Staff development webinar 1/23/20

Two weeks ago I attended a webinar with the rest of the library staff entitled "An Introverts Guide to Academic Leadership" by Academic Impressions. Dr. Louderback explained that they have periodic staff development on various topics. Not surprisingly, all but one of the team members are introverted. The webinar was mostly to help introverts be more confident in their leadership potential, but also to give extroverts that they work with some insight into introverted co-workers. 

A few observations:

• Rather than being at an inherent disadvantage when it comes to leadership in libraries, introverts have unique qualities that can be harnessed for leadership. Many introverts can bring calmness, attention to detail, careful and cautious decision making, and clear communication though writing to bear in their approach to leadership. While this is a real generalization of introverts, I think it was valuable for them to point out that not all leadership styles are the same. 
• Introverts can learn to be more "extroverted" through practice, but it requires carefully planning out of how they will expend their energy. Introverted leaders need to schedule in quiet time to recover from draining interactions. 
• We all took a "How introverted are you?" quiz and I scored a 69 out of a 100 on the introvert scale. In other words, my introverted tendencies are in the majority but do not completely dominate. This surprised me, as I've always thought of myself as an extreme introvert. Perhaps I've become better at "learned extroversion" over the years.