LeaderasTeacher-GallagherLawLibrary.docVIP

Leader as Teacher By Penny A. Hazelton When first asked to write about this topic, I puzzled about what this meant. A library manager or department head who teaches classes is just a teacher in those settings. Is every teacher a leader? Probably not. Is every leader a teacher? Again the answer is no; many library directors do not teach classes. I stayed mired in this swamp for many days -- days spent reading and reviewing a large portion of the leadership literature. I just couldn’t see the relationship between these concepts -- leader and teacher. Leader as teacher. I could not get past the vision of a classroom of students and a teacher who may or may not be a manager/leader. What could be said about teaching that had anything to do with leadership? Neither did I like the limitations of this topic by thinking about the attributes of leadership alone. Leadership assumes a staff or group of people you work with - not students in a classroom. The model just did not fit. Finally, I began to understand my problem. I was thinking too narrowly. The following quote from The Fifth Discipline helped me focus my errant thoughts. “ “Leader as teacher” is not about “teaching” people how to achieve their vision. It is about fostering learning, for everyone. Such leaders help people throughout the organization develop systematic understandings.” Applied more broadly, fostering learning can be encouraged in many types of situations and with many different groups -- staff, students, faculty, colleagues, alumni, library users, members of the public. With this broader focus in mind, in the balance of this essay, three elements of fostering learning will be explored in an effort to explain the leader as teacher. What does the phrase ‘foster learning’ really mean and why should any leader take the time to do this? Secondly, the characteristics needed by any leader who wishes to foster learning will be discussed. And finally, the opportunities that arise in lib