Kate Faulkner's account of attending the CILIP Skills for Leadership: Manage, Motivate and Influence event which took place on 28 and 29 October. Thanks to CB Resourcing for funding Kate's bursary.

Attending the course on a bursary supplied by CB Resourcing was an excellent opportunity to step back from work for two mornings, think about the bigger picture and to learn from colleagues in other areas of the library sector.

It’s very difficult for middle-managers – although most of us are in “the middle” in one way or another. One has very little direct authority on paper but a lot of influence in setting the tone of the workplace. A leadership session like this helps to hone those skills and allows you to reflect on what is, and isn’t(!), working.

Here are some of the particular nuggets from the talks that resonated with me:

Sonia Winifred, a Councillor at Lambeth who used to work in libraries started the event. She reminded us that leaders set the tone and need to be self-confident but approachable. It is important to consider you own motivation, as if you are not motivated then you can’t inspire others.

Bruce Leeke, CEO of Suffolk Libraries, pointed out that true leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. This is a sentiment I really liked. We must focus on people and not processes. Try to eliminate processes that don’t add value as they are a hindrance. You need to engage people so that they develop pride in the service the team is offering. One tactic is to use language as a precursor to getting people to feel empowered in their role.

I really enjoyed Professor Beverly Hawkin’s research into how people learn to lead themselves, through experiences of flux and uncertainty. The analogy of people’s mindset when approaching a jigsaw rather than a quilting task was creative and easy to follow. The very interesting point she made that the entrepreneurial mindset, which requires trial and error, has more to do with play than a traditional concept of work.

There was some practical advice from Natasha Howard from NELFT on increasing the diversity of teams. She raised the point that it is hard for white people to understand what it is like to always be being interviewed by an all-white panel, and the measures they are taking to ensure this does not happen.

Overall, I enjoyed the emphasis on focusing on the strengths of the individuals in your team, and treating everyone as a unique personality. Remembering that achieving tasks off a list is not the sole purpose of a workplace. How multi-tasking is multi-switching and it can take up to 23 minutes to return to focus, so it is often not the best way to work. That we must remember that we all have a unique level of load before it becomes a stressor. I really liked the point made that resilience is about how to recharge not how to endure.