Managing and leading part of the school library (or any part of the school environment for that matter) is vastly different; which can be a good thing and also a bad thing. The idea that a Teacher Librarian (TL) has the ability to lead from the middle is an interesting recurring concept from the last couple of weeks. This ability continues to build my own thinking of someone who is constantly observing the different areas of a school library, or whole school community, in order to understand the learning areas that may need further attention. However managing and leading are two vastly different terms; management focuses on maintaining a specific environment (like a school library) in comparison to a leader who has a vision or the ability to inspire others to develop multiple levels of problem solving.
Gottlieb (2012) states that “when you lead from the middle you are leading by example” which can be an incredibly powerful influence for those individuals that work with you in any environment. Once you set a certain standard, the colleagues you work with will be pushed to do the best that they can in order to build trust with one another before being able to work together. Building some form of relationship with all colleagues is vital in encouraging this leadership as well as slowly implementing new changes that others may be able to comment on once a strong working environment has been established. If the working environment is not treated well, the innovation for change by the TL will not be well received which can impact how people work together. This means that communication and appreciation for one another should be further developed to maintain a continual rapport with one another that enhances this teaching environment. Therefore having the TL lead from the middle can create this sense of team building and example setting that encourages others to do the same when working in the school library environment.
Reference:
Gottlieb, H. (2012). Leading from the middle: Bringing out the best in everyone [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://creatingthefuture.org/leading-from-the-middle-bringing-out-the-best-in-everyone/
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