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Combatting Decision – and Leadership – Fatigue

Most people aren’t aware of how many decisions they make over the course of the day. Starting with what to wear, what to have for breakfast and continuing from there, is it any wonder that by the end of the week (if not sooner) we’re unable to make a clear choice? This is known as Decision Fatigue – the mental exhaustion that results from the toll all our decisions take on our thoughts and resulting in the difficulty, or even inability, to make more decisions.

The most notable cure for Decision Fatigue is the Eisenhower Decision Matrix (also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix) which recommends identifying which of the decisions you need to make are urgent and which are important. Some are both, some neither, and some one or the other. The big takeaway that is not always mentioned is that once you make a firm decision, you are able to relax because all the other possibilities are not churning through your brain.

Personally, I was recently in such a state. I had a significant interruption in my personal life, and I was about to work on a fall class for which I was scheduled where there were some tech issues that were concerning me. My program leader, hearing of my personal issue, offered to replace me. My first thought was to reject the offer because this is work I love. But on examining urgent and important, it became clear that I needed to accept it. I did, and it’s amazing how much calmer I am as a result.

Decision fatigue is endemic in leadership, and you are a leader so you need tools that can help you when this happens. In addition to the Eisenhower Matrix, Art Petty offers seven other ideas for managing this in his blog post Leadership Fatigue Is a Thing –Make Time to Recharge offers seven other ideas for getting past it.

  1. Center on your purpose as a leader – He asks how do you want to be remembered? What impact do you want to make? And what help do others need from you? My recommendation is focus on your Mission statement. It will help you decide what’s urgent and /or important.
  2. Adjust your attitude through Beginner’s Mind thinking – When you are a beginner, all is possible – but that can’t last. Petty recommends “suspending judgment and seeking first to understand.” He finds this leads to a deeper level of calm and the opportunity for new discoveries.
  3. Treat the workplace as a living laboratory and start experimenting – As with the above, this brings freshness into your day. It will spark the enthusiasm that disappeared when your decision fatigue took over. Try a new approach. Look for a new way of doing something. And consider asking, who else can handle this task (which is part of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix)?
  4. Commit to creating value at every encounter – How you can impact, improve in some way, what the other person is experiencing? A quick suggestion to a teacher or well-chosen words of encouragement to a student can bring a positive response from them which, in turn, gives you a lift. It restores that enthusiasm. Petty (and I) recommend you keep track of these encounters.
  5. Get physical to rejuvenate the mind and body – It’s amazing how physical activity supports our success. For me, walking outside restores my whole being. I take time to breathe deeply which helps me have a positive mindset. Add meditation if that speaks to you All this helps in erasing the drain of decision fatigue.
  6. Reinvent your career without resigning – Look at interesting possibilities that capture your attention and passion within our world. If you belong to AASL or another national library organization, you might consider doing occasional blog posts for them. This practice can help you identify the important things in your life, promote your leadership skills, increase the presence of your library and give you a sense of satisfaction. Maybe you could join a school committee or drop one that’s draining, boring, and/or accomplishing nothing.
  7. Do something completely different – What fills you up outside of your work. I have many friends who are quilters in addition to being library leaders. Do you like to draw? Have you considered writing a book? What possibility engages your mind and passion? Once you add it you will have something else bringing enthusiasm into your life.

Recognize when decision fatigue is making your work – and therefore personal – life draining, exhausting, and lacking the feeling that first made you love what you do. Decision Fatigue will happen. When you know how it affects you, you can learn how to deal with it so you can continue make a difference in the lives others – and decide what to make for dinner.

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Librarians Lead and Manage

I’ll never stop saying this – You must be a leader. It’s the first of your five roles as a librarian according to the AASL National Standards for School Librarians.But you also have four other roles: Instructional Partner, Information Specialist, Teacher, and Program Administrator. How do those fit into your work? When you think about these other roles, are you a manager or a leader?

For many of us, it depends on the situation. To get clear, look at your Mission and Vision statements. Your Mission is your Perspiration (the work you do). Your Vision is your Aspiration (what you’re working toward). Each of these roles supports both.

As an Instructional Partner, you may have initiated the connection as part of attaining your Vision. While you are engaged in the partnership, you are mostly managing it, although there may be times you are leading such as when you guide the teacher in developing what you will be doing together.

In your role as Information Specialist, you lead the way when introducing new resources into the curriculum. You help teachers master them, either by giving them one-on-one help, sending an email about it, or doing a grade/subject level meeting professional development workshop.

When Teaching, you’ll probably find yourself managing the class. However, you also will have an Essential Question which will lead students to think outside the box. As a leader, you are also thinking of ways to publicize student learning to show the value of the library program to people in and outside the school

Administering the library program requires developing a budget and planning for the future. This part of the task requires leadership and looking into the future for what your program needs. In maintaining the budget and curating sources you will use, you are managing.

When you’re having trouble seeing yourself as a leader, reflect on what you do to make the library indispensable to the educational community. Your leadership is there. You exhibit many of the endless lists of leadership qualities described in numerous business articles.

If you’re having trouble seeing some of your skills, Bart Finelli’s came up with Five Qualities That Set Leaders Apart from Managers. These three are in a librarians’ toolbox:

  • Leaders are coachable themselves – Even as we bring those new resources in our role as Information Specialist, we are always on the lookout for what the next one will be. In our search, we go to conferences, attend webinars, and belong to Professional Learning Networks. We know changes come fast and in order to bring it to our schools and districts we must be role models for lifelong learning.
  • A leader’s actions match their words – Almost all lists of leadership qualities include integrity. That is taken to mean you can be counted on to do what you said. You keep confidences, and people trust you. But this statement goes beyond that. You say the library is a safe, welcoming space for all. You speak of the importance of Intellectual Freedom. But are you living those statements? These are challenging times, and you may have to make difficult choices. Are you living your code of values? It’s tough but be honest with yourself.
  • Leaders are entrepreneurs – This is your Vision at work – and also your role as Program Administrator. You want to grow your library program, but money is scarce or non-existent. What do you do? Many of you have become expert at finding grants or using DonorsChoose.org. You find local businesses who contribute their knowledge/talent or sometimes materials for your Makerspaces. You not only think outside the box, you no longer have a box.

It’s summer vacation, and I know you are using the time to learn and grow even as you take the needed to time to rejuvenate. As you relax, reflect on your accomplishments, notice your moments of leading and managing and what that’s brought your students and your school. What you do is important, and despite the many challenges you keep going. You are a Manager. You are a Leader. You are a Rock Star.

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Leaders Are Always Learning

I spent last weekend at the ALA Conference in Chicago. While the weather made the trip home interminable, the conference was well worth it. Spending days learning and being in the presence of leaders is always rejuvenating and inspiring, and it reminded me that opportunities to learn are everywhere.

When it comes to professional development, much is discussed about the benefits of mentors, but don’t estimate the power of role models. At a conference you can hear leaders you admire speak at various presentations. What may be surprising to many conference newbies is that you can approach and talk to them, and, if they have time, they will take the time to respond to questions. And as you watch them, you can take note of how they present themselves. Their body language and how they speak gives you a window into how leaders are. Remember, they weren’t always leaders. They followed a path, and if you are willing to leave your comfort zone, you can do so as well.

You may not be able to attend a national conference (and for my foreign readers these may not even be available for librarians), but you can seek out your local or state/territory leaders as role models – and perhaps have them become mentors. What is important is that you start thinking about what you want the course of your career to be, find the people who are already there, then look for ways to learn from them.

And it doesn’t only have to be library leaders – you can learn from anyone who is in a leadership role, regardless of the field and whether or not you believe they are a good leader.  CEO Nadine Young offers these lessons for future leaders:

  1. Leadership has nothing to do with your job title – Leadership is about behaviors not about titles. We have all had administrators who weren’t leaders. Sometimes it was their secretary who was the true leader – and they obviously didn’t have a title. When you propose a new program or seek to make changes in how the school library looks or functions, you are being a leader. When you pitch in to help with an administration initiative or a teacher project, you are being a leader. Leaders are visible.
  • Harness Your Inner Teen – This is very original and worth considering. It doesn’t mean the rebellious teen who argues with everything, but rather the passionate adolescent. Like Young, I can remember saying, “when I am older, I will ….” Mostly, it was never to forget what it was like being a teen. It was also about keeping my word, as some adults didn’t – especially something they promised to a teen. As Young suggests, recall what behaviors of others crushed you. What and who inspired you? What was it that had you say, “I can’t wait until I am old enough to …?”
  • To Lead, You Need to Follow – Leaders who think they can do it all themselves are destined to fail. Listen to your colleagues. Listen to what students are saying and be conscious of their feelings. I am a strong believer of the adage, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”  You also are following by leading from the middle. When you are doing that, you should be observing the formal leader as a role model. Even one who does not lead well can be a role model for what you never want to do.

Make the most of however much downtime you get over the summer. Use these days and weeks to be with family and friends. Be kind to yourself – and the family who supported you through it. And as you look to the future, look for the current leaders who will guide you. If you are fortunate, one whom you admire might be willing to be more than a role model and become a mentor.

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Moving from Fear to Success

Leaders have to effect change and work towards making their Vision a reality. To do this, they must take risks. Risk and growth are the only ways to achieve success, but they carry with them the chance for failure. And knowing this creates fear.

Fear manifests in many ways including that inner voice that says you aren’t good enough. Or it says even though you were successful before, it was a fluke. Fear is what underlies the well-discussed Imposter Syndrome. At its worst, it has you believing every success is a precursor to failure the next time you try something, keeping you from enjoying what should be a triumph. In its lesser forms, it has a paralyzing influence on your willingness to attempt a new project.

How do you deal with the fear of failure?

In her Smart Brief article, Laura Gassner Otting writes about the impact of Imposter Syndrome and proposes you Leverage Your Fear of Failure for Success. Use one to reach the other. She offers these three approaches for doing it:

  1. Let’s not fake it ’til we make it – Otting rejects the “fake it till you make it approach.” She maintains that when we are faking it, we don’t use our own thinking but restate the consensus, and that doesn’t lead to success. Faking it also means you know you are pretending, which keeps you from feeling confident. You are always waiting to be “caught.” This leads to trying to control everything rather than leaving space for learning. Better to make mistakes and learn than to pretend they are never going to happen.   
  2. Re-categorize failure from finale to fulcrum – We teach our students to see “fail” as an acronym for “First attempt in learning.” Although we know the learning process includes failure, we don’t always apply it to ourselves. No one likes to fail. Once again, mindset is critical. Look back at your failures. What did you learn from them? What were you able to achieve because of that learning? Had you not failed, you wouldn’t have had that success. It’s a process. As long as you don’t let a failure be final, the more success you have to overshadow any failures.
  3. Take a lesson from the pros – Athletes are out there for all the world to see. When they “fail,” it’s obvious to all. When a pitcher loses a game, or a player misses a much-needed basket, they face jeers and negative comments made by fans, sportscasters, and coaches. It’s painful. But tomorrow is another day, another game. They will look at the video and see what they missed, then learn and move on. When an attempt fails, it’s the start of the next step on the road to success. We can all use this as an example of how to face setbacks and mistakes and keep moving forward.

Your brain is a powerful tool. As often as possible, leaders accept the challenge of keeping their mindset focused on their Vision and Mission – not on fear. Both failures and successes – and learning from each – are part of any leadership path.

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Building Trust – Redux

I wrote about this same topic in July 2022, so why am I repeating it? Because it’s of vital important to leadership and reinforcing what we know helps us to deepen our understanding

To reiterate the opening of my original blog post, Trust is the foundation of relationships, and as you know, we are in the relationship business. Either we keep our relationships strong, or we will soon find ourselves out of business. Trust takes time to build. And it can be easily lost.

As a leader your integrity needs to be unquestioned. You must be careful not to let slip things spoken to you in confidence or things you’re aware of because your work crosses grade level boundaries. What one teacher shares with you, you cannot share with another. And if you make a mistake – own it and correct it as soon as possible.

Take time to ask: How trustworthy are you? Have you ever broken trust? How good are you at building trust? In addition to the ways I discussed in the July blog, John Millen presents these Five Ways to Communicate as a Trusted Leader:

  1. Share Yourself – In addition to learning the interests of those with whom you are cultivating a relationship, don’t forget to let them know who you are. It requires you to be vulnerable in some ways, but the result is increased connections and sometimes, new understanding. Relationships need to be a two-way street.
  2. Change Your Mindset from ‘I’ to ‘We’ –  Don’t separate yourself from the teachers even if your goals and missions seem different. Find the places where there is overlap. Although it’s become cliché, there is truth to the adage, “There is no ’I’ in ‘Team.’ It’s not a case of “I would like to …” but rather “Together we can….”
  3. Admit your failures – This is a tough one. Leaders are supposed to be confident. Admitting failure seems counterintuitive. But when a project misses its mark, accept and admit it. Discuss how “we” (see #2) can do it differently next time or tweak it to make it work better. And there’s another benefit. Admitting your failure gives permission to others to admit theirs. It will grow your relationships. Just remember to keep what was shared confidential.
  4. Ask open-ended questions – You do that when you ask how a project might have worked better rather than was it a success. When a fuller response is needed, you increase the depth of your communications. The more authentic your communications are, the better your relationships are. You will be amazed by what you can learn. Asking for a deeper response shows you value the other person’s ideas. When you value others, they respond in kind. It’s a win-win.
  5. Listen more than you speak –You’ve asked an open-ended question – listen to the answer. You can’t learn about someone else if you are doing most of the talking. If you are an extrovert like me, you may have to continually work at this. This is an area where introvert leaders have strength. You are not really listening if you are waiting for the other person to stop talking so you can say what’s on your mind. If necessary, quickly write down your thought and get back to focusing on what is being said.

As Millen says early in his post and in his conclusion, “Trust is everything.” It is the foundation of relationships which we need for our program’s success. Building relationships is a core component of what we must do as leaders. With whom do you want to build a relationship? Look for the ways you can build trust and those relationships will flourish.

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Developing Your Self Confidence

Confidence is essential to leadership. Indeed, it is virtually impossible to lead without it. Who would follow a leader who was unsure or always second-guessing themselves? Your self-confidence is evident in your voice, both spoken and written, when you propose a project. It is what helps you get out of your comfort zone and take on new challenges. It inspires others to follow you, secure in the belief that you know where you are going and will get there successfully.

This doesn’t mean leaders are arrogant or think they can never be wrong. Confidence is about the trust you have in yourself. You trust your Vision and your knowledge. You trust the relationships you have built with others, knowing they will tell you when you may have overlooked something important. According to Joel Garfinkle, you can become more self-confident by following the steps he presents in  Five Ways to Boost Leadership Self-Confidence.

1. Practice self-examination – Look at your history and the ideas and projects you launched. If you have been leading, there will be a number of them, including those that didn’t work. Garfinkle notes it may sound counterintuitive to look at failures in order to become self-confident, but we learn from our failures. What didn’t work on those projects? What did? What could have made them more successful? What should be repeated and built on? Recognize there will be failures in the future, but the knowledge you gain in this self-examination will contribute to more successes in the future, bolstering your self-confidence

2. Exercise your influence – Garfinkle urges participation in your “organization’s decision-making.” For us, this means being on committees that allow us to showcase that knowledge and expertise. It can also mean contributing at faculty meetings or offering sessions for teachers to help them use the library to support their work. When we see how others recognize our contributions, self-confidence is built. It may not seem like it, but you do have influence. You have proven knowledge and expertise in areas that others don’t have. In the relationships you have built, you have demonstrated it.

3. Motivate others – The combination of relationships and demonstrated expertise encourages others to listen to you. Garfinkle recommends developing gravitas – “the calm, open demeanor of a leader who both speaks and listens with respect and humility.”  As you live and share your vision, which should be inspiring to begin with, you will connect with others who will be motivated to become part of making it a reality.

4. Embrace personal development – As you learn and grow, so too does your self-confidence. Then you must take the learning a step further by putting it into action. Being on those committees and an active member of local, state, and national organizations serves two purposes. First, you grow professionally as you see the larger picture which affects you and your library. Second, your vocabulary changes as you incorporate your learning into how you explain an issue or project. You are now speaking with confidence and the gravitas Garfinkle discusses. It’s a process of “absorb and apply.”

5. Improve your workplace – This refers to something larger than redesigning your library. How can you make an impact on the social and emotional environment of your school? When you make the library a safe, welcoming space, you do the same with the educational community. This is a much larger and ongoing task, requiring a big vision. Garfinkle says to “work with colleagues to improve a process, reduce barriers, increase teamwork or enhance morale.” Certainly, the last is a big issue in our schools today. He notes “working with others for the good of others” will increase your sense of your self-worth and by extention, your self-confidence.

Garfinkle concludes by stating: Confidence comes from an unshakeable sense of self, which requires consistent and continued dedication to your values, goals and personal self-worth  These five steps are a progression. They won’t happen overnight but think of the rewards. Build your self-confidence and transform your community.

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Leadership Must Be a Habit

When you are asked to identify your professional roles, in what order do you list them? Is leader the first? Is it second after librarian? Does it make your list at all? Being a leader is something you need to be each day. And yes, most of the time you are managing your program, but even as you are doing that, it’s important to keep the leader perspective present. In other words, you must make leadership a habit.

In the National School Library Standards (NSLS) (2018) the American Association for School Librarians (AASL) identifies the five roles of a school librarian (p.14). The first is leader. The AASL Vision is: Every school librarian is a leader; every learner has a school librarian. If you are not thinking of yourself as a leader, first and foremost, you are likely to miss opportunities to grow your library program and the recognition by the educational community of the vital role you play.

The good news is, you can make leadership a habit. In her blog post, Five Habits that Separate Good Leaders from Great Leaders Maile Timon explains what needs to be done. She begins with observation that “Most leaders are built, not born.” If you’d seem me at the beginning of my library career, you’d know it was true. No matter where you are, you can grow in to a leader – or a stronger leader.

Here are Timon’s Five Habits all great leaders have – with my comments on them:

1. Leaders motivate and inspire – If people don’t follow you, you are not leading. You are walking alone. It starts by having a clear and focused Vision. Keep yours in front of you and others by having it on a wall in your library for all to see and to remind yourself.

    “Inspiring” isn’t telling others what to do. It’s listening to them and helping them to see their own value and how what they are doing supports both your vision and likely that of the school. It supports them to become leaders, too, as they see you learn from them as much as they learn from you.

    2. Leaders develop focused, forward-thinking visions – Having your vision in front of you is important, but is it an inspirational Vision? Too often we short-change our vision by not allowing it go beyond what we think is attainable. What would your library be like if money or other factors weren’t an obstacle? The AASL Vision statement is a perfect example.

    As Timon suggests, start with your Mission. It’s your purpose, based on your core values. It’s what you do every day. Here’s one from my list of examples: The mission of the School Library Media Program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users and producers of ideas and information, promote literacy, and develop students’ competencies to be ethical participants in a global society. A sample Vision is: The School Library Media Program is a user-centered environment where up-to-date resources and technology and a responsive staff empower students and teachers to achieve their academic and personal goas.

    3. Leaders create relationships – This works well for us as we are in the relationship business. Every day is an opportunity to create new relationships and/or to build on existing ones. It’s through these relationships that you develop collaborative learning opportunities that benefit your community and lead to the attainment of your Mission.

    4. Leaders promote a culture of coaching – We don’t usually think of it as coaching, but it’s what we do whether we are working one-on-one with a teacher or present a lesson at a grade or subject level meeting. We share our knowledge with them, helping them become more confident in applying a technique or learning a new resource. It’s being an Instructional Partner, our second role in National School Library Standards (NSLS).

    5. Leaders never stop learning – This is intrinsic to who we are. We are always role models of lifelong learning. We couldn’t be an Information Specialist, our fourth role in NSLS. It’s why our Professional Learning Networks and our membership in our state and national organizations are so important to us.

    We also learn as we help others find the information they need. As the saying goes, we may not know the answer, but we know where to find it. And in finding it, we add to our ever-growing knowledge. We learn every day.

    As you go through your day, be aware of when you are being a leader. Look for opportunities to do one or more of these leadership indicators so they are increasingly incorporated into your daily interactions. Make leadership a habit and you will lead your library with Vision.

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    Be Bold

    Being a leader requires risk-taking. How did reading that make you feel? Did your stomach drop? Did your mouth get dry? There is no question about it. By definition, taking a risk is scary. But you won’t ever get where you want to go unless you take some big risks along the way. And that’s going to mean leaving your comfort zone.

    Here are some big risks I have taken in my career:

    • Planning a new library wing.
    • Automating my library in the very early years of library automation.
    • Leaving a job (and tenure) after more than two decades to take another.

    Some risks you might be considering are:

    • Genrefying your library.
    • Giving a presentation at your state library association or at the national level.
    • Running for president of your state association.
    • Speaking at a Board of Education meeting.
    • Creating an Advisory Council of parents and teachers for your library.

    Taking a risk means you might fail. Depending on where you are in your career, any one of those possibilities could cause you to change your mind several times before coming to a decision. How do you get unstuck and take a bold action?

    Remind yourself of your Vision and Mission Statements. Then ask if the risk supports one or both of them. How would Genrefying your library support your goals? Would giving a presentation or running for president improve the position of your program? Would speaking at a Board meeting highlight the roles you play and the values you hold as a librarian? Can an Advisory Council give you the support you need for challenges to your collection?

    Before taking the leap, Cheryl Strauss Einhorn recommends these five steps to help you Become More Comfortable Making Bold Decisions:

    1. Identify the decision you need to make. – Get as clear as you can on the decision you really need to make, risks aside. What is the reason you are doing this? How does it connect to your Mission and Vision? What will happen if you don’t do it? Once you’re clear, lean on your Professional Learning Community. Ask who has done this before or attempted it. What do they wish they had known before they started? Are they glad they did it? What do they recommend you do or not do?
    2. Examine your past bold decisions. – Take time to notice your previous successes. What made them successful? Identify the leadership qualities that helped you achieve your goals. What did you achieve as a result of taking the risk? Would you have done it the same way if you were making that decision now? We often don’t recognize we have grown on the job. Looking to the past will reveal your growth as a leader.
    3. Ask yourself what attributes or similarities are shared between the bold decision you are considering and your prior decisions. – This new step may feel risky, but it probably isn’t entirely new ground. For example, if you are considering genrefying your collection, notice that you’ve already created a section for professional reading or graphic novels. It is reassuring to recognize that not only have you been successful in the past, but also that you can draw on how you accomplished that success. You are not really starting from scratch. The bold decision you are considering may be bigger than what you have done before, but you have some past experiences to guide and support you.
    4. Consider whether there are attributes of your past bold decisions that might impede your ability to get to a good outcome for your current decision. – What happened with past decisions (bold or not) that you wish you could have done differently? This is your chance to make that change. Where there things that kept you from being as successful as you hoped? What did you learn from missteps?
    5. Apply the lessons from your past data to your current decision. — Take what you know worked with what didn’t and apply it to the new success you’re looking to have. Don’t let those mistakes stop you because that is how we learn. (Don’t you tell your students this all the time? Apply it to yourself!) And remember – don’t only look at the negatives. You deserve the praise for what worked.

    You need to be a leader. Leaders are visionaries who take risks and try new things. If it’s time for you to be bold, take time to be smart about how you do it.

    Posted on by hildaweisburg

    Don’t Interrupt Your Leadership

    On occasion, we are all guilty of interrupting, but if it is something you do often, then chances are you are undermining your relationships, which can hurt your effectiveness. Related to interrupting is when we find ourselves not really listening, and instead, waiting for the other person to take a breath or a break so that we can speak. Once again, relationships pay the price, as does our success.

    When we do this, the message we’re sending is that we don’t consider what they’ve said to be important – or as important as what we want to say. It is both disrespectful and annoying. The frustration felt by the receiver puts a negative tone on the conversation, even if we are friends. If it’s a colleague, we’ve lost the opportunity for connection, and perhaps done longer-term damage to the relationship.

    If this is a habit of yours, Madeleine Homan Blanchard reviews some reasons you are a habitual interrupter, and how to stop doing it in her article Trying to Stop Interrupting Others? Ask Madeleine. She lists triggers which you will recognize and then ways of getting past them.

    Triggers:

    Just excited – You are bubbling over with enthusiasm. Blanchard says this is forgivable. And no one is always excited, so chances are this only happens occasionally. With any luck, the other person is equally excited.

    Getting a word in edge-wise – This is common if you grew up in a talkative environment or work in a fast-paced one, this Blanchard refers to it as a forgivable survival skill, but awareness becomes key to doing things differently.

    In my own head – This is for those who have a tendency to tune out during conversation. It can be uncomfortable at best, insulting at worst. If this is something you do often, Blanchard recommends taking notes to keep you present.

    Shutting people down – This is unforgivable. You have negated what the other person has said. Regardless of the reason, you have revealed an unhelpful and potentially harmful attitude that will, if not corrected, likely result in long-term issues that cannot be fixed.

     8 Changes to Make:

    1. Notice the behavior and the impact it has on others. Read body language. Listen to tone of voice. These will tell you a lot.
    2. Decide that the behavior is making enough of a negative impact on your effectiveness with others that it is worth making the effort to change. When you see the results of your interrupting, you will need to choose to do what it takes to change.
    3. Pay attention to what is happening when you engage in the behavior. As opposed to #1 which is external, this is internal. Recognize your trigger.
    4. Practice what you might do the next time a spark presents itself in a safe environment. Once you notice your triggers, you need to learn to do things differently. This can be anything from putting your hand over your mouth, managing your energy and thoughts by using a notebook, or doing something with your hands. Even doodling can keep you present.
    5. Share your quest to change your behavior with your colleagues. Getting support is a good idea. Blanchard notes it should only be from trusted colleagues. If the issue is having a chance to speak at a meeting, she suggests asking the leader to ensure everyone is heard.
    6. Experiment. This is an ingrained habit you are changing. It’s going to take time to break a habit and find what works for you. You will make mistakes.
    7. Keep track of your progress and what you did when you were successful. Recognize what worked and what didn’t. Celebrate your successes. Both of these will help you continue to make progress.
    8. Before long, you will notice you have made a change. Blanchard warns not to let your guard down. Habits are not easy to break. Be kind to yourself when you slip up then go back to doing what works. You have come a long way.

    I would add that a key motivators for making this change is noticing how you feel when you are interrupted. What comes up for you when someone isn’t listening to you? You certainly don’t look forward to talking with them again. You can also take time to observe how others react when they are interrupted. Seeing the results can drive home the importance of changing this habit. Listening is a leadership quality. Interrupting is the opposite of it. This is one habit you can’t afford to have.

    Posted on by hildaweisburg

    Fight The Fear Factor

    The past two weeks my blogs have centered on you getting in front of an audience. As a leader, this will be necessary to get your face and your program out there. Yet many school librarians shy away from doing this other than with the smallest possible group. They know the value but find a host of reasons not to step into the limelight. The most obvious reason is fear.

    Fear holds us back, and we can’t afford to let that happen.

    Public speaking is a fear more common than death. Also known as “stage fright,” it is one of the most common fears. The phrase refers to performers, but it is, in essence, what we are all doing when we step in front of a group. Actors get past it or they wouldn’t have careers. You need to do the same because if you hide your light under a bucket, you will not be seen. If you are not seen, you will not be valued. And if you are not valued, you and your position are likely to be eliminated.

    Terri Klass has sound advice on How to Stop Fear from Paralyzing Your Leadership. In presenting her five recommendations, she notes this fear can pop up at any point of your career, especially as the audiences get larger or feel more important. Each time you step onto a larger stage, there is the chance it might emerge. With these steps in mind, hopefully, you will be able to conquer it when it does.

    1. Name the Fear – Klass encourages you to identify the physical responses you are having. Can you recognize what is causing it? Notice and name your reactions (rapid heart, sweaty palms), and what they go with (not being sure you have the answer, wondering if anyone will listen to you, etc.) Recognizing that this is fear “talking” is an important first step.
    2. Share the Fear with a Trusted Advisor – Talking out the fear puts it into perspective. A fellow librarian or a friend (or both) makes a good listening ear. As you speak about the fear you just named, you are better able to see how inaccurate your fears are. If you don’t have someone to share it with, talk to yourself. Out loud. It’s hearing it that makes you aware of how much of the scenario you imagined is improbable and just some chemical reactions in your body.
    3. Try on a New Perspective – Klass has an imaginative idea here – think of someone who inspires you, and imagine them guiding you through this fear. How would they approach this situation? What attitude would they present? What would they say to you to encourage you? Can’t think of a person – Klass suggests you think of an animal. Imagine embodying the power of a wolf, the majesty of lion. It’s the perspective change that will help you manage the fear.
    4. Give It a Meaningful Good-bye – Look that fear in the eye and let it know you are done with it. Klass suggests writing down your good-bye and putting it away somewhere or speaking it into a mirror. Rather than putting away that fear, you can also burn it. There is a kind of satisfaction in seeing it go up in smoke. Gone forever.
    5. Commit to the New and Inspiring Leader – What are you going to do going forward? How do you want to be? Look at the presentation you made after having conquered your fear. How did it go? Remind yourself of this the next time you move onto a larger stage. Talk to yourself as you would to a friend who is beginning to shine more brightly.

    I can remember reading Frank Herbert’s Dune shortly after it was published. A line from it has stuck with me forever, “Fear is the little death…. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.” Each time we step out of our comfort zones, fear will be waiting. Don’t let it keep you from being the leader you were meant to be.