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by Michael L. Kimbarow
Our culture measures time in nano-seconds. Complex news stories are distilled to less than two minutes or two paragraphs, matching a seemingly endlessly shortening attention span. Society celebrates the transitory nature of the workplace and casts a suspicious eye on those opting for stability.
Yet, careers in speech-language pathology, audiology, and speech, language, and hearing science may span more than 40 years. The challenge is to sustain interest and excitement in our professional commitments over the long run.
The ASHA Code of Ethics has always required that individuals continue their professional development throughout their careers. Most readers are aware that new certification standards require all individuals who hold the Certificate of Clinical Competence to demonstrate the accumulation of 30 contact hours of professional development activities every three years to maintain the CCC-A and the CCC-SLP. This requirement has been in effect since 2003 for audiologists and will go into effect Jan. 1, 2005 for speech-language pathologists.
Some may respond to this new mandate with resistance. However, one need only look to the Certification Standards themselves to understand the value of this powerful shift: "Professional development is defined as any activity that relates to the science and contemporary practice of audiology, speech-language pathology, and speech/language/hearing sciences and results in the acquisition of new knowledge and skills or the enhancement of current knowledge and skills. Professional development activities should be planned in advance and based on an assessment of knowledge, skills, and competencies of the individual and/or an assessment of knowledge, skills, and competencies required for the independent practice of any area of the professions" (ASHA, 2004).
A commitment to acquiring new knowledge and skills is the cornerstone to achieving and maintaining a vibrant personally and professionally satisfying career. The element of advanced planning embodied in the standard will ensure that the activities are matched to the unique demands we face as we move through our career arcs. Each stage in our careers brings a unique set of concerns and challenges that may lead to different strategies to optimize professional growth.
Early Career Stage
The first five years of activity in the professions are a time of great challenge and excitement, mixed with a heavy dose of reality. Try as we might, nothing we experienced as students could completely prepare us for the realities and demands of the everyday workplace. Early career-stage professionals recognize the need to build on the knowledge and skills base acquired in graduate school and to refine their clinical expertise. The early career stage professional may be consumed with the desire to gain command over broad areas of practice (to keep job options fluid) or may opt to focus on professional development targeted to the specific demands of the workplace. In either case, the educational choices appear limitless. There is still so much to learn and so many opportunities-at the ASHA Convention, for example-to hear presentations on every conceivable topic in the professions that the challenge during this career stage is to ensure there is a focus to the professional development plan.
Mid-Career Stage
Mid-career professionals have a different challenge. Typically, they have achieved a measure of stability in the workplace and settled comfortably into a position with a clear and identifiable focus. The initial rush of excitement that came with being a new professional is replaced by a more refined sense of who we are and what our place is in the profession and the community. The initial desire to learn everything there is to learn about communication disorders is replaced by a need to ensure that one maintains currency in one's practice. The challenge is to ward off the complacency that may set in when we become so knowledgeable about our job that test administration becomes routine and the range of treatment options in some ways may narrow as we rely on the goals and objectives that have served us well in the past.
Now the professional is faced with two options: embarking on a self-development journey that will lead to new levels of knowledge and skill within one's area of clinical expertise; or mapping out a professional shift and planning the steps necessary to acquire new skills and knowledge. For example, during this career phase many individuals become supervisors because they believe they have the clinical skills and experience to pass on to others. However, accepting the role and responsibilities of clinical supervision without first acquiring knowledge about the science of supervision and the skills necessary to succeed in this critical activity will compromise one's effectiveness. A professional development plan for becoming a supervisor will maximize success and minimize failure.
Late Career Stage
Settling into a pattern where we are less likely to make a major professional shift brings another set of unique issues. What was once new and exciting may now feel repetitive and derivative. Sessions at state and national conventions appear to be geared toward early career and mid-stage career professionals. Consequently, it's hard to find presentations or topics that we haven't heard before. We are at risk for developing professional "hardening of the categories," an affliction that leads to the belief that nothing much will change in the near future and that our path is set. Professional boredom may set in as we opt for the familiar over the new.
The concept of life-long learning is never more valuable than when we approach the late stage of our careers. A career "arc" does not imply that at the end of our professional life we move on a downward trajectory in personal growth. A professional development plan can be crafted to counteract that hardening of the categories and reinvigorate one's level of professional excitement and commitment. This is an ideal time to master skills that we didn't have the chance to do previously. It's a time to give back to the professions, perhaps by serving as a mentor to a new clinician or developing in-service presentations in your facility or delivering workshops at state or local professional meetings.
Each career stage brings the opportunity to create a strategic plan for continuing professional education that will develop skills, and lead to new and challenging paths. There is no preferred method of creating such a plan but using the general approach summarized below may be valuable in establishing the framework for success.
The Planning Process
When organizations engage in strategic or long-range planning they will often engage in a process called SWO analysis. SWO is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. This provides a framework for assessing where one is professionally and can be adapted to serve as the foundation for a development plan (See page 5).
Strengths: Taking inventory of one's current skills and knowledge base is a powerful first step in planning. It may be helpful to create a list of those skills and knowledge sets that relate to a specific area of practice (e.g., skill and knowledge sets for assessment, treatment, and research in child language disorders) or to take a more global view of knowledge and skills across all practice domains. Determining our "strengths" is also valuable in targeting professional opportunities that are designed to build on those strengths.
Weaknesses: These are areas of practice in which, upon reflection, we determine the need and desire for additional professional growth and development. For example, recognizing that one has a "weakness" in administration and interpretation of modified barium swallow studies is the first step in designing a plan to shift knowledge and skill weaknesses to knowledge and skills strengths. If you are interested in becoming a supervisor, it's important to assess your knowledge about the supervisory process. For example, do you know what the purpose of a supervisory conference is and how to conduct one? What do you know about supervision? If you are preparing for leadership in your organization, what skill sets do you need to ensure you are qualified to take a leap into management?
Opportunities: This is the place to assess the resources (personal, organizational, and financial) you have available to support your professional development plan. What are your strategies for continuing to build on your strengths, for confronting and eliminating knowledge and skill set deficits, and for acquiring the new knowledge that will position you to move into a new phase of your professional path? What opportunities exist to take workshops, engage in self-study, participate in research studies, present workshops, or focus your convention experiences to achieve your desired professional outcome?
Assessment of the Plan
A professional development plan is only as good as its execution, and success is predicated upon ongoing assessment of how well we adhere to it. A regular update of the personal SWO is an effective mechanism for continuous personal and professional improvement and is an important component to sustaining and maintaining your professional commitment over what could be 40-plus years of activity. Nothing could be more satisfying at the end of a career than to know that we actively crafted our professional life to be one of continuous discovery and renewal.
Michael L. Kimbarow, ASHA's vice president for Administration and Planning, is program director of Communication Disorders at New Mexico State University. Contact him at kimbarow@nmsu.edu.
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