ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ March 1999 / 193 The continuous pro cess of learning to be a self-leader by Kathryn J. Deiss L ead ersh ip dev elo p m en t— th e oppo rtu n ity to grow , learn, practice, an d gain insights in to o n e ’s o w n capacity to lead others. Thi could b e a description acceptable to most. But h o w d o es leadership developm ent occur? Is it alw ays, for instance, a n o p p o rtu n ity given by others? An o p p o rtu n ity to a tten d for­ m al training, a n e w position, o r a challenging w o rk assig n m en t are ex am p les o f lead e rsh ip developm ent opportunities granted to m any of us th ro u g h o u t o u r careers. Most often these o p p o rtu n itie s are p ro v id ed as recognition o f excellence in our present and past performance, a n d w ith h o p e in o u r future perform ance. But this is n o t the o n ly p a th — n o r is it the m ost effective path— to developing as a leader, particularly as a lead e r for w h o m learning is a “w ay o f b e in g ,” as P eter Vaill1 n a m e s it. It is clear that w e m ust ten d to o u r ow n self-under­ standing and grow th through the process of self­ leadership. What is self-leadership? To lead others o n e has first to lead oneself. In describing leadership as a “process o f influenc­ ing others,” author Charles Manz2 indicates that self-leadership can be seen as a process of “influ­ encing ourselves.” This influencing behavior, in m y view, can be descrilted as a learning behavior an d is the very heart of leadership developm ent. W hat does self-leadership imply? H ow does o n e becom e truly self-leading? Each of us needs to lo o k w ithin to se e w h e re th e real w o rk ­ s sh o p is. T h e th ree aren as in w h ich self-lead­ e rsh ip is a tte n d e d to are: self-aw areness o f p erso n al values, intentions, a n d behavior an d o f th e im pact th e se h av e o n th o se a ro u n d us; p e rso n a l vision o f w h e re o n e w an ts to go; a n d learning skills that will allow o n e to seize opportunities to contribute a n d to influence others to contribute. Self-awareness K now ing w h o a n d w h a t w e w a n t to be is im ­ p o rtan t, b u t k n o w in g w h o w e are is crucial. Self-awareness— of values, intentions, strengths an d w eaknesses— is the basis of internal leader­ ship. A com m itm ent to self-aw areness signals a w illingness to be in a state o f u n k n o w in g — w here on e doesn’t actually have all the answers, w h e re o n e is a learn er in th e d e e p e st sen se of the w ord. Many years ago, I w as a sk e d to sp e a k to a g ro u p o f arch itectu re faculty a n d librarians a b o u t th e future o f librarians as educators. I u rg ed librarians to en c o u ra g e a state o f “u n ­ kno w in g ”— a state o f questioning rather than a state of assertion— in the students they helped. N ow I find m yself often reflecting o n this a d ­ vice as it a p p lies to leadership. W e m ust w e l­ com e a state o f u n k n o w in g in ourselves to b e ­ com e great, or even good, leaders. Self-awareness through feedback R esearch er M organ McCall3 says, “Lack o f aw aren ess, w h e th e r th ro u g h neglect o r a rro ­ gance, is a m ajor co n trib u to r to d erailm en t.” A b o u t th e au th o r Kathryn J. Deiss is program m anager fo r th e Office o f Leadership a nd M ana g e m en t Services w ith the Association o f R e s e a rc h Libraries, e-mail: kdeiss@nwu.edu LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING Personal best mailto:kdeiss@nwu.edu 19 4 / C & R L N e w s ■ M a r c h 1 9 9 9 O u r l e a d e r s h i p d e v e l o p m e n t d e p e n d s n o t o n l y o n o u r s e l f - u n d e r s t a n d i n g a n d a w a r e n e s s , b u t a l s o o n o u r w i l l i n g n e s s t o b e i n f l u e n c e d b y o t h e r s : s e e k i n g o t h e r s ’ a p p r a i s a l s o f o u r g r e a t ­ e s t f l a w s a n d a c t i n g t o c h a n g e o u r b e h a v i o r a n d a t t i t u d e s . L i s t e n i n g t o o u r c r i t i c s a s w e l l a s o u r s u p p o r t e r s is t h e f ir s t s t e p t o w a r d s e l f - a w a r e n e s s . I t is i n l i s t e n i n g c l o s e l y f o r d i s s o ­ n a n c e , b i a s e s a n d i g n o r a n c e w i t h i n o u r s e l v e s , i n a d d i t i o n t o o u r p o s i t i v e t r a i ts , t h a t w e w i ll k n o w w h e r e t o w o r k o n o u r l e a d e r s h i p . T o a c c o m p l i s h th is , w e c a n s e e k f e e d b a c k in f o r m a l a n d in f o r m a l w a y s ; m o s t o f t e n f e e d b a c k c o m e s f r o m o n e ’s i m m e d ia t e s u p e r v is o r . H o w ­ e v e r , w e o f t e n p r o f it f r o m a p p r a is a l f r o m t h o s e w e c l o s e l y w o r k w i th o n a d a ily b a s i s . S o m e o r ­ g a n i z a t io n s u s e m u lti- r a te r o r 3 6 0 d e g r e e f e e d ­ b a c k i n s tr u m e n ts th a t p r o v i d e f o r m a l a n d r i c h f e e d b a c k f r o m p e o p l e w h o o b s e r v e o u r b e h a v ­ i o r a n d w o r k . T h e s e s u r v e y s a r e a m o s t p o w e r ­ f u l m e a n s o f s e c u r i n g h o n e s t r e s p o n s e s . U s e o f t h e s e in s tr u m e n t s e n a b l e s o n e t o c o m p a r e o n e ’s s e l f - c o n c e p t w i th v i e w s o f o t h e r r e s p o n d e n t s . W h a t e v e r m e t h o d s w e c h o o s e f o r s e e k ­ i n g f e e d b a c k , a n d t h e y s h o u l d b e v a r i o u s , t h e k e y i s t o t a k e a p r o a c t i v e r a t h e r t h a n a p a s s i v e s t a n c e t o w a r d s e c u r i n g t h a t f e e d b a c k . T h e r e i s n o s u b s t i t u t e f o r m u l t i - d i m e n s i o n a l v i e w s o f o u r b e h a v i o r a n d i t s i m p a c t o n o t h ­ e r s a n d o n t h e w o r k o f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n . C r e a t in g a p e r s o n a l v is io n T h e k e y s t o n e o f s e l f - l e a d e r s h i p is t o k n o w w h a t o n e w a n t s t o b e c o m e o r a c h i e v e . J u s t a s o r g a n i ­ z a t i o n s f o u n d e r w i t h o u t a c l e a r v i s i o n , s o d o i n d iv id u a ls f o u n d e r a n d m is d i r e c t e n e r g i e s w i th ­ o u t a c l e a r a n d c o m p e l l i n g v i s i o n t o l e a d t h e m . I n V o ic e s o f O u r A n c e s t o r s : C h e r o k e e T e a c h i n g s f r o m t h e W is d o m F i r e , D h y a n i Y w a h o o d e ­ s c r i b e s t h e C h e r o k e e f o r m u l a f o r s u c c e s s : c l e a r i n t e n t i o n ( m e a n i n g k n o w i n g y o u r p u r p o s e ) ; s k i l l f u l m e a n s ; a n d a f f i r m a t i o n ( m e a n i n g p e r ­ s o n a l v i s i o n a n d w o r k m u s t n o t c l a s h w i t h i n ­ d iv i d u a l v a l u e s .4 D e v e l o p i n g a p e r s o n a l v i s i o n r e q u i r e s t a k ­ i n g t i m e t o d e e p l y r e f l e c t u p o n o n e ’s o w n d e ­ s i r e s . M a n y g u i d e s t o t h e p r o c e s s o f p e r s o n a l v i s i o n i n g c a n b e f o u n d i n l e a d e r s h i p l i t e r a t u r e ; t h e w o r k s o f S t e p h e n C o v e y , M o r g a n M c C a l l , a n d C h a r l e s M a n z a r e e x c e l l e n t s o u r c e s . L e a r n in g in c o n t e x t : T h e im p o r t a n c e o f e n v i r o n m e n t a l a w a r e n e s s C r e a t i n g s e l f - a w a r e n e s s a n d a p e r s o n a l v i s i o n o c c u r i n a c o n t e x t : a s t h e y d e v e l o p s k i l l s , s e l f ­ l e a d e r s a r e a l w a y s a w a r e o f w h a t i s r e q u i r e d b y t h e i r p r o f e s s i o n s a n d o r g a n i z a t i o n s a t a n y g i v e n m o m e n t . A d e e p c o m p r e h e n s i o n o f a n d a c t i v e p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n t h e l i f e o f o n e ’s p r o f e s s i o n c r e a t e s m o m e n t u m a n d a s e n s e o f e n g a g e m e n t a n d p u r p o s e f u l i n t e n t w i t h o u t w h i c h t h e w o r k o f d e v e l o p i n g a s a s e l f - l e a d e r w o u l d n o t b e m e a n i n g f u l . U n d e r s t a n d i n g t h e e v o l v i n g e n v i r o n m e n t o f o u r p r o f e s s i o n a n d d i s c o v e r i n g t h e c o m ­ p e t e n c i e s w e n e e d t o e x c e l i n r e q u i r e s t h a t w e a s k q u e s t i o n s , r e a d a s m u c h a s p o s s i b l e , a n d m o s t i m p o r t a n t l y , c o n n e c t w i t h t h o s e w i t h w h o m w e a r e n o t m o s t n a t u r a l l y a s s o ­ c i a t e d . W h i l e w e a r e a c c u s t o m e d t o l e a r n i n g f r o m t h o s e w i th in o u r im m e d ia t e r a n g e , w e n e e d t o a l s o b e a b l e t o l e a r n f r o m d i s t a n t c o n n e c ­ t i o n s . T h e s e c a n b e p e o p l e a n d g r o u p s t h a t a r e s e e m i n g l y d i s t a n t f r o m o n e ’s i m m e d i a t e f i e l d o f i n t e r e s t o r c i r c l e o f c o l l e a g u e s , o r t h e y c a n b e m e m b e r s o f a c o m p e t i n g i n d u s ­ t r y . T h e s e d i s t a n t c o n n e c t i o n s h a v e t h e p o w e r o f a l e r t i n g u s t o a w i d e r b o d y o f k n o w l e d g e a n d s t i m u l u s , a s w e l l a s k e e p i n g u s f r o m b e c o m i n g p a r o c h i a l i n o u r v i e w s . C o n c l u s i o n L e a d e r s h i p i s a l e a r n i n g p r o c e s s . W h i l e s o m e a r e s e e m i n g l y b o r n w i t h s t r o n g l e a d e r s h i p i n s t i n c t s , t h e r e a r e a s p e c t s o f l e a d e r s h i p t h a t n e e d t o b e l e a r n e d a s w e g o . C o n t i n u o u s l y l e a r n i n g a b o u t o u r o w n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a n d b e h a v i o r s a n d t h e n i n f l u e n c i n g t h o s e f o r p o s i t i v e d e v e l o p m e n t i s t h e k e y t o b e i n g a s e l f - l e a d e r . T h e w i l l t o d e v e l o p o u r l e a d e r ­ s h i p f r o m w i t h i n , t h r o u g h a p r o c e s s o f s e l f - d i s c o v e r y a n d l e a r n i n g , c r e a t e s t h e m o s t p o w e r f u l a n d l a s t i n g c h a n g e s . N o t e s 1 . V a i l l , P e t e r . L e a r n i n g A s A W a y o f B e ­ i n g : S t r a t e g i e s f o r S u r v i v a l i n a W o r l d o f P e r ­ m a n e n t W h i t e W a t e r . S a n F r a n c i s c o : J o s s e y - B a s s , 1 9 9 6 . 2 . M a n z , C h a r l e s C . M a s t e r i n g S e l f - L e a d ­ e r s h i p : E m p o w e r i n g Y o u r s e l f f o r P e r s o n a l E x ­ c e l l e n c e . E n g l e w o o d C l i f f s , N J : P r e n t i c e H a l l , 1 9 9 2 . 3 . M c C a l l , M o r g a n W . J r . H i g h F l y e r s : D e ­ v e l o p i n g t h e N e x t G e n e r a t i o n o f L e a d e r s . B o s ­ t o n : H a r v a r d B u s i n e s s S c h o o l P r e s s , 1 9 9 8 . 4 . Y w a h o o , D h y a n i . V o i c e s o f O u r A n c e s ­ t o r s : C h e r o k e e T e a c h i n g s f r o m t h e W i s d o m F i r e . B o s t o n : S h a m b h a l a , 1 9 8 7 . ■ C & R L N e w s ■ M a r c h 1 9 9 9 / 1 9 5