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Category Archives: Wisdom Wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday – Every Bad Manager Thinks They’re A Good Manager

We didn’t see eye to eye on everything but I was very fortunate to have the first manager in libraries that I did as he was very experienced and knowledgeable (obviously people have to start somewhere but it can be a lot tougher if your manager is someone who’s newly hired or has only been […]

¶ Posted 25 October 2023 § Jobs § Library § LibrarySchool § MemoryLane § Work ‡ Comments (0) °

Wisdom Wednesday – “Leadership is about going out of your comfort zone to help others.”

I was once in an interview where I was asked about my definition of leadership. I was in a terrible head space so I froze up then gave an answer that basically insulted everyone in the room! I’ll probably try a “redo” of that question in blog form some day as I have lots of […]

¶ Posted 18 October 2023 § Jobs § News § Politics ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: education, health, history, language, science

Wisdom Wednesday – “Most People Want To Solve The Problem But Surprisingly Few Want To Understand The Problem”

This advice is based on something that was inspired by the nicest compliment I have probably ever received as a librarian, only six short months into my career. The context was that I was doing a probation review with my first boss in libraries and he asked he what my strengths were. “I’m a real […]

¶ Posted 11 October 2023 § MemoryLane § Work ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: orgdevl

Wisdom Wednesday – “What If You’re Both Right?”

This was a lesson I learned from my first manager at RPL (who also happened to be the Manager of HR so had tons of great insights into managing people, dealing with conflict and so on.) The context was that I was in a very unique role as Organizational Development Specialist, responsible for all staff […]

¶ Posted 04 October 2023 § Jobs § Library § MemoryLane ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: education, orgdevl

Wisdom Wednesday – Actions, Not Words

I’ve been thinking about actions vs. words a lot lately. One of the things that really brought home this important distinction was when I had to leave the Regent Place branch of Regina Public Library after eight years as Branch Head following a re-org of supervisors and managers. It was a pretty emotional time and […]

¶ Posted 27 September 2023 § Jobs § Library § MemoryLane § News § Politics § Wisdom ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: education, language, orgdevl

Wisdom Wednesday – The Difference Between Control and Support

They may be introverted or extroverted, new to the role or with years of experience, heavily trained in management theory or have developed their approach through real-life experience. But, at the end of the day, there are really only two kinds of managers – those who see their role to control others and those who […]

¶ Posted 20 September 2023 § Jobs § Work ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: education, language, orgdevl

Wisdom Wednesday – “Everyone thinks we’re in the book business but we’re not. We’re in the helping business.”

This piece of advice ties directly to last week’s about how the absolute most vital piece of advice I’ve received in my 15+ years as a librarian is to do what you can to solve the problem of the person standing in front of you. In library school, I think I saw a stat that […]

¶ Posted 28 June 2023 § Library § MemoryLane ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: orgdevl

Wisdom Wednesday – “What Are You Doing To Solve The Problem of the Person Standing in Front of You”

I’ve been trying to write a post summarizing some of the various tips, pieces of advice, koans of wisdom that I’ve collected over the years – mostly from my time in libraries but from other workplaces, reading of books articles and just talking to knowledgeable people I respect. As that post grew and grew, I […]