establishing, growing, & sustaining law library associations susan e. fox executive director...

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


No professional staff

Nonexistent internal systems

No teams, task forces, or organized means for coordination


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


Be precise and practical

Guide the actions of all involved

Reflect the knowledge, philosophy, and actions of all


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.


Breaks you out of boundary thinking

Provides continuity and avoids the stutter effect of planning fits and starts

Identifies direction and purpose


Identifies direction and purpose Alerts stakeholders to needed change Promotes interest and commitment


Promotes laser-like focus

Encourages openness to unique and creative solutions

Encourages and builds confidence


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.


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.


3. To bridge the gap between members and stakeholders view of the world and the views held by those who lead them.


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.


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.


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?


2. What do we know about the current realities and evolving dynamics of our members profession that is relevant to this decision?


3. What do we know about the capacity and strategic position of our association that is relevant to this decision?


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


Strategy: coherent, well integrated, linked directly to major goals

-- build on core competencies, allocate resources to priorities, delineate unique point of differentiation


Organizational Skills: the process through which you develop, implement, fund and measure programs.

Includes strategic planning, marketing, fund raising, program development and execution


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


Systems and Infrastructure: The processes, both formal and informal, by which the association functions, i.e. how things work


Organizational Structure: organizational design supports not only systems and human resources, but also the association’s aspirations, strategies, and skills


Culture: Make changes in a way that builds positively on a shared commitment of staff and volunteers to the mission.

establishing, growing, & sustaining law library associations susan e. fox executive director...

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