But here’s the good news: there is a way to make that happen. There is a way to create an environment that ensures that the key players are on your side, right from the start. I’ve developed a dynamic planning process that will help you lead your staff, incorporating both your and their most cherished ideas, to a shared vision that will be implemented — because everyone will want it to be implemented.

How does it work? You identify the members of your administrative team, e.g., assistant directors and heads of major departments, and with them, we develop a plan that everybody cares about, that encompasses everyone’s concerns. You, as the new director, gain a strong sense of how your leadership can be utilized most effectively, of who your team is, how they think, where they want to go and where they don’t want to go.

Having spent many years leading academic libraries myself, both at Berkeley and the University of Michigan, I know the challenges you face. And I know that this process of initial planning and agenda setting that I’ve developed (and adapted specifically to serve the needs of library leaders) will help you get off to a great start.

There is no magic, except the magic of good communication. Good communication is an absolutely essential foundation for successful leadership.

What I’ve been able to do is develop a method of engaging new directors and their key staff in a guided discovery, both intense and controlled, that allows them to learn a great deal about their organization in a short period of time — about shared values, about values not shared, about dreams realized and frustrations borne of the inability to achieve goals in the past.

I’d be happy to talk with you to tell you more about how I can help you ensure that your tenure as a director is successful and satisfying right from the start. I look forward to speaking with you. You can contact me through Dougherty and Associates or send an inquiry online.

Since his retirement from the University of Michigan, where he served as director
of University Libraries and professor of in the School of Information, Dick Dougherty has worked with a variety of clients to help them develop preferred futures and strategic approaches to planning. His principal objective is to help clients meet the challenge of managing discontinuous change. At present he is most interested in working with newly appointed public and academic library directors who recognize the desirability of setting forth an action agenda at the beginning of their tenures.

Active in many state and national library organizations over the course of his career, including ACRL, ALA, RLG, SSP, and IFLA, Dick served as president of the American Library Association. He has served in an editorial role on many library journals including 20 years as editor and publisher of the Journal of Academic Librarianship and Library Issues.

Dick earned his doctorate in library science from Rutgers University. He received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Purdue University in 1991 for his work in academic libraries and on behalf of the American Library Association. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, which he received in 1995 for his fight on behalf of libraries worldwide against rising costs of library periodical subscriptions. He has also received numerous honors from library associations, including the Hugh Atkinson and Joseph Lippincott Awards from the American Library Association.