Week #4 Response- Professions

The Prompt:
"The crisis of confidence in the professions, and perhaps also the decline in professional self-image, seems to be rooted in a growing skepticism about professional effectiveness in the larger sense, a skeptical reassessment of the professions' actually contribution to society's well-being through the delivery of competent services based on special knowledge. Clearly, this skepticism is bound up with the questions of professional self-interest, bureaucratization, and subordination to the interests of business or government. But it also hinges centrally on the question of professional knowledge. Is professional knowledge adequate to fulfill the espoused purposes of the professions? Is it sufficient to meet the societal demands which the professions have helped to create?" (13)
The Reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action
Donald A. Schon
New York: Basic Books, 1983

Please respond to this posting through the perspective of what you consider to be your own "profession". Donald Schon wrote this in 1983 and started his own revolution, giving us the notion of reflective practitioner, which serves as one of the guiding principles in our own program. He asks several provocative questions at the end of the quote. You might also ask yourself how things have changed since this was written.

My Response:
This past weekend my best friend and I sat on the back of a boat on Lake Michigan viewing the Chicago skyline. We both agreed it is definitely one of the best views of the city as you can appreciate the architectural beauty but not have to be in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. It gives you the big perspective of the place versus all the smaller working pieces. As we took in the sights, we talked about how our professional lives had evolved since our time together in school. We both started out thinking our professions would be something completely different—hers a journalist and mine a doctor. Through quite random relationships with mentors and people recognizing our passions and skills, we have both become professionals in completely different fields—my best friend a high school agricultural education teacher—and me a nonprofit leadership and organizational development professional. Since we have both come to our respective fields of work from other places, we value and frequently engage in profession-specific learning opportunities. But we also feel we play a critical role as change agents in our fields and seek out opportunities to bring in new knowledge and expertise from outside the “profession.” I believe it has allowed both of us to be successful in our respective roles and able to meet the increasingly complex demands our society and world.

Schon’s questions are relevant as we are seeing shifts in society at such a fast pace that many of use find ourselves “building the plane while we are flying it.” It means that more than ever, we have to apply the experience AND knowledge we have to uncharted territory and see what happens. From the nonprofit perspective, leadership is essential to navigate the rapidly changing landscape that includes:
• Decreased support from government/foundation/corporate grants;
• Declining confidence in charitable organizations and negative perceptions about nonprofit effectiveness;
• Greater demand for accountability and transparency;
• Greater emphasis on identifying and implementing best practices;
• Rapidly changing technology;
• Pressure to use “business strategy” without business support;
• Pressure to reach “sustainability”; and
• Haziness of success factors...just to name a few.

Historically nonprofit executive directors have come from the programming ranks, which means they have an incredible knowledge of and passion for the mission of the organization but may not possess the organizational and leadership development knowledge and skills to sustain and grow the organization. Also, nonprofit professionals have been known to serve multiple roles in an organization. My guess is that this will only continue to intensify due to the factors listed above. Just having the “professional knowledge” that Schon refers to is not viable for nearly all the nonprofits I work with—they need more.

Much like my time viewing Chicago from Lake Michigan, I think we have to dig into the details of our profession but we also have to take time to reflect on the big picture of the skyline and identify and respond to the external impacts of uncharted territory.