Modern Leadership Techniques

MODERN LEADERSHIP
TECHNIQUES (MLT)
SHIRLEY INGLES-CRUZ
singlescruz@gmail.com
ASLP’s Seminar on
“Managing Modern Libraries: Leadership and Sustainability
Using Technology and Innovation”
on May 20-22, 2015 at Sugarland Hotel, Bacolod City

CONTENT OF THE PRESENTATION:
 Introduction
 Types of leadership styles
 Scenario for MLT
 3 Characteristics of a modern environment
 5 Essential attributes for modern information
professionals
 12 tasks for modern information professionals
 Strategic management
 Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
The idea on this presentation is largely drawn from the
result of the research study commissioned by both
the Financial Times and the Special Libraries
Association (SLA) in 2013.
In order to apply the so called “modern leadership
techniques”, it would be best to explore first and
have a better understanding of the evolving value of
information management in today’s society based on
the facts that were the result of the study gathered
by Financial Times and SLA.

TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES
Traditional Leadership
Styles
 Autocratic Leadership
Style
 Bureaucratic Leadership
Style
 Democratic Leadership
Style
 Laissez-Faire Leadership
Style
Modern Leadership
Styles
 Charismatic Leadership
Style
 Transactional Leadership
Style
 Transformational
Leadership Style
 Visionary Leadership
Style
 Servant Leadership Style
-- Tina Otto

Traditional Leadership Styles
 Autocratic Leadership Style
-- absolute power
 Bureaucratic Leadership Style
-- hierarchy of authority
 Democratic Leadership Style
-- equal power
 Laissez-Faire Leadership Style
-- autonomous power

Modern Leadership Styles
 Charismatic Leadership Style
-- popular loyalty
 Transactional Leadership Style
-- business like
 Transformational Leadership Style
-- complete modification or change
 Visionary Leadership Style
-- futuristic
 Servant Leadership Style
-- devotion to serve others

http://9gag.com/gag/aVO4MEy?ref=fbp

LET’S GET DOWN TO THE DETAILS:

Profile of respondents
Information/k
nowledge
provider
Executives
73%
12%
8%
5%
1%
North America
UK
Europe
Asia
Other
Region
FT & SLA’S STUDY

17%
14%
11%
11%
8%
6%
6%
4%
3%
21%
Legal
Education/Academia
Financial services
Scientific/technical
services/engineering
Government/politics
Charity/non-profit organization
Consulting
Consumer healthcare
IT/telecommunications
Other corporate
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Percentage of responses by sector
Percentage

SCENARIO: A GUIDING PRINCIPLE FOR MLT
Modern
Environment
Attributes of
Modern IPs
Tasks for
Modern IPs

MODERN ENVIRONMENT
 Changing landscapes
 A perception gap
 Austerity
-- a new era of smarter technology,
big data and a knowledge
economy
-- where many knowledge providers
currently overestimate the level of
value they provide in this new
world
-- some information functions risk
being downsized or even
dismantled due to an environment
of declining budgets, IT
investment and headcount

From inward-looking
Technical experts ….
… to client-centric
decision enabler
OLD model for information
management
 Technical experts
 Inward looking & reactive
 Provide information to
others
 Work in silo
 Unclear metrics
 In information providers’
comfort zone
NEW model for information
management
 Multi-skilled
 Outward looking & proactive
 Distilling and validating
 Coach others to self serve
better
 Integrated within the
organization
 Clear metrics linked to
strategy
 Out of information providers’
comfort zone

5 ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES FOR MODERN IPS
1. Communicate your value
2. Understand the drivers
3. Manage the process
4. Keep up on technological skills
5. Provide decision-ready information

1. Communicate your value
 Provide a dialogue, not a transaction
-- understanding the mindset of the user
 Walking the floors
-- become more integrated into the business by
networking, staying on the pulse of the business
and seeking out new opportunities to make a
contribution
 To communicate value is to demonstrate value
-- use of statistics
-- get close to the business and forge strong
relationships with users

Methods to communicate your value:
“Network! Don’t just sit in a library waiting for requests to come
to you. You should actively seek out opportunities to make a
contribution to projects and initiatives, and constantly be
listening for leads”
 Network – walk the corridor, attend other team meetings
and socials and join professional associations & civic
organizations that may add value to your library & staff
 Map out all the teams in your organization and identify
those you can help including those you can’t.
 Show how your skills add value – support with
testimonials and demonstration of ROI.
 Be proactive with ideas

2. Understand the drivers
 Understand the business
-- understanding what the business is all
about and also understanding the psyche
of the clients and that of the professionals
 Become embedded
-- do not think “in transactions” rather more
of the opportunities for adding value on the
life cycle
-- professional services engagement

Tips to understand the drivers:
“We pride ourselves in knowing our clients. What are their
information needs, what are their favorite resources, what
information do they need to pass to their clients, how do
they like their information delivered? We pride ourselves in
taking all these factors into consideration in design and
content delivery.”
 Understand your organization’s overall strategy and how
your department can contribute
 Clarify the objectives and why information is required on
each assignment.
 Capture user preferences – resources and how
information is delivered.

3. Manage the process
 Access points and self-service
-- in environments with high volumes of information
requests, knowledge providers should move towards a
self-service model
-- create an access point, a technology platform, or
some sort of enabler for people to get on and do it
themselves
 Collation of existing data
-- organizing data in ways that make it usable
-- harnessing available data to become useful when
needed
 Beware of the black hole
-- need to improve the way in which the effectiveness
of services is being measured

Tips for managing the process:
“Project management skills are so important given the
workloads people cope with these days.”
 Participate in project management training
 Create project checklists
 Prepare high quality templates
 Clarify and manage expectation – timeframe,
quality, volume, etc.
 Use technology to speed process – tablets, mobile
devices
 Encourage self service

4. Keep up on technological skills
 Technical skills are still important
-- day to day core skills have not changed, it’s
only the tools that are different
 Translate technical knowledge into value
-- being at the cutting edge has helped the
library and staff enhance their reputation,
hence, prove their value to the business

Tips to apply your technical skills:
“Keeping up with changes in technology is incredibly important
and because this field changes so rapidly, maintaining a
current skill set in this area can be challenging. However
those who can do this are able to provide a valuable skill set
to their company.”
 Maintain the high quality and robustness of information
 Ensure that information is delivered in a timely manner
 Keep up with latest sources. Don’t let your clients get
ahead of you
 Integrate technology with the information you provide –
update internal databases, greater use of mobile
technology, and so on.

5. Provide decision-ready information
 Look to influence decisions
-- IPs should recognize that they can influence
the decision
 Do not be afraid to apply your own view
-- IPs need to offer more to demonstrate their
value by presenting information that provides
an additional layers of explanation or
implications and providing context-specific
information
 Executives like bit-size chunks and visuals
-- save executives time
-- use charts, infographics and tables rather
than pages of text

Tips to provide decision-ready information:
“Demonstrate effective filtering, organization and
communication of information. People don’t have time to
read, think and write much, so they will appreciate someone
who has a good feeling for what they want and need and
can give to them effectively.”
 Iterate the process of providing information – check and
confirm early on, evolve, etc.
 Link information to overall objectives.
 Structure the information logically, e.g. pyramid principle
or MECE (useful in information and decision mapping
processes)
 Brevity as opposed to data dumps
 Use visuals, infographics and word clouds

 Pyramid Principle
– refers to putting the main recommended/answer on
top, or first. This is then supported by sub-level
recommendations which in turn are supported by more
granular facts or data
 MECE Principle
– stands for mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive
– it is an organizing principle that guides the sorting of
a set of information into subsets. The subsets should be
mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.

12 TASKS FOR MODERN IPS
1. Understand the business
2. Show how you add value in the way you
combine, analyze and deliver information
3. Actively communicate
4. Link your work to savings and profits at every
opportunity
5. Link your work to risk mitigation at every
opportunity
6. Proactively create solutions for the business

7. Build relationships with key stakeholders and
new stakeholders
8. Be a technical mastermind
9. Go to the top
10. Walk the floors
11. Pursue initiatives that reduce the burden of
stretched resources
12. Change your mindset

1. Understand the business
-- develop a deep understanding of why a certain
individual wants information, be aware of how it is
used, and try to anticipate business needs
2. Show how you add value in the way you combine,
analyze and deliver information
-- deliver decision-ready information, be the solution
to information overload, and don’t be afraid to provide
your own view
3. Actively communicate with your colleagues across
the organization
-- never hide away in silo, and provide a dialogue, not
a transaction

4. Link your work to savings and profits at every
opportunity
-- make the value of information more quantifiable
and clearly linked to the activity of the business
5. Link your work to risk mitigation at every
opportunity
-- highlight the risk of relying on Google and free
information sources
6. Proactively create solutions for the business
-- never let yourself sit passively and respond to
requests

7. Build relationships with key stakeholders and new
stakeholders
-- integrate yourself as deeply as possible into the
business
8. Be a technical mastermind
-- learn new useful skills every week, explore new
technology and show off your capabilities
9. Go to the top
-- ensure senior leaders see your value-adding
efforts and become your advocates, instructing
their teams to use your services (not Google)

10. Walk the floors
-- network, stay on the pulse of the business and seek
out new opportunities to make a contribution
11. Pursue initiatives that reduce the burden of stretched
resources
-- build self-service access points, make better use of
existing libraries and follow up the usage of your
deliverables with an eye to reducing what you provided
(saving time on both sides)
12. Change your mindset
-- look to users as more than your colleagues: they are
your client or customer, treat them as such by going the
extra mile to help, ensure they “buy” from you again.

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic management is the continuous
planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of
all that is necessary for an organization to meet its
goals and objectives.
Strategic management typically involves:
• Analyzing internal and external strengths and
weaknesses
• Formulating action plans
• Executing action plans
• Evaluating to what degree action plans have been
successful and making changes when desired
results are not being produced.
-- Margaret Rouse

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning is a review and planning
process that is undertaken to make thoughtful
decisions about an organization’s future in order to
ensure its success.
• Clear definition of organization's mission and an
assessment of its current state and competitive
landscape
• Well-thought out plan for how to properly allocate
time, human capital and financial resources
• Organizations can improve business outcomes and
avoid taking on unanticipated risks due to lack of
foresight
-- Margaret Rouse

TOOLS FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING
1. Rating tool
2. Metrics
3. SWOT Analysis
4. Scorecard
5. Discussion Groups
6. Scenario/Futures Thinking
7. LIM
-- Holt Zaugg

1. Rating tool
-- to assist IPs in deciding which future projects
should be included in the strategic plan
-- projects maybe rated in terms of a variety of
markers connected to priorities, library goals,
required resources, time needed, degree of
difficulty and level of control
2. Metrics
-- develop a standard of measurement to
measure the progress of the project or goal in
order to determine its success or failure

3. SWOT Analysis
-- identify the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats to the strategic plan
-- contingencies should be prepared should the
need arise
4. Scorecard
-- determine areas or services in the library of
which the focus of the scorecard in order to
enable library planners to examine current
strengths and to develop plans to strengthen
weaker areas

5. Discussion Groups
-- could be discussions among library personnel
and stakeholders, library partnership with the
patrons, or discussion with critic group
-- to determine what changes need to be made,
to exchange ideas, to share innovations, or
simply to get suggestions from the participants

6. Scenario/Futures Thinking
-- create scenarios based on the environment
in which the library must operate and rate
them on scales like the likelihood that the
scenario will happen and the degree of impact
the scenario would have on the library

7. LIM – library impact map
-- a mechanism that enables strategic planners
to see the relationships between the services
the library personnel provides and the areas of
focus of the institution that the library serves
-- it provides a view of the interplay between
library services and institutional foci by
indicating where ‘impactful’ relationships occur

CONCLUSION
“Market the value of your services more and try to
change the image of the library from old fashioned to
cutting edge.”
Leadership techniques should be directed towards
justifying the value of the library and making it and its
IPs proactively involved in the most effective way
possible.
-- Financial Times & SLA

REFERENCES
 Primary Source
Financial Times and Special Libraries Association. “The evolving
value of information management.” (2013)
 Secondary Sources
 Be a leader. http://9gag.com/gag/aVO4MEy?ref=fbp
 Halls, Stuart. “Forging a new identity for your library,” Information
Outlook, Vol. 19 No. 1 (Jan-Feb 2015)
 Ottoman, Tina. “Traditional and modern leadership style,” Prezi.com
May 2, 2014. https://prezi.com/st3tojsnv1iz/traditional-and-modern-
leadership-style/
 Rouse, Margaret. “Strategic management definition,” TechTarget.com.
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/strategic-management
 Zaugg, Holt. “Using a library impact map to assist strategic planning in
libraries,” Library Leadership & Management, Vol. 29 No. 3 (2015).

Modern Leadership Techniques

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