AtoZ Blogging Challenge – Adjustment

During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the 2017 Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  For this year’s theme, I chose to look at leadership qualities as I’ve just recently (within the past 6 months) become the director of my public library. We have about 50 staff members, most of whom are part-time employees serving a 30,000 resident community by providing high-quality programs and resources. Each day, I’ll look at one trait and how it’s helped me to become a better director.

Today’s leadership trait is: Adjustment. This change in position has been a HUGE adjustment for me as well as my staff. My previous director had been the director of the library for over 35 years, which means for most of my staff, this was the only boss they’ve ever had. I joined the library team as a children’s librarian eight years ago when I moved into my new position. My staff, in my opinion, was excited to see me become the director as they were already familiar with me as a person, they had to adjust to me being a leader. But, by already knowing me, it relieved some of their concern with this change. I’ve made a lot of changes, expect a lot from my staff, but I appreciate how willing they are to think outside the box and make some changes.

As for me, this has been a major adjustment in my work as I was used to doing programming and working directly with patrons on a daily basis. I’ve adjusted to an office away from the public, working on “big picture” projects like a weeding initiative, a strategic plan, and some policy changes to make the life of my staff and the patrons easier. I was not prepared for how tired I’ve been because I’m so busy and using my brain to learn so many different skills. But at the end of the day, this adjustment was the right choice – I’m so excited to see the library moving in a new direction and just really excited to see what the future holds for my library.