“In response to huge changes in today’s workplaces, managers are identifying practices and processes that can help design and redesign workplaces to better meet tomorrow’s needs,” said Dr. Todaro. These short webinars explore: how individuals and groups are led within organizations; how individuals and groups are organized within organizations; and a more successful management style to both manage and lead individuals and groups in today’s and tomorrow’s work environments.

“Leading People You Don’t Manage”

July 14, 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. CDT

Leadership curriculum for today’s organizations often focuses on teaching people how to lead their own employees or – more specifically – how to lead the groups they supervise and the people they manage. While it is important for training content to include that leadership and management aren’t the same – most content does NOT emphasize enough – or even at all – leadership of peers, committees, workgroups and/or teams/team members or those people we might not supervise in any way. In fact, leadership curriculum should also introduce specific content on leadership of groups within other entities, including umbrella structures, external organizations, communities, advisory groups (and even governing groups), associations, partnerships and consortia. This LLAMA webinar offers 1.5 hours of live online content with an extensive handout and identifies specific and recommended content to use for individuals and groups within your organization, leadership styles, communication and general best practices.

Webinar participants will:

• Be familiar with the differences between and unique aspects of leading those they supervise and leading those they don’t supervise
• Have an extensive list and be aware of leadership resources to support leading groups they don’t supervise
• Be familiar with best practices of leading employees and non-employees
• Be able to identify specific steps to identify and lead “others” internal and external to the organization

“Designing and Managing Team Environments”

August 3, 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. CDT

Workgroups within organizations serve a wide variety of purposes, including decision making, planning, delivery of services (information literacy, etc.) and library functions (collection development). These workgroups can be permanent or temporary/ad hoc; have diverse memberships; and are organized, operate and managed differently – some self-managed or self-directed and others operated with a more standard or classic management approach. While some group structures are identified as “committees,” others are “teams,” and some organizations use the more general labels of “workgroups.” Organizations often identify existing structures – such as departments – with new names/titles, and others assess organizational culture and design and change group structures and find new ways of doing business. The best structures, however, assess not only what works and doesn’t work, but how business is conducted, organizational culture, available talent and expertise, communication, timelines and styles and preferences and how specific functions are best carried out. Join the LLAMA webinar for 1.5 hours of live online content and an extensive handout for an overview of how to identify if structures provide the support needed for conducting business, recommendations for how an organization might move from one structure to another and/or how to design a hybrid structure to meet an organization’s diverse needs.

Webinar participants will:

• Understand the variety of and specific identifying elements of groups within organizations
• Have an extensive list and be aware of organizational development and design resources about defining and designing work structures for diverse workgroups
• Be familiar with best practices of designing organizations to maximize the use of workgroups
• Be able to identify specific steps for designing organizational workgroups within their own organization

“Situational Leadership/Situational Management: The Infrastructure Style that Supports ALL Management Styles”

August 17, 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. CDT

Today’s administrators and managers need to meet a wide variety of organizational and employee needs and remain flexible to handle diverse internal and external situations. This broad range of responsibilities calls for different styles of management in general, different styles at different times and a critical need to handle different employees and different situations in different ways. This need for the most flexible approach toward a management style is called “situational management” and is considered both a preferred and classic style of management, since it allows for maximum flexibility within an organized structure that offers multiple, appropriate factors to be considered before the “right way” to manage is chosen. Success of situational management requires that managers identify the style for umbrella structures, upper level administrators, governing and advisory boards and – of course, most importantly – employees. Situational management is best implemented if the structure and processes are designed with maximum employee input so that managers – instead of appearing to be erratic – exemplify fairness, flexible yet deliberate and consistent behavior and best practices for assessing all avenues before choosing directions. This LLAMA webinar provides 1.5 hours of live online content and an extensive handout that compares and contrasts existing styles of management with situational management, offers ways of integrating this style with existing styles and outlines the process for designing the process with maximum input from employees.

Webinar participants will:

• Be familiar with classic management styles and specifically, situational management
• Have an extensive list of resources on situational management
• Be familiar with best practices of integrating situational management into organizational management styles
• Be able to identify specific steps for integrating situational management into organizational management styles

Registration:

Each webinar is $49 for LLAMA members and $59 for all others. Groups of five or more people are $199 for LLAMA members and $239 for all others.

For questions or more information, contact freuland@ala.org