establishing, growing, & sustaining law library associations susan e. fox executive director...
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Establishing, Growing, & Sustaining Law Library Associations
Susan E. Fox
Executive Director
American Associations of Law Libraries
Chicago, Illinois
USA
World Library & Information Congress
72nd IFLA General Conference
Seoul, Korea 20-24 August 2006
Life Cycle of an Organization Birth Childhood Adolescence Adulthood Aging Dying
BIRTH
Dream, Vision, Opportunity:
Can this dream be realized?
CharacteristicsBirth
Overlapping tasks; operational board Often one-person rule No written rules
CharacteristicsBirth
No professional staff
Nonexistent internal systems
No teams, task forces, or organized means for coordination
CharacteristicsBirth
Strong commitment and purpose
Action oriented, opportunity driven, vision focused
Limited to no budget
RequirementsBirth
Strong visionary leader who can maintain a high degree of commitment
Leader is often hands on with significant input, but must nonetheless listen to and include others
RequirementsBirth
Action often more important than decisions
Develop preliminary systems for the organization
CHILDHOOD
Found and Frame:
How are we going to pull this off?
CharacteristicsChildhood
Some division of labor More than one person rule Few rules
CharacteristicsChildhood
Some administrative staff support
Some internal systems: basic budget and information systems
Top leaders coordinate
RequirementsChildhood
Ability to attract and develop additional leadership
Develop diversified funding sources
Continue to strengthen internal systems
ADOLESCENCE
Ground and Grow:
How can we build this to be viable?
CharacteristicsAdolescence
Expanding scope of operations and actions
Take on more difficult challenges
Take responsibility for action or inaction
CharacteristicsAdolescence
Learn from and receive mentoring by those with more experience
RequirementsAdolescence
Policy and procedures manuals
Increasing professional staff support
Control systems in place, budget, performance reports, etc.
RequirementsAdolescence
Some use of task forces, lateral teams for coordination
ADULTHOOD
Produce and Sustain:
How can the momentum be sustained?
CharacteristicsAdulthood
Organization assumes a greater level of responsibility
Takes the lead on an issue even without significant credit
Takes appropriate risks even if defeat is possible
CharacteristicsAdulthood
Nurture and mentor organizations in their childhood and adolescence
Requirements Adulthood
Expand board of directors to be more diverse, more professional
Paid management team responsible for day-to-day operations
Division of labor throughout the association is extensive and well documented
RequirementsAdulthood
Mission and image are well established. The message is consistent and highly visible.
Financially Sound
AGING
Review and Renew:
What do we need to do to redesign?
CharacteristicsAging
Membership is in decline
Original vision and mission are unclear or no longer relevant
Decline in member involvement
CharacteristicsAging
Movement from nostalgia to questioning
Emphasis on how things are done rather than what and why they are done
RequirementsAging
Develop a new strategic focus, mission, and vision (re-dream the dream)
Review programs and policies for obsolescence
RequirementsAging
Engage in active and continual environmental scan of opportunities and threats
Develop the courage to return to the birth stage
DYING
Assess and Decide:
When is it time to let go?
CharacteristicsDying
Total loss of purpose and hope Mission not understood Internal conflict
CharacteristicsDying
Lack of interest and participation Changes impossible to achieve Passive and maintenance oriented
RequirementsDying
Keep vision fresh and alive
Set clear priorities
Avoid maintenance mentality
RequirementsDying
Broaden the diversity of membership, intentionally recruit new and different members
Life Cycle of an Organization Birth Childhood Adolescence Adulthood Aging Dying
CREATING A VISION
What is our preferred future?
Creating a Vision
Draw on the beliefs, mission, and environment of the association
Describe in vivid terms what you want to see in the future
Be specific
Creating a Vision
Be positive and inspiring
Do not assume that the association will have the same framework it does today
Be open to dramatic modifications to the association. Dream big dreams!
Key Components for Your Vision
Incorporate your beliefs. They must:
Meet your association goals as well as those of the profession
Be a statement of values
Be a public and visible declaration of your expected outcomes
Key Components for Your Vision
Be precise and practical
Guide the actions of all involved
Reflect the knowledge, philosophy, and actions of all
Key Components for Your Vision
Be a key component of strategic planning
AALL Vision
The American Association of Law Libraries is a thriving professional association whose members and libraries – whether physical or virtual legal information services – are recognized as critical to the success of their organizations and as central to society. AALL members possess the knowledge and skills to maintain effectiveness in a constantly changing legal environment. Since the ready availability of legal information is a necessary requirement for a just and democratic society, AALL and its members advocate and work toward fair and equitable access to authentic current and historic legal information, and educate and train library users to be knowledgeable and skilled legal information consumers.
Benefits of Visioning
The process of creating a vision may seem vague and superfluous. However, the long-term benefits are substantial.
Benefits of Visioning
Breaks you out of boundary thinking
Provides continuity and avoids the stutter effect of planning fits and starts
Identifies direction and purpose
Benefits of Visioning
Identifies direction and purpose Alerts stakeholders to needed change Promotes interest and commitment
Benefits of Visioning
Promotes laser-like focus
Encourages openness to unique and creative solutions
Encourages and builds confidence
Benefits of Visioning
Builds loyalty through involvement (ownership)
Results in efficiency and productivity
Vision Killers
Tradition
Fear of ridicule
Stereotypes of people, conditions, roles, and governing boards
Vision Killers
Complacency among stakeholders
Fatigued leaders
Short term thinking
Naysayers – those who constantly find reason to say No
Creating a Mission Statement
Draws on your belief statements (core values)
Must be future oriented and portray your association as it will be
Creating a Mission Statement
Must be specific, not generic
Must be short, not more than one or two sentences
AALL Mission
The American Association of Law Libraries supports and serves its members, promotes and enhances the value of law libraries, fosters law librarianship, and provides leadership and advocacy in the field of legal information and information policy.
The Essence of Leadership
Leaders are “people who leave their footprints in their areas of passion.”
Developing Leadership
A high functioning board is key to a high functioning association
Board development is constant no matter what stage in the organizational life cycle
Roles, Characteristics, & Competencies of Effective Boards
Develop Vision & Mission (Values)
Articulate a future
Craft short- and long-term goals
Roles, Characteristics, & Competencies of Effective Boards
Develop and allocate necessary resources to reach goals
Ask good and timely questions
Board’s job is to be in the crow’s nest sighting the horizon, not down in the galleys rowing the ship
Four Obligations of Leadership
1. To ensure that the leadership team has access to a common stream of information from members and stakeholders that allows them to understand their members’ view of the world.
Four Obligations of Leadership
2. To provide a coherent stream of information back to members and stakeholders that allows them to understand not just what decisions have been made, but why.
Four Obligations of Leadership
3. To bridge the gap between members and stakeholders view of the world and the views held by those who lead them.
Four Obligations of Leadership
4. To understand that in the voluntary nature of associations, people choose to engage because they perceive that it is in their own self interest to do so.
Leadership Competence
Intellectually Competent: inspire, challenge
Emotionally Competent: enable, model
Behaviorally Competent: build successful relationships
Effective Leadership
Successful governing bodies define and delegate rather than react and ratify.
Effective leadership focuses on the outcomes desired rather than on the activity required.
Effective Leadership
Strategic leadership means focusing on what needs to happen next, rather than on what has already been done.
Good leaders spend their valuable time together using information rather than collecting it.
Effective Leadership
Fiduciary responsibility can be exercised by defining desired outcomes consistent with strategic intent and core values, rather than detailing how an outcome is to be achieved or re-managing work after it’s been accomplished.
Asking the Right Questions
1. What do we know about our members/prospective members needs, wants, and preferences that is relevant to this decision?
Asking the Right Questions
2. What do we know about the current realities and evolving dynamics of our members profession that is relevant to this decision?
Asking the Right Questions
3. What do we know about the capacity and strategic position of our association that is relevant to this decision?
Asking the Right Questions
4. What are the ethical implications of our choices?
Developing a Culture of Trust
Clarity and consensus about what will constitute success
Open access to common information
Confidence in the commitment and competence of your partners
Building Capacity
Are You Ready to Build Capacity?
The association is open to change and willing to question itself.
The association can clearly describe its mission.
Are You Ready to Build Capacity?
Key members believe that capacity building will help to further the mission.
The association is prepared to commit the necessary time and resources to capacity-building.
7 Elements of Capacity
Aspirations: mission, vision, goals
7 Elements of Capacity
Strategy: coherent, well integrated, linked directly to major goals
-- build on core competencies, allocate resources to priorities, delineate unique point of differentiation
7 Elements of Capacity
Organizational Skills: the process through which you develop, implement, fund and measure programs.
Includes strategic planning, marketing, fund raising, program development and execution
7 Elements of Capacity
Human Resources: People – professional staff, volunteers, board members are the lifeblood of the association
Invest time and resources in training and educating on an continual basis
7 Elements of Capacity
Systems and Infrastructure: The processes, both formal and informal, by which the association functions, i.e. how things work
7 Elements of Capacity
Organizational Structure: organizational design supports not only systems and human resources, but also the association’s aspirations, strategies, and skills
7 Elements of Capacity
Culture: Make changes in a way that builds positively on a shared commitment of staff and volunteers to the mission.