This time last year I recorded my thoughts about Leadership before I attended the five day Aurora Leadership Institute , designed to “assist future leaders in the library and associated cultural and information industry to maximise their leadership skills and potential”. Leadership Thoughts. (Looking back, I see I also speculated about it in November 2006 when my application was accepted ). It’s been one year, so time to reflect on the experience.
The next post is about what I got out of Aurora personally. This post is more external - what I think about Leadership now and how I fit into it.
Since Aurora, I’ve had a pretty amazing year professionally - trips interstate, speaking gigs, creative and interesting projects, a new position and many opportunities to have interesting discussions with established and up-and-coming library leaders.
I’ve watched as my Aurora classmates from last year have moved to more appropriate jobs, done very creative things in their existing jobs, published, acted in secondments with huge responsibility and arranged events and seminars for the profession.
Would it have happened without Aurora ?
Maybe we would have done all this stuff anyway, but I’m 100% certain that we would have done it differently.
I would have been less mindful. Less able to see what was effective. Less able to understand and consider the strategic impact. Less able to accept that what I was doing was leadership.
Aurora has taught me that one can truly lead from any position. I now place a higher value on mentorship than I did - and understand how I can be a mentor. Before Aurora I thought I was too lowly, too new in the game to think of mentoring anyone else. Now I realise that it’s not about being extremely wise and venerable and passing information on in some kind of master/novice relationship.
Mentoring can be about encouraging others, providing opportunities for them to shine, acknowledging fantastic efforts, spotting the dreams they might have and reinforcing that they are on the right path, or suggesting new ones… and even being brave enough to step out of my comfort zone and have a word when I think that someone may be damaging their career.
At Aurora we spent time with mentors who are leaders in our field. I now understand that they have no superpowers and are very human and very individual. This has made what they do seem more within the reach of us regular folk. It also makes what they do seem all the more remarkable - without magic fairy dust they are able to keep large organisations functioning or contribute substantially to our professional organisation - super effectively using the same 24 hours that we are all allocated for each day.
Instead of magic fairy dust, they all seemed to have a strong and certain commitment to what they do. They all seemed to masterfully work out what was the most important thing for them to do at any one time, and then focus on doing that. They were all comfortable in the role of leader. They all obviously actively engaged with the world outside their institutions, and bought that knowledge back to strengthen their home institution.
After Aurora I understand how crucial it is to keep an eye on the future and on trends. I won’t know whether what I am doing now is the most effective use of my time if I don’t have a context or vision about how relevant it is to the future. What I am doing today is shaping that future, so I really need to know where I am going.
Back a year ago, I wondered whether
Aurora will persuade me that their are rewards for moving up the food chain and losing that contact with the ground?
In some ways it has. I understand much more about how teams work and how strengths can complement each other. I am reassured that I don’t have to be good at every aspect of my job (Yes, before Aurora I did think that I had to be). I understand now that it can be about selecting the right people around me and actively looking for people with strengths that complement mine. I understand now that it’s up to me how out of touch I become with the ground, whether or not I move up the food chain.
After all that, I still feel like I am only “half baked” from the Aurora experience, and like there is much more growth to come as a result of those five days last year.
Here here Kathryn,
I have been reflecting on that time a year ago as well. You have put it into some very reflective and explanatory words, of it’s impact on you ! Well done. I hope to hear from Aurora 2008 and see what they have brought back from it.
Happy Aurora 2007 Reflections
Jill
Hi Kathryn,
I was interested to read this as my friend Emma is at Aurora at the moment. I hope she finds it as beneficial.
As a joke we have coined it “survivor librarian”. Well, gives it a more funky name despite the link to rather dubious TV shows.
Natasha
Thanks Jill,
You’re one of those people I watch and think “wow! I like that, wonder if she would have done that before Aurora?”.
I know it wouldn’t really work if we all knew each other beforehand, but II think it would be really interesting to be a fly on the wall to watch someone before and after Aurora to see what changes there are.
Hi Natasha,
Hehe. I used to think of it as “Librarian Big Brother”. It is intense, you don’t know what to expect and you are in a group with others going through the same experience.
I used to think “gee, if some editor got hold of this bit, and this bit and this bit of what happened today then I can see how I’d be portrayed as the teary one or the overly-precious one or the downright stupid one “.
I hope Emma has a ball. I came back pretty overwhelmed and it took me maybe 7 months before I really had enough space and distance to process what had happened. Give her lots of space and support when she returns.
Thanks Kathryn,
I’m about to make an announcement that I have to wind down my activities, hence being pregnant and a small health matter, so that’s a tad sad, but it’s reality, no more conference presentations from me for a while…
I trust when I’m back into it, i will find my mojo,which will / may involve more publishing, but we’ll see.
Jill
Hi Kathryn (and all),
Well, I’ve just returned from Aurora. Hmmm…what a lot to process. It’s very difficult to put into words what I feel I have taken away from the experience and obviously have to take my time processing all that happened. I feel energised and exhausted, sad and happy, frustrated and calm, impatient and serene. I recognise rationally what a fantastic experience it was, but emotionally have yet to define its true value. One thing I am certain of: I will never be too scared to challenge my personal boundaries again. ‘Risk taker’ has become my middle name!
And Natasha, I met Emma, gorgeous funny gal!
Regards all,
Leslie
Kathryn, thanks for your posts about Aurora.
I too have been thinking a lot about the experience and the lessons learnt there one year on. It was such an intense and significant process that actually not a week goes by when it doesn’t cross my mind in some way!
And it has been really inspiring to watch fellow 2007 Aurorans stretch and grow into leadership roles in the last year, and challenge their own personal limits in the process. I was in the position of knowing quite a few people before I went, and I do think Aurora made an impact - maybe it didn’t necessarily change what we have all done in the last year, but definitely has affected the way we have done it.
It is different for everyone, but I think Aurora is a moment in time that you just keep on learning from! Thanks all for your reflections…
Kate
Hi Jill and Leslie and Kate.
Jill - think of it as more time for reflection ??? Well, actually no …you’ll be flat out …. I spent about 10 years out of the game due to family caring commitments..and even though it seemed like forever, it really is easy to pick up again once you are ready…
Leslie - oh my… be gentle and careful with yourself for the next couple of weeks. I think I must have already been a risk taker, because I was speaking to an Aurora person and a Snowbird person, and they also said that this was what they got out of it most…but I don’t think that was the biggest lesson of the whole experience for me. (or maybe I was trying to process something else when we did that bit … don’t think so …). I see that the 2008 participants aren’t up on the list yet … http://www.alia.org.au/aurora/particip.html
Kate - That would be really interesting to already know people before you go …I think it would make the experience a bit different. You’d have a better measure of how they usually reacted and how they were reacting at the time, and I think it may be easier to learn - you could see when they tried something new and whether it was effective.
I think I’d find it hard to be there at the same time as my boss, as happened for three people last year.