Take care of yourself

This has been a very hectic summer. We have been short staff and everyone seemed stretched to the limit. As usual, I've neglected to to make sure that I had enough time off to rest and recuperate. This is so important as a leader, a supervisor or manager, we often wear all three hats.

Your staff looks to you for direction. It is imperative that you, as their supervisor are at your best -- calm, cool and collected. It's guaranteed that if you are stressed and worn out, your staff will be too. Mistakes increase. Customer service will not be optimal. The list can go on and on.

I remember attending some leadership workshop long ago that suggested that we treat ourselves to a day trip once a month, a long weekend away from home once a few months and vacations twice a year. At the time that sounded like a lot of time off, but I have come to see that all this time off is essential to your mental health. You come back to work revitalized, refreshed and ready to clear for action. You are able to make clear decisions and find solutions to the endless little problems that pop up.

For some reason, I am always happy to give time off to staff, but neglect myself. It's common for me to step in to fill in a scheduling gap and the next thing I know I'm working six days in a row or as in this month three Saturdays in a row. I'm returning after a week off and I'm amazed in the difference in my clarity and decisiveness.

It is more than doing something nice fore yourself. As a leader you owe it to your staff to be at your best for them, to direct and shape the culture of your library. You can only do that with the proper amount of rest and relaxation. Take time to reflect on the direction you are headed, to fine tune your means of transportation there, and celebrate the accomplishments along the way.