Leadership & Management Division

21 June 2007 

To the members of the SLA Leadership and Management Division 

From Ulla de Stricker, Chair

For those of you who could not be there … Notes from the 2007 Conference in Denver  

Greetings Fellow LMDers: 

We're back from Denver to our regular lives … recovering from the intense work of conference-going and socializing with colleagues old and new - not to mention walking for what seemed like miles in a very large facility! 

For the benefit of those who could not join us for the conference, I offer a brief retrospective of the LMD sessions.   

But first:  A heartfelt thanks to the speakers who committed their time and talents in sharing their expertise - and to the members of the 2007 Conference committee who had joined me in recruiting the speakers and in moderating sessions:  Shelly Edwards, Paula Ohlde, Laura Plummer, and Joel Berger.  Similarly, I thank the Continuing Education committee - Sylvia Piggott and Betty-Jo Hibberd - for their work in setting up a slate of programs.

Of course, none of our divisional programming would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors.  They deserve our constant support and appreciation, and I thank them for their role in our conference Experience.  They are: 

Tier One

•          Dow Jones & Company / Factiva

•          Thomson Scientific and Dialog

Tier Two

•          Basch Subscriptions, Inc

•          CISTI

•          Elsevier

•          getAbstract, Inc

•          Thomson Gale

•          Zubal books

Tier Three

•          AIIP (Association of Independent Information Providers)

•          EBSCO

Awards Sponsors

•          C. Berger Group

•          Career Resources, Inc

Rebecca Jones and Jane Dysart gave an extremely well received half-day workshop on Service Planning, covering the territory of constant alignment with client priorities.  Taking the attendees through a step by step process, they showed how it need not be a mystery what services to focus on, and how ongoing communication with the clients helps ensure investments and time are spent wisely.  Anyone planning for next year's budget could benefit from heeding their tried and true strategic advice.

Armand Brevig and Joanie Olivier packed hundreds of listeners into a fast paced and rich overview of the methods for achieving win-win outcomes in Vendor Negotiations.  Both have MBA degrees and it showed:  They illustrated how the negotiation with vendors is a business transaction (as opposed to a painful ordeal) based on usage metrics, insight into user behavior and preferences, and alignment with corporate goals.  Key messages were:  Come to the table armed with the facts and statistics and keep the discussions fact based. Know what your alternatives are - and let the vendor know you have alternatives - so that you aren't a captive customer with nowhere else to go. Be prepared to walk away … the vendors may need you more than you need them.

Afterwards, a subset of the attendees congregated for the Content Buyers Roundtable event where, at subject-oriented tables, the discussion was lively.  Traditionally, the roundtable event has been popular among LMD members, and we can tell that it would be a good idea to put it on again in Seattle!

Donna Scheeder guided her audience through the situations that could turn out to haunt any manager who doesn't cover off the Risks in Managerial Work with HR:  Intellectual property, Discrimination, Disability, Harassment, and Family/Medical Leave.  Her key messages were:  Innocent missteps (such as asking questions in the "small talk" part of a hiring interview that later turn out to be inappropriate) can become very large headaches.  Document, document, document every action taken and every communication exchange so that the trail of activity is clear - and seek legal advice from the appropriate department in the organization.  There is always a way to deal with an employee related dilemma so that the manager is not at risk for being sued - naturally, familiarity with the relevant laws is paramount.  The audience's many questions clearly illustrated that many do face difficult situations where things aren't black and white, and Donna offered sage advice

In a similar vein, Mimi Krumholz provided a fascinating series of vignettes from the real life of Dealing with Difficult Employees.  As was the case in Donna's session, Mimi's audience peppered her with questions from real life … what do you do when a coworker's personal hygiene presents an unpleasant problem for the team?  Mimi has clearly "seen it all" and she showed us how 'perception is reality' is a good rule to remember by illustrating how a particular situation could be very differently interpreted by the various parties to it.  Key messages we took away were … do not get taken hostage by other people's personal agendas; do not feed a manipulator's need for attention or fall for the tricks; one can be compassionate and still be clear on the need for change in behavior.

Shelly Edwards led a brisk early-morning session (I was amazed at the 7 am turnout!) on how to Get Things Done and Have Fun at Meetings.  It turns out we all have extensive experience with meetings from h… so there was plenty of anecdotal illustration from the floor as to what not to do!  A key takeaway for me was the notion that a meting chair is in charge of assisting others through a decision making process and must resist getting tangled up in the details; similarly, the chair must know when to "call it" that a discussion is going nowhere, and respect everyone's time by halting it.  First and foremost, meetings are business events for decision making, touching on key points already researched and discussed among the parties in appropriate ways … they are not philosophical marathons.

Bob Oaks described how he was 'volunteered' by his boss into taking on the Management of Multiple Departments and how he now promotes cross-training and career development for their staff.  Stressing the credibility factor in 'dong the jobs of the staff members, side by side with them', he told us how powerful it can be when team members see that you do, in fact, understand the realities of their day to day work.  Bob stressed the need for compensating for the absentee boss syndrome through such means as conference calls - even if they happen at 10 pm your time with a team across the world.  Bob's human approach was encouraging and I would hope audience members went away thinking it might be a good career move, after all, to take on multiple teams if the opportunity arises.

Marcy Phelps led an in-depth discussion about the situations calling for outside help and the characteristics of good subcontractors.  Calling in the Specialists dealt with the nitty gritty of the relationship between a client (sometimes a librarian) and an outside contractor, focusing on the "gold standard" we should all be seeking in that relationship.  Discussion groups were lively, illustrating that whether we are the clients or the suppliers of external services, there are many nuances in the relationship to consider. 

At the Consulting Section's breakfast event organized by Jan Sykes and Deb Schwarz  - again I was so pleased to see my colleagues show up so early -  we took our morning coffee while discussing among ourselves the challenges we face as consultants and trading tips and questions.  As expected, the conversations ranged widely and illustrated that we consultants need to stick together more than we may currently do. 

The Marketing Section  (Marlo Young and Dorene Smith) had secured well known Mary Ellen Bates who (who could be surprised?) delivered yet another powerful lesson in how to Convince our Clients they Desperately Need Us.  Mary Ellen always draws a crowd and delivered the goods in terms of a solid toolkit of techniques we all can and should use … all the time!

At the Business Luncheon, Patricia Martin gave us a captivating trip to the past and the future, showing how the Renaissance era is happening all over again today as people are putting together disparate strands of knowledge and tools to create new ideas, products, and life styles.  It was particularly interesting to see how well her messages and those of Al Gore, the keynote speaker, meshed.  Unbeknownst to each other, they conveyed a common theme that this is a time of extraordinary creativity enabled by the communications opportunities we have today.  Patricia is rather a coup for us to feature as our luncheon speaker and … yes, we have connections.

Last, but not least … we Leadership types know our priorities and this year it was the Elvis Open House!  Meredith Ritchie put on a terrific party that got talked about quite a bit in the next days … soft 50s music in the background, romantic light, fifties snacks, and a happy mood prevailed as several hundred LMDers, KMers, and SOLOers congregated to relax.  (The SOLO and KM Division were the co-hosts for the event.) Hulahoops were on hand and several of us were brave enough to swing those rings about our hips in front of our colleagues …. Shh, no comment on the outcome!  I saw quite a few photos being taken of people hugging the Elvis cutout at the door … it was fun to be young again, just for the night! 

Feedback Copyright © 2008 Special Libraries Association. Last modified: February 06, 2008