Leadership Conversation with our University Librarians

Last Wednesday night we were privileged to have Jill Benn, Constance Wiebrands and Catherine Clark speak to us about their roles as University Librarians. They answered questions about leadership and their careers as librarians and managers. I think everyone who attended would agree that the event was a great success. Jill, Con and Catherine provided humorous and lively conversation, as well as honest and thought provoking answers to questions.

Some takeaways from our speakers were:

Con pointed out that it's all about you to have confidence in yourself as a leader and in your ideas. Manage yourself! Also, take care of yourself - take your holidays!

Be brave and accept contracts in higher level management roles. It's the best way to try it out and see if you like it.

Catherine mentioned that a challenge of leadership is not just the administration aspects of the role, but also the people aspects. The skills you need are developed over time with experience.

You are always learning in your role. The skill and professional development is ongoing.

Jill mentioned having a great mentor early in her career helped her model great leadership and management attributes.

Give yourself a five year goal and ask your manager for skill development to get where you want to be.

If you want to achieve big things in your career, you need to be a self starter. It'll be rare that someone will tap you on the shoulder and say you should be in a management role. You need to develop and gain experience and then have the confidence to apply for those higher level roles.

Hearing these amazing women speak about their careers and challenges they have faced and conquered was brilliant and inspiring for all attendees. Thank you to Constance, Jill and Catherine for sharing your experiences and thoughts with us.