Intentional Leadership Model

This model was introduced to me at the ALA leadership Institute on day 1. I'll introduce it here and share some thought exercises that go along with it. Then I'll write a follow up post showing how I've applied this model to my role as a staff development coordinator for the Western MD Regional Library. 

Sara King, Robert Altman, and Robert Lee describe the Intentional Leadership diagram as a personal leadership model or framework but I am saying that we can extend this model to our current jobs/positions/employers, as well as to our professions. Below is now they describe the 5 elements of the model. Try to answer the questions for yourself as you read through them. 

Changing context and demands:

• What is the context of your current or potential leadership role?
• What special expectations or realities do leaders face today?
• What views of leadership prevail in your current situation, and what assumptions about leadership do you personally hold?

Vision:

• What is your own personal vision, and is leadership a part of that vision? Why or why not?
• If so, do you also have your own personal leadership vision?

Values:

• Are your personal and leadership values based on your own core values?
• What are your core values?

Self-Awareness:

• What personal qualities support your work as a leader and give your work its own distinctive style? 
• What adjectives describe your authentic self?

Balance:

• Do you have adequate balance and focus in your life, resulting from a good integration between your leadership work and other aspects of your life?
• When do you feel most balanced? What does your life look like when it is in balance?

Questions to ask ourselves:

These were gleaned from conversation at the institute. Feel free to add others. 

• What can I/we quit? What can I/we stop doing?
• Do I see myself as others see me? Or how do others see me? 
• Do we see ourselves as others see us? Or how do others see us?
• Where are my comfort zones? My safety zones? 

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Exercise: Creating Your Personal Vision

I challenge anyone reading this to spend the next  20 minutes reading the following prompt and answering these questions. I found it to be very revealing. 

Imagine that you have achieved an outcome in your practice (aka work, profession, etc.), one that you deeply desire. Envision what it would be like to be doing what you most want to achieve. Answer the follwing questions using the present tense, as if it is happening right now. 

1. What does this look like?
2. What words would you use to describe it?

Now answer these questions using present tense:

1. If you were to be the kind of leader you've always wanted to be, which qualities would you exhibit?
2. What is your ideal professional or work environment?
3. What types of relationships would you have with colleagues, followers, etc? 
4. What is your vision for the community in which you live?
5. Imagine your leadership practice has a unique purpose - fulfilled through what you do, how you engage and work with others, and by the way you work and live. Describe that purpose.