Decentering Ourselves, Empowering Others: A Strategy for Effective Leadership
We imagine that there is a “secret sauce” to leading committees or projects within our libraries. This presentation posits that an effective leader decenters themselves in order to empower those being led. In doing so, offers a simple leadership philosophy: find people who want to do cool things, empower them to do those things, and give people credit for the cool things they’ve done. Using the development of a diversity plan at the presenter’s library as an example of the enactment of this philosophy, the presenter will talk about the challenges and opportunities involved in decentering yourself as a leader.
Speaker
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Erin LeachHead of Administrative Projects and Organizational Effectiveness, University of GeorgiaErin Leach is Head of Administrative Projects and Organizational Effectiveness for the University of Georgia Libraries. In this role, Erin is responsible for coordinating special projects of strategic importance, fostering a culture of organizational assessment, and increasing organizational effectiveness by supporting various committees and working groups across the Libraries. Erin is also a doctoral candidate at the McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia, studying the history of land-grant education in the Southern United States.