Part B – Reflection
Our ETL504 online discussion forum and case study wiki provided opportunities for collaboration and leadership within the digital realm. Many professional organisations now have online platforms for their workforce so lessons learnt here will be applicable to future workplaces. I perceive my leadership abilities stemming from my vision of connecting people and information but as Smith (2016) describes leadership styles rarely being exclusively practiced (p.66) I hesitate to suggest I practice transformational leadership and see my strengths mostly combining instructional and transactional leadership.
In my first forum post (3071 Melbourne), I share my passions of “education, programs, and visitor experience…. [and my hope] we can collaborate in person” as I was already seeking a collaborative in-person environment to support working on case studies and reflecting. The challenges of this semester appeared to leave little room for much intrapersonal development and I also reflected that my repeating of this unit could affect others’ experiences so I kept my case study 3 contributions general, stating solutions that “definitely involve moving the staff” (Initial thoughts) would work. The importance of considering where others are in their learning journey and how I impact them through engagement is a critical meta-cognitive understanding. Providing complete answers would ease my ego but detract from others’ learning.
For case studies 4 and 5 I contributed by making the starting contributions. I know that my analysis and processing happen quicker than some others so have developed the strategy of coming to the table with richly prepared offerings but also face my weakness with ongoing project management which aligns with the description by Belbin (2010) of a resource investigator (p. 22). The ramifications for my future workplace are that I will function best in a diverse team
A key moment was losing a member of our group who felt they could not continue balancing children, teaching, and study. I responded to their departure email to our group with compassion for their situation and shared my own vulnerability of not succeeding in ETL504 previously. I also informed the others I had started the latest case study and suggested ways they might add while stating that many minds make light work. The attributes of compassion and vulnerability are key to working with authenticity and trust in a team. I see being able to communicate clearly in these domains as a strength that will serve whichever team I work with in future.
Learning through case studies and modules has served me well pedagogically and I can see how if I worked as a teacher librarian I could reformat the model for students. The key lessons I experienced were in how quickly the world changes and how long and short term must be balanced within both strategy and operationally. I keep my optimism in front when leading, attempting to lift my team with words like “We have just one last collaboration to do … Nearly there team Be well” (Case Study 5). This is my authentic voice and how I wish to contribute to school, museum, or public library once I finish this masters.
References
Belbin, R. M. (2010). Team roles at work. Taylor & Francis Group
Smith, B. (2016). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(1), 65-78.