Information Outlook, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 2001
More Than One Way to Learn: A Leader's View by Bob Bellanti
In today's rapidly changing world it is crucial for us to master new skills and concepts to keep up-to-date. In this charged and competitive environment each of us is responsible for improving and expanding our knowledge not only so we can perform our jobs more effectively but also to become more valuable employees. While we might prefer to work in a learning organization the fact is that many of us do not. Time spent mastering new skills especially if it takes us away from the office isn't always assigned a premium value. And the work many of us perform to support our professional organization is often viewed even more skeptically. While we can justify our time in seminars, CE courses and such, it's often much more difficult to do so for the time we spend working for SLA. And yet, if we think about it, this effort contributes significantly to our continuing learning.
What is expected of us in today's workplace? Of course it varies depending on our situation, but usually it includes providing leadership, working effectively as a team player, planning well for the future and, of course, being competent in our work. We've spent many years in school mastering these skills and many of us refresh ourselves by attending classes of all kinds. How does our participation in SLA fit into this scheme?
In my view participating in SLA provides us with a wide variety of learning experiences and gives us an opportunity to develop skills and competencies that are directly relevant to success in our jobs. Participation in SLA is a form of continuous learning. Let's look at this a bit more closely.
Participation as a spectator. Many of us attend programs sponsored by SLA, by our division or chapter. We may learn new information about management techniques or deepen our knowledge about our subject specialty or the industry we work in. Whatever the focus, participation in SLA at this level contributes to our knowledge base. We, as well as the organizations we work for which, benefit from this involvement.
Participation as an actor. A smaller number of us choose to take a more active role within SLA. This takes many forms: as a committee member or chair, as a newsletter editor, as an elected officer of SLA or one of its units, or in some other way. It is through active participation that we learn and sharpen many skills that we use in our daily work. For example, when you chair a committee you are, in effect, leading a team. All the qualities that one needs to be a successful team leader are called into play. Flexibility, the ability to synthesize competing perspectives and to forge compromises, and the capacity to ensure that all team members are engaged are but a few of the qualities we utilize when we chair a committee. As a division chair or chapter president one gets to exercise a wide range of skills such as budgeting, motivating others to perform tasks, planning, making persuasive presentations and public speaking, and more. A leadership role at this level provides us with many opportunities for learning. In fact we may be able to learn and grow in ways that are not possible within the context of our daily jobs.
As Chair of the Professional Development Committee for the past two years and as a member of the Committee for five years, I've been very impressed with the broad range of classes available to us to engage in formal learning through SLA. But, what I hope I've conveyed is that SLA offers each of us much more than formal classes. SLA is a great forum for continuous informal learning. Through our active participation in SLA we can take advantage of the many informal learning experiences that are open to us. And while our participation directly benefits the Association, we also reap many benefits, as do the organizations for which we work. So if you haven't thought of SLA as a "learning organization" I encourage you to consider that idea. I think you and your organization will be surprised and pleased at the additional value you will gain from your membership in SLA!
Looking for a way to share and support an information professional who's just starting out or a colleague who is thinking about a career change? Visit Career Services Online today to sign up as an SLA Virtual Advisor! Visit http://sla.jobcontrolcenter.com.
For more information,
contact Corvie Carrington (corvie@sla.org)
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