Nikki Carder - MLIS Portfolio
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Leadership

Identifying a Project

Organizing  

Leading

Lessons Learned

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Identifying a Project

Leadership means different things to different people. My sense of it, at least for myself as a leader, aligns with the overall theme of my portfolio. The leadership experiences that I’ve found the most significant, and most satisfying and productive, are ones in which I’ve served as a collaborative team leader.  I wasn’t the boss, I didn’t demand control or dictate activities; I was the organizer, coordinator, conciliator, liaison, and problem-solver. That’s the type of leader I appreciate working with and it’s also the type of leader I’d most like to be. I have no interest in becoming a nominal executive, but I would like to be an effective leader.

 My job has offered me many opportunities to lead collaboratively and I’ve learned a lot from the experiences. Since I began the MLIS program, I’ve tried to approach each new leadership assignment using an iSchool perspective, and I’ve had some real successes. But when I began to look for a leadership project for my portfolio, I wanted to stretch a bit and go beyond my usual environment. I wanted an experience outside of a corporate setting, something that might prepare me for working in a public library. Nothing materialized right away, at least nothing that I recognized as portfolio work.

Several months after I began at the iSchool, at a New Year’s Eve party, a group of friends began to talk about organizing a book group; everyone was enthusiastic, but no one actually made any effort to organize. For almost a year the idea sort of languished, resurfacing every time we met with “We really should.” Finally, as the need to identify portfolio projects became more pressing, it occurred to me that this was a potential project. The idea needed someone to take action. It offered me a good chance to lead, in a brand new arena,  it would give me some experiences that could be useful in a library setting, and it was an activity that could benefit me personally well beyond my iSchool career. So, I picked up the book group torch and ran.

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Organizing

Organizing a group was fairly simple – there were already people interested in participating, but planning and leading meetings was unknown territory for me, so I approached it in the same way I would a school project. Though several people had been in previous book clubs, this group had no established formats for selecting books or for conducting meetings. To identify what people expected or hoped for in a book group, and to iron out the administrative details, I scheduled an initial meeting at my home where we could discuss ideas and determine our goals. I did some research beforehand, looking on the internet, and in a couple of the many print resources available as well.  I found one of the most helpful items, a book club “how-to,” on the The Seattle Public Library: Book Discussion Groups webpage.

I followed the SPL suggestions at that first meeting. Using their guidelines we determined:

• When? - Mondays
• How often? – monthly
• Where? - initially at a restaurant (which proved less than satisfactory, so we began to meet in members’ homes on a rotating basis)
• Would we serve food? - of course, and theme food whenever possible
• Should we designate a leader? - Not to start – we’d see how it went without one (several meetings later we unanimously realized that we really needed a leader, so we decided that the person who suggested the book would lead the discussion)
• What would we read? - fiction, both contemporary and classic, suggested by members.
• Who would be in the group? – I documented the names and contact numbers. membership

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Leading

Leading the first meeting was the easiest part for me; I was comfortable tackling administrative details. In my job, I often work with users to identify their needs, so I used some of the same methods I might use at work. I worked towards determining our ultimate goals by keeping the group on-task; allowing everyone to voice their ideas and preferences; ensuring that everyone did, in fact, get a voice; focusing discussion when it digressed; trying to consolidate similar ideas when they emerged; and guiding the group towards a consensus.

 Even though the group was fairly informal and cooperatively established, as the initiator, and because I was using it as a project, I felt responsible for the success of our subsequent meetings. Rather than risk having our discussions founder, I came prepared to lead. In addition to providing a chance for friends to gather, I wanted the book club to be interesting, lively and thought-provoking. As it turned out, it was always a good idea to prepare. Without leadership, it was easy for our discussions to lose focus and digress. Beyond just reading the book, I compiled a lists of discussion questions, using suggested ones if they were available, creating my own if not. I earmarked citations in the book and read multiple reviews. I was among friends, but I was nervous nevertheless. Being prepared alleviated some of my anxiety and helped me develop some skill at leading an open-ended book discussion.

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Lessons Learned

Since our initial meeting, we’ve had a dozen more – all of them fun and for the most part, successful. We’ve read books that most of us hated and books that we loved. Often we’ve read books that we wouldn’t have otherwise. I’ve led about half of the meetings. Most went well, a couple plodded. I wish I could say those were the fault of the particular book. Maybe in part they were, but those were also the meetings for which I was less prepared. Here are some of the most significant things I learned. Some are obvious pitfalls and often cited in the book club guides, but I learned them the hard way.

• Prepare, prepare, prepare. If you read the book far in advance, review it just before you meet. In fact, review all the material just before you meet. I think this is a critical factor in any leadership role – know the material, know your audience, know your role, know your goals.
• The books you like best don’t always make for the best discussion. Sometimes picking something controversial or unusual makes for more interesting exchanges. One book we all loved (Cold Mountain) generated one of our most boring discussions. Again, this book group is a friendly venue, but it still gave me an opportunity to experience managing conflicts outside of my work environment.
• Make sure the venue is conducive to discussion. This is obvious but isn’t always easy – make sure everyone has a comfortable place to sit, that the environment isn’t too loud or distracting, too hot or too cold. The meeting we held in a restaurant drove this lesson home. It also made me aware of the challenges inherent in meeting in a public location, like a library. I can see that it is important to prepare and manage the environment as much as possible within whatever limitations exist.
• Communicate regularly. While it’s not mandatory in an informal group, like it is in a corporate setting, communicating keeps people engaged and interested. Whenever possible I sent out interesting information prior to meetings, either by email or snail mail. People appreciated it and  and it made for better meetings.
• Take a leap of faith and trust the group. When a group has voluntarily assembled for a common goal, each person feels some obligation for its success. Let the group assume some of that responsibility, rather than trying to control everything. This was not an easy one for me – I feel responsible for everything - but several times when I thought we’d totally lost the thread and everything seemed out of control, it was sewn up by someone who saw parallels that I hadn’t.

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