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 Effectiveness
Aston University November 2004
Definitions
Personal . . .
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. 2
nd
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.
Websters 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
Information
Technology
Learning
Development
Libraries
&
Information
Services
Overlapping
Boundaries
Increasing
Specialisms
Expanding Knowledge Base
Project
Roles
Team
Work
Professional Partnerships
Broadening and Deepening Professional Competence
More Comprehensiveness at Higher Capacity
functional comprehensiveness
more less
less
more
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c
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t
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depth
breadth
Professional
specialisms
Subject
knowledge
Business
understanding
Information
formats
Service
offerings
User
population
Adapted from Revolutionizing Science and Engineering through Cyberinfrastructure. NSF, 2003
Personal Development Planning Tools
LTSN-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
knowledge
31 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
interpreters
of knowledge
supporters
of learning
purveyors
of experience
readings
for courses
solutions
to problems
briefings
on issues
tutors
mentors
managers
doing
new things
putting
things right
keeping
things going
learning from innovation
lessons
from failure
insights
into
routine
Sources of
Professional
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, MEd
University of Sheffield
Masters-level modules
Educational Informatics
Information Literacy
Research NEW for 2005-06
or MPhil / PhD
Any Questions?
Prof Sheila Corrall
Department of Information Studies
Regent Court, 211 Portobello Street
Sheffield S1 4DP
s.m.corrall@sheffield.ac.uk