How does Colvin’s Managing in the info era relate to school libraries today?
Standout points:
- to paraphrase – “you get good work out of someone by saying he’s as stupid as an ox”. This implies that those working “under” a leader are somehow inferior to you, intellectually or otherwise. Clearly not true! This may have sat well in the 19th and early 20th century views of running a business, when workers were mostly in factories or working farms, and were considered cogs in a machine. We now know better – all workers are humans, not animals, and can contribute much more than just “dumb” work that is often beneath them.
- “But we make a foolish and ancient error if we forget that quirky humans, who haven’t evolved significantly in 20,000 years–and who still very much need interaction, recognition, and relationships” – I liked the part about “aligned values” being the reason people get out of bed in the morning. Agree wholeheartedly – people need to feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves. This could be why previous generations stayed in the same job for 50 years, and today’s young people can work as many as 50 jobs/positions in their lifetime as they seek somewhere where they feel valued and appreciated, where they believe in what they are working for.
- “management is a human art and getting more so as infotech takes over the inhuman donkey work–the ox work–of the world”: the “human art” aspect is lovely – if leaders can get their understanding of “human art” at the forefront of leading team, they are more likely to see results.
How does this all fit into leadership in school libraries? Simply put, the teacher librarian as leader must understand his/her team – that they are human beings, not worker bees, who have feelings, depth, intelligence, personal lives and issues that may affect their work at times, strengths, weaknesses etc. The TL as leader must make it very clear the underlying values of the school library (and the school itself) and work towards a team of people with belief in these values and that what they do matters.
Source: Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the info era. Fortune, 141(5). http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275231/index.htm?iid=sr-link1.
