Communication Skills

Communicates effectively orally and in writing to diverse audiences.

• Oral communication - Expresses ideas with clarity and brevity, and demonstrates nonverbal communication skills appropriate to the situation (e.g. attentiveness while listening, eye contact, effective use of gestures)
• Written communication - Expresses ideas clearly in office communications (including memos, email, policies, procedures, and reports) using appropriate organization/structure, correct grammar, language,and terminology.

Uses media and technology to efficiently communicate.

• Within the organization uses standardized networks to communicate
• Investigates and uses a variety of methods to communicate to different audiences

Financial management/budgeting

Effectively manages and uses information systems to collect and analyze data for decision making.

Demonstrates working knowledge of organizational objectives, planning and guidelines and applies them to financial decision making.

Personnel Management

(* things to focus on: Conflict management, delegating, mentoring, Recruitment and retention))

Demonstrate knowledge and skills of conflict management/resolution theory.

Demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of conflict and how it manifests itself in the workplace. Demonstrate skills associated with conflict resolution including, active listening, identifying underlying interests, formulating desired outcomes, and developing and analyzing options while maintaining objectivity. (from "Conflict Management in Higher Education" http://www.campus-adr.org/CMHER/ReportArticles/Edition1_4/Corecomp1_4.html)

Effectively delegate tasks/projects.

Integrate assessment of personnel capabilities and responsibilities with task/project requirements to effectively delegate in individual and team settings, and define expectations, provide needed assistance, and follow-up through completion and evaluation of task/project.

Establish mentoring relationships.

Coaches on personal skills of goal-setting, networking and listening, and provides career counseling, networking opportunities, guidance, challenge and collaboration, and serve as a role model.

establish Recruitment and Retention practices to bring in the best professionals for the organizational needs.

Identifies current job market trends to effectively negotiate with desirable candidates. Establishes positive relationships with organization Human Resources to efficiently recruit personnel. Promotes a positive and diverse workplace, conducive to employees achieving full potential.

Demonstrate effective personnel evaluation to develop staff and better the organization.

Evaluates personnel in a timely manner, using objective thorough standards, and takes appropriate corrective/disciplinary and reward action.

Decision making

Demonstrate problem solving skills in various situations (including personal work, staff, co-worker and team)

Correctly defines problems, locate causes, identify options, plan and select a course of action and follow through to resolution and verification of completion.

Demonstrates knowledge of strategic planning processes.

Uses organizational mission and goals and group objectives within the financial and environmental constructs to create and implement and evaluate success of a strategic plan.

Managing/affecting change

Fosters an environment of innovation and change

Develops strategic goals for change in alignment with organization's strategic direction and goals. (for self and organization)

Effectively develops and uses performance measurements to evaluate improvements and identify opportunities

Demonstrates willingness for individual change and persistence at achieving change

Recognizes problems associated with change and understands the impact of change on others. Uses this knowledge to guide others through change.

Accepts mistakes/failure and recognizes the value of failure, learns from experience and uses it as an opportunity.

Values & organizational Commitment

(* position within institution, networking)

Establishes and utilizes interpersonal networks within the organization and relevant profession(s).

Demonstrates a knowledge of the organizational mission, values, strategic plans, and goals

Appropriately uses organization's mission and goals to identify specific goals and develops plans to move organizations forward.

Evaluates actions and direction for alignment with organization.

I was working on some other projects and came across competencies for the health professions. Since health sciences librarins don't work in isolation but within a pretty complicated health care education and delivery system, I thought we might want to look at some of these too. The first set comes from the Pew Health Professions Commission which produced "Twenty-one competencies for the twenty-first century." The quote on practicing leadership is below. I liked these competencies because they emphasize interdisciplinary practice,the shift to ambulatory care (role of virutal library?), and understanding the environment in which we all practice.

"Competency 17 Practice leadership.

The complexity and integration of health care services in the emerging systems of care

require health professionals to be able to work effectively within and across complex

integrated organizational and institutional boundaries. This will require health professionals that can think and act from the perspective of a system. This encompasses engaging in, rather than resisting efforts to track care and develop practice protocols. It means taking initiative to develop new ways of meeting the goals of managed care that are compatible with the needs of patients. All health professionals, whether they seek management positions or not, should be exposed to experiences that improve their ability to communicate, negotiate, lead, and facilitate change within healthcare organizations.

initiative to develop new ways of meeting the goals of managed care that are compatible with the needs of patients. All health professionals, whether they seek management positions not, should be exposed to experiences that improve their ability to communicate, negotiate, lead, and facilitate change within healthcare organizations.

• Develop partnerships and alliances with integrated delivery systems to identify the

knowledge and skills that are needed in the evolving health care environment.

• Provide multiple opportunities for students to gain a substantial portion of their

practice experiences in complex, integrated health care systems."

Quoted from Pew Health Professions Commission , chapter IV, Recreating Health Professional Practice for the New Century, http://www.futurehealth.ucsf.edu/pdf_files/recreate.pdf

The second set of competencies that impressed me were the Informatics Competencies for Public Health Professionals from the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice at http://nwcphp.org/resources/phicomps.v1

As librarians, we should all be fairly accomplished in many of these areas but it is interesting to

go to Appendix C and check out skills in which managers and supervisors are expected to be proficient!

So looking at these two sets of competencies, which ones do we need as 21st century professionals in the health care setting and which informatics competencies do we need to develop that we don't yet have? A lot of the sources we are looking at imply that the skills required of leaders are fairly universal, and for the most part I agree, but I think it is worhtwhile to think about the unique environment we work in.

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