There are many people in my PLN that act as either a maven, connector, or salesperson. I think of Donna Sullivan-MacDonald from Orchard School in South Burlington as a maven extraordinaire. I think of Meg Allison at U32 High School and Peter Langella at CVU High School as a wonderful salespeople. And I think Shannon Walters from BHS might actually know everyone in the world so she would be a good example of a connector. These four Vermont librarians help me so much with my professional practice. I feel that our librarian network in the state works well with leveraging people's strengths to help our members throughout the state. We often work together in these different roles to achieve our goals. I would like to expand this though as there are many new librarians in our state. I think we could leverage even more people.
The other place that I would like to expand my connections to mavens, connectors, and salespeople is at my school. I'm new there this year. I didn't know who the movers and shakers were. I'm starting to get a better feel now, but I don't think I have a good understanding of the whole school. Getting to know who the mavens, connectors, and salespeople will help me be more successful in my job especially in my collaborative role.
Personally I would say that I am a maven. I see how my role as librarian often has to use all three aspects to help my program, but I am most comfortably a maven. I collect ideas and thoughts. I have a long "to read" (listen, watch, etc) list. I could spend a whole afternoon quietly thinking about one idea and not even notice the amount of time that past. I think this is a strength for me. My secondary trait would be connector, but oddly enough I see it as an off shoot of maven. I collect people in the way I collect ideas. I notice who they are, what they are an expert about, and file it away for future use. That way when someone needs help with something, I can point them to that resource. A library of people so to speak. I need help with salesperson as I am often stuck in my head and find that my mouth and my brain are often running at different speeds making it hard to communicate my thoughts.
Knowing more about mavens, connectors, and salespeople does open my eyes to the different types of posts on social media. There are different reasons people are posting and I can now use that to my advantage. Collect ideas from mavens, build relationships with connectors, and leverage a salesperson to sell my work OR buy an worthwhile idea from a salesperson.
Nice to see my colleague Peter Langella mentioned here. Among other things, his work as a Rowland fellow has brought about our RISE (two weeks in June of interest-based curriculum) program at CVU.
ReplyDeleteIdeas stuck in my head that when I explain them do not always make as much sense to others. I feel the same that for myself salesperson is a role I need to work on. I think sometimes for me it is because of my excitement of what I am working on, I play it all out in my head and it makes sense. However, I struggle with explaining it well where others have the same excitement.
ReplyDeleteI like that you suggest being a connector is an "offshoot" of a maven. It definitely can be.. as you get to know more people... it is sort of a collection. I do see Mavens and Connectors to be more closely tied than the salesperson.... Although I can also see the connection between Mavens and Salespeople...
ReplyDeleteYes - a library of people! I love it. especially when you make sure you have a diversified collection in your library.
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