about your experiences critically. This is important as it allows you to learn from what you have done and improve in the future. This is especially important when undertaking CPD as it can help you to identify areas where you need to concentrate your learning.

It's OK to admit that you're not that confident with reflective writing. It's a skill and like other skills it has to be developed. I personally found Rolfe et al.'s (2001) reflective model a very useful way to get started. The model asks you to answer three questions about any experience:

• What? - describe the experience (briefly) 
• So what? - what did you learn from the experience? What did you enjoy/not enjoy? 
• Now what? - how would you improve the experience if you did it again? What might you do differently next time? What action will you take as a result of the experience?

By asking yourself these questions you can start to be reflective about any experience and you can always dig deeper if you need to.

I've put together a Pinterest board with links to various resources on reflective practice. As mentioned above this is used in a lot of disciplines so don't be put off if the link isn't directly relevant to librarianship:

Follow Claire Sewell's board Reflective Practice on Pinterest.

From a personal point of view I find blogging a great way to reflect on my experiences or an issue in the profession. If you don't feel brave enough to share your thoughts with the world then why not set up a private blog? This way you can practice your reflective skills and you will always have something to refer back to when needed. Who knows, you may change your mind and decided to try your hand at public blogging one day ....

photo credit: juandesant via photopin cc

What's In a Name...? Library Job Titles

I’ve been thinking a lot about job titles recently, probably thanks to compiling my Chartership CV and applying for a couple of conference bursaries. I’ve tried to keep my CV up to date over the years but this is the first time I’ve really had to sit down and consider what it looks like to an outsider. One thing that has struck me through this process is that my current job title doesn’t really reflect what I do on a daily basis. Worse than this I’m starting to wonder if it’s putting people off!

Above is the section of my CV which describes my current role. When I was putting together my CV I realised that only the last four bullet points are directly linked to my actual job description. Everything else is something I have done out of need or a desire to develop my skills. At this point I should say that I am very lucky to work in a large library which allows me to develop and take on new things. I wonder though how many people read the heading Senior Cataloguer and look no further as they think that all I do is catalogue? This is probably not helped by the fact that I have worked in a number of cataloguing related posts over the years, many of which have the word cataloguer in the title.

I often get told by people that I’m not a “typical cataloguer” which I take as sort of grudging compliment but it does make me think again about my job title and if it’s giving people a certain impression of me. I’m sure I’m not the only person to wonder about this. In these days of constrained budgets and shrinking jobs is anyone a typical anything anymore? Aren’t we all having to take on jobs and responsibilities that we never thought we would have to, for better or worse? People short listing for interviews have very little time to read all the applications they receive so first impressions are important. I’m just wondering if the first impression that my job title sends out is the right one?

I started to wonder if other people felt the same way about their job titles so I compiled a very short and extremely unscientific survey which somehow managed to get nearly one hundred responses. 67% of respondents felt that their job title accurately reflected what they actually did whilst 33% felt that it didn’t. This was the final result but for a long time it was quite close. I asked those that didn’t think their job title was a good reflection of their work to expand on this. Below are a small sample of answers:

• "when I compare myself to others with the same job title I feel I carry out more varied and complex tasks"
• "job title does not clearly express my actual role, area of expertise or skills"
• "because I do so much more than that!"
• "librarian doesn't sum up the information literacy, training or general information wrangling that I do all day"
• "it's too general and doesn't reflect the degree of professionalism required"
• "for those in the library profession I think it's obvious ... however to the outside world I still use the word 'librarian' and this is what I put on my Twitter account for instance"
• "it doesn't include library or librarian"
• "it's a generic job title shared by several others who do jobs that differ from mine"
• "I have the word coordinator in my job title which means nothing to anyone, but not the word librarian"
• "library assistant implies I do non-professional work, which is not the case"
• "title is 'Faculty Librarian' which doesn't explain anything! No mention of liaison or teaching etc."

There were quite a few themes running through the answers. People felt that it would have been better to have the words library or librarian in their job title to give a better impression of what they do. This is an issue that needs a blog post all its own but it’s worth noting here. I think as the profession seeks to modernise itself and respond to critics who think the ‘L’ word is outdated we are in danger of giving ourselves titles that are too vague to be understood by the outside world but that’s just my opinion ....

Quite a few respondents highlighted this issue of vagueness, claiming that their title was too generic to reflect the variety of things that they do. With roles changing all the time I’m sure it’s not practical to keep updating job titles but what does that mean for their worth?

In contrast to this it’s interesting to note that people didn’t think their job titles would be too much of a problem on applications, as people within the library world would understand what they meant. This could be a positive or a negative and brings me back to my original point. People in the library world understand the term cataloguer but do they think all I do is catalogue books all day? Several cataloguers I know will tell you that we do a lot more than that! What all this adds up to is that there is no such thing as a perfect job title but there are several issues to think about.

Finally I asked people if they would be tempted to tweak their title to better represent what they do. 59% wouldn’t be tempted but 41% would, which was a higher percentage than I was expecting. I’ll admit that I’ve been tempted to change mine to something like Senior Library Assistant in the past to avoid people assuming that all I do is catalogue but I decided against it as I thought it would cause more harm than good!

I think what this very unscientific research has shown me is that I may be a little bit too sensitive when it comes to my job history. Having said that I think it would be a good lesson for us all to leave our perceptions of job titles at the door. Those judging applications need to look further than the title and see what the individual has achieved whilst the applicants (including me!) need to be better at demonstrating what they have done and not rely on their job title to tell the whole story.

Leadership / Brian Tracy, AMACOM

Brian Tracy, the chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, has written many books about the development of people and organisations. This latest addition to The Brian Tracy Success Library focuses on leadership and outlines Brian's tips for becoming a strong leader and maintaining this as you move through your career.

With each chapter focusing on a specific aspect, from motivating people to learning from your mistakes, the book includes something for most people. The book is easy to dip in and out of when advice on a particular topic is needed. However as the main text comprises less than one hundred pages it's no struggle to read everything. Tracy has an informative and easy to read style, making this an ideal 'train journey' book.

Tracy offers practical steps to achieving success, often backing these up with anecdotal evidence from this own career. Although Tracy comes from the business sector the examples used will be familiar to many people and could be applied to a lot of situations. I was especially pleased to see Tracy emphasizing the human side of leadership. He stresses the importance of building relationships with people, both in your own team and outside. He shows how this can strengthen your position and demonstrate your effectiveness as a leader. In some other books I have read this aspect of leadership is missing which is a worry as I think that the human aspect can help to define a great leader.

Although there is nothing especially new or earth shattering about the advice in the book, Tracy makes his points and makes them well. From my perspective it is much easier to absorb material from a book like this than a weighty tome that I struggle to read. I would especially recommend this book to those either new to leadership roles or looking to become leaders. If you want some practical guidance on how to make the most of leadership opportunities in an easy to read style then you could do a lot worse than Brian Tracy.

For more information on this title please visit the O'Reilly product page.

#Chartership Chat - 3/4/14

Below is the Storify of the most recent Chartership chat. Remember that the write-ups of previous chats, as well as general information on the professional registration process, can be found here.