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Personal Effectiveness and Professionalism
Professor Sheila Corrall
Chair in Librarianship & Information Management
Head of Library Management & Public Policy Research Group
“Personal Effectiveness and Professionalism”
Presentation outline• Definitions of key terms• Changes in the professional landscape• Continuing professional development needs• Competency models and skills toolkits• Sources and options for professional learning
E is for EffectivenessAston University – November 2004
DefinitionsPersonal . . .
Belonging to or affecting a particular person rather
than anyone else.
Effectiveness . . .
Success in producing a desired or intended result.
Professionalism. . .
The competence or skill expected of a professional.
Oxford Dictionary of English. 2nd ed. 2003
Personal Effectiveness and Professionalism
In a work context . . .
Concern with impact Diagnostic use of
concepts Efficiency orientation Proactivity Conceptualisation Self-confidence
• Use of oral presentations• Managing group
processes• Use of socialised power• Perceptual objectivity• Self-control• Stamina and adaptability
Personal Effectiveness is often conceived as a set of competences, capabilities or qualities, eg
Boyatzis, R.E. The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance. Wiley, 1982.
Professionalism is a broader concept – Profession . . .
A calling requiring specialized knowledge and often
long and intensive preparation including instruction in skills
and methods as well as in the scientific, historical, or
scholarly principles underlying such skills and methods,
maintaining by force of organization [and] concerted opinion
high standards of achievement and conduct, and committing
its members to continued study and to a kind of work which
has for its prime purpose the rendering of a public service.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1966.
Professions and Professionals
Defining characteristics Body of knowledge Code of conduct Framework of qualifications Maintenance of competence Independence of judgement Relationship of trust Responsibility to colleagues
Continuing Professional Development&
Personal Responsibility self-appraisal target-setting planned learning
Professionals and Organisations• Lifespan of initial professional education is
shortening as the pace of change accelerates• Knowledge is becoming more volatile with the
depth and breadth of its boundaries expanding• Expansion is leading to increasing specialism and
web of intra- and inter-professional relationships• Boundaries among specialists and between
professionals and managers are blurring• Professionals are working in new flatter structures
with devolved responsibilities and team working• Information-intensive professions are adopting
Evidence-Based Policy-making and Practice
Key Professional Development Needs
Specialist information-related knowledge, skills are necessary, but not sufficient for professional competence
Information work at every level involves management of something, eg collections, budgets, projects, time, etc
Research suggests the most significant skills gaps and shortages are in business and personal competencies, especially strategic management and critical thinking
Information professionals also need to understand how different disciplines use information and technologies
Library staff need to work across traditional boundaries and be proactive in collaborating with other specialists
Battin 2001, Skelton & Abel 2001, Fisher 2002, isNTO 2003
All professionals need a complex mix of specialist, generic and contextual knowledge, skills, behaviours and values
Core Competence (necessary, but not
sufficient)
Survival Skills (needed by all professionals)
Essential Enablers (both generic and context-specific
skills/knowledge)
CPD
Professional Knowledge Base – will evolve and expand over time
Research &Consultancy
Teaching & Learning
InformationTechnology
LearningDevelopment
Electronic Library
Lear
ning T
echnol
ogy
Information LiteracyLibraries
&Information
Services
Overlapping Boundaries
IncreasingSpecialisms
Study Skills
Expanding Knowledge Base
ProjectRoles
TeamWork
Professional Partnerships
Broadening and Deepening Professional Competence
More Comprehensiveness at Higher Capacity
functional comprehensivenessmoreless
less
more
tech
nic
al c
apac
ity
depth
breadth
Professional specialisms
Subject knowledge
Business understanding
Information formats
Service offerings
Userpopulation
Adapted from Revolutionizing Science and Engineering through Cyberinfrastructure. NSF, 2003
Personal Development Planning ToolsLTSN-ICS
Key skills: Communication, IT, Working with others, Application of number, Improving own learning
Personal skills: Self-mgmt, Organisational mgmt, Interacting with others, Decisions, Intellectual
Professional skills: Info res, Info service and org mgmt, Info systems, Environment
HIMSS Learning Framework Managing activities Managing finance Managing people Managing information Managing projects Strategic management Leadership Specialist skills and
knowledge31 questions
4 levels
Other models of professional development have 5 or 6 levels (eg see Eraut 1994)
www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/ILS/recordingilsskills.html
Recording Skills Development for Information and
Library Skills
www.tfpl.com/skills_development/skills_toolkit.cfm
Knowledge and
Information Skills Toolkit
www.himss-lfo.bham.ac.uk/intro.asp
Career Development to Senior Management
People
Publications Experience
interpretersof knowledge
supportersof learning
purveyorsof experience
readingsfor courses
solutionsto problems
briefingson issues
tutors
mentors
managers
doingnew things
puttingthings right
keepingthings going
learning from innovationlessons
from failure
insightsinto
routine
Sources ofProfessional
Learning
Personal Development Options
Challenging assignments Cross-functional projects Mentoring relationships Networking activities External secondments Speaking at conferences
Reading, thinking and writing about professional initiatives or issues
– UC&R Award
Carrying out research or consultancy work
Undertaking further study eg MBA, MEdUniversity of Sheffield Masters-level modules
– Educational Informatics– Information Literacy
Research NEW for 2005-06
or MPhil / PhD
Any Questions?
Prof Sheila CorrallDepartment of Information StudiesRegent Court, 211 Portobello StreetSheffield S1 4DP
