Dawn Scheidel Bish

LIS 650

Final Assignment Leadership and Management Treatise

Dawn Bish LIS 650 December 2010

Leadership Mission and Values

Leadership Mission Statement: My leadership mission statement encompasses what is most important to me and how I would like to impact others. This mission statement is as follows: I will ensure that others that I work with and for understand and develop the importance of being critical thinkers and to listen and take all points of view into account when making decisions and taking action. The rationale for this can be seen in this quote from John Stewart Mill: John Stewart Mill held that For even this doctrine acknowledges that mankind ought to have a rational assurance that all objections have been satisfactorily answered; and how are they to be answered if that which requires to be answered is not spoken? or how can the answer be known to be satisfactory, if the objectors have no opportunity of showing that it is unsatisfactory? (Mill, 1859).

I believe that it is important for all to see all sides of the issue in order to make a critical decision and I feel that I will be in a good position to instill this value in others as an employee, a manager and a leader. Without all the facts, one cannot make an informed decision or make a proper and well thought out action plan. The major tenets that I intend to lead by are fairly basic but not necessarily easy to implement. What I believe to be critical for a good leader to have is the ability to communicate needs and wants, the ability to listen to others and all points of view, to portray a calm, positive demeanor (even in the face of stress and chaos), to provide an environment that enables others to feel that their opinion is important to the fundamental doctrines of the company and to provide an environment that employees and others can utilize their talents for success in professional as well as personal life. I believe that all these above tenets will allow others to answer positively to several of the 12 questions in First Break All the Rules. More specifically questions 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 12. Those rules are outlined by Buckingham and Coffman on page 28: Do I know what is expected of me at work? At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day? Does my supervisor or somewhat at work seem to care about me as a person? Is there someone at work that encourages my development?
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Dawn Scheidel Bish

LIS 650

This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow? (Buckingham, 1999) I believe that by communicating effectively both expressively and receptively, you enable those you work with the ability to understand what is expected of them and that you portray that you care about the person. It is also important to encourage others to do what they do best in order for each person to enjoy what they are doing and then in turn do their best.

Generate a professional cover letter and resume Please see attached cover letter and resume

Select Two of Your Top Five Questions My five questions that I came up with at the beginning of the semester are as follows: 1. Conflict resolution 2. Does a person's personality lend itself to be better at a certain management style? 3. And if so, what is the best way for me to enjoy the management side of things? 4. How do you separate out the emotions when dealing with issues in the work place? For example, how do you fire someone that is 9 months pregnant, or someone who is out on sick leave? Yes, I have had managers that have done both and I don't know how they do it. 5. How do you become an effective manager and balance your needs with the needs of others? How do you prevent burnout. The first question I will address is conflict resolution. I think that most of us in class included something about conflict resolution in their top five questions. I believe this is because most of us do not like confrontation and conflict and want to stay away from those types of situations at all costs. However, after taking this class I have learned that it is important to have conflict in situations to form groups and to make decisions. Primal Leadership gives the example of a management team of a top manufacturing company who had trouble making any decisions because they shied away from conflict. This situation caused the team to avoid arguments by avoiding conflict (Goleman, 2002). This team was disbanded due to their inability to face and deal with confrontation and conflict. An effective team must complete the steps outlined in FBAR, of forming, storming, norming and performing in order to be effective. I had the opportunity to interview a local librarian and to ask this librarian about how she deals with conflict. Miss Librarian (name changed to protect the innocent), provided an answer that I have always strived to do but always forget how important it is. Lauren Librarian said: but when faced with conflict, one needed to pick your battle and decide what she was willing to stand up for (Bish, 2010). I like the idea that one should always
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LIS 650

choose what to fight for. If there is conflict over something that does not impact your mission or your ideals, then let it go. If it is important to you, then stick up for yourself and fight for what you want. The second question I will address is How do you separate out the emotions when dealing with issues in the work place? The reason for this question was twofold. The first being having the ability to reprimand or fire an employee and the second deals with being professional and not allowing emotions to get in the way when being a leader. The answer to the first part can be found in First Break All the Rules. This book addresses the issue of what they term tough love. It is important to determine at the beginning what level of performance in unacceptable and how long should this behavior should go on before you do something about it (Buckingham, 1999). Once you have a level of expectation, you can effectively communicate what is expected of the person. This makes it easier to identify to yourself (and the employee), what the problem is and what the solution should be and when it is time to say goodbye. The second part of the question is probably the hardest for me, personally. It is important to keep in mind not only how you are feeling but what your body language is saying about your emotions. If someone on your team is angry, if this is not acknowledged and addressed then the other team members will become angry (Goleman, 2002). This is something that I need to work on as most people can tell just by looking how I am feeling.

Ideal vision 15 years from now Where do I see myself fifteen years from now? Well, seeing that I will be 65 years old in fifteen years, I would love to be retired, sitting on a beach and drinking margaritas. So I guess I need to outline what I need to do in order to be able to retire in fifteen years. Currently I am a graduate student at UNCG. I am also a reference intern and a graduate assistant in the office of Library and Information Studies. I have been given a great opportunity to explore all areas of the library world and do what I enjoy doing. This is very important to me as I have spent the last several years hating what I was doing and it made me and everyone around me miserable. I am also developing a network of professionals that know and support my work. I intend to complete my studies in December of 2011 and then pursue a career in either an academic or public library. Upon graduating from graduate school, I see myself getting a reference librarian position in a local college or university. In the capacity of a reference librarian, I will be able to assist teachers and students in becoming critical thinkers. Working at a college or university will also allow me to develop my research and writing skills and to publish articles in the field of information literacy and critical thinking. I would also like to combine my love for books with my knowledge of people with
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Dawn Scheidel Bish

LIS 650

disabilities, especially people with autism. This is close to my heart as I have work with people with autism for the last 25 years. I believe that I am in a unique position in being able to use this knowledge to provide services to those with autism so that they may feel a more part of the community. Also, I predict that the college and university environment will see an influx of people with autism pursuing academic careers due to the increase in the number of children being diagnosed. It is my understanding that whether I like it or not, having a masters degree in Library Studies will place me in a position of authority and leadership. That doesnt necessarily mean that I would choose to become the director of a library but that I will indeed be a leader and role model for others. That being said, I have been a manager and director in several positions in the non-profit world. This experience will transfer nicely to the academic and library world. I will use this experience and knowledge to further my career and to lead others. My ideal job would be working in an academic library with a diverse student population that will include students that are differently able. This way I will be allowed to use my knowledge of the disabled population and my knowledge of collection management and reference to make it easier for those with disabilities to succeed.

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Dawn Scheidel Bish

LIS 650

Bibliography
Bish, D. (2010). Library Administrator Interview. Blanchard, K. A.. (1993). Raving Fans. New York: William MOrrow and Company, Inc. Buckingham, M. A.. (1999). First break all the rules. New York: Simon and Schuster. Goleman, D. B. (2002). Primal Leadership: Learning to lead with emotional inteligence. Boston: Harvard School Press. Mill, J. S. (1859). On Liberty. Woodward, J. (2005). Creating the customer driven library. Chicago: American Library Association.

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