On the Road Again: Training Update

I have a couple of days "down" time from traveling and I thought I'd post a few quick thoughts. BTW, it's really two days to catch up on calls, emails and laundry before hitting the road again on Sunday! I returned yesterday from Annapolis (sorry the pic was so dark) where I had a great time training a group of "rowdy" librarians -- their word, not mine ... I swear!

Thank goodness I've had the opportunity to train some energetic, enthusiastic and eager librarians and supporters over the past month. Because my travel delays have been incredible! It took me 6 hours to get to Annapolis on Tuesday -- waited at LaGuardia for almost 4 hours for a 1.5 hour flight! The reason shared by the airline -- no crew was available for my flight.

It's pretty ironic when I think of the project leadership session I lead for the librarians in which we discuss creating effective project teams. Now, if you're running an airline, wouldn't having sufficient, qualified crew members for each flight be at the top of your list??? Perhaps I'm being a bit simplistic. I understand the challenges of managing matrix organizations. However, when I (finally) arrived in Annapolis, my PLA colleagues told me they had a similar experience the night before -- a missing pilot! Does anyone else see a pattern here??

Last week, I was caught in the grounding of planes on my way back from Minneapolis and the PLA National Conference. It was pretty annoying to have to pay $75 to have the airline release my ticket so that I wouldn't spend 6.5 hours waiting for a flight that was sure to cancel. The most annoying part was that I'd left the event and missed the "spider web" closing activity with my team -- under the delusion that I could catch a midday direct flight back to New York. Yes, I know that leaders have to make the tough decisions based on the info they have available at the moment. It didn't make me feel any better, though.

I know that I'm a bit sensitive to this -- perhaps it's because my travel debacles have become one of the jokes amongst my PLA trainers and colleagues. I'm OK with the ribbing and teasing -- that's what friends do. I was concerned on Tuesday afternoon as my flight was further and further delayed that I'd miss our opening reception -- I really felt like I was on my way to a family reunion.

Well, on Sunday, I'm heading up to Bolton Landing, NY (outside Albany) -- on Amtrak! I figure that spending 2.5 hours on a train shouldn't be as bad as having another 1-hour flight delayed for a bunch of hours. Wish me luck! Our next two leadership training events are being held at the Sagamore Hotel. It will be great to meet some librarians and supporters from my home state!