Academic report – what professional are you?
1.0 Introduction – what is a practitioner?
1.1 Within this report I am going to discuss the different types of practitioners the link to leadership within practitioners and professionals when in a learning environment. I will also create a basis to understand what type of practitioner I am along with what professional I am. A practitioner is known as ‘one who practices, especially one who practices a profession’ (Merriam-Webster, 2018). A practitioner is also known to facilitate their practice for others to compete and take part in depending on the level of the individual.
2.0 Types of practitioner
2.1 There are many types of practitioner within the outdoor adventure sector. A skilled practitioner is said by Ringer (1994) that this form of practitioner is the ‘building block of adventure leadership’. There are many skills in which make a practitioner, but this form of practitioner is specialised and focus on ‘hard skills’. Hard skills are also known as technical skills; Wilson (2016) states that hard/technical skills include basic outdoor skills such as ‘camp craft and packing a bag’ (Wilson, 2016) but also include technical skills which are sport specific. This form of practitioner will usually be sport specific so have an enormity of hard or technical skills surrounding their area of expertise. Ringer (1994) has said that this form of practitioner performs the technical skills in which they are teaching to a minimum of one level higher than what is being taught.
2.1.1 In comparison to hard and technical skills there are soft skills; Wilson (2016) refers to these as people skills or interpersonal skills. They are the skills in which each leader or practitioner will have as they are the teaching and group work skills in which are important when becoming a professional or practitioner.
2.2 Accredited practitioner is one of the types practitioner in which is noted by the Institute of Outdoor Learning (2018). They say that accredited practitioners within outdoors have a passion for ‘planning, leading and evaluating programmes for individuals and groups’ (Institute of Outdoor Learning, 2018). This is also key leadership skills for each facilitator ensuring that they have an interest for each group and the individuals within. The Institute of Outdoor Learning (2018) have created an award for this type of practitioner, the award is said to notice the ‘holistic skills and knowledge of professionals’ (Institute of Outdoor Learning, 2018) from the deliveries of the programmes and the noticeable skills throughout their outdoor programmes. By creating an award they have insured that each of their practitioners have a similar leadership style, meaning each of the groups and participants will have a similar curriculum to follow, allowing people nationwide to have the same teachings and acquire the same knowledge.
3.0 Competencies
3.1 There are many types of practitioner, in which all link to the leadership competencies of each individual and what each person aspires to have. Practitioners all need a different levels of competency, Martin et al (2006) has made it clear that leaders have four main competencies to fulfil in order to become and effective leader. These are general competencies, facilitation competencies, technical competencies and risk management competencies. Although Martin et al (2006) has generalised competencies into four sub headings they also state that there is ‘no universal’ competencies for leaders, this is due to the change in situations and abilities of each leader. Competencies are the basic skills in which each leader must possess to create adequate, safe and fun sessions.
3.2 Each person has a different way in which they will learn, as a practitioner it is vital that you are aware of the different ways that people learn and understand your group to know what way they find it easiest. Within each group that practitioners may lead will have a variation of learning styles. Kolb has created a distinctive experimental learning cycle in which is shown in Martin et al (2006). The learning cycle is split into four sections, accommodating, diverging, assimilating and converging.
3.2.1 It is that leadership involves ‘not only authentic and respectful but flexible enough to respond effectively to fast-changing situations’ (Graham, 1997:36), as a leader you must be able to adapt to all situations whether that is with the way in which you are teaching or the surroundings you are teaching in. This also allows us to understand that each leader will not have a rigid form of instructing allowing room for change and adaptation.
4.0 Professionalism
4.1 Professional competency is noted throughout Martin et al. (2017), it is said to have had an increase on promoting quality and in its competitive advantages throughout multiple disciplines such as ‘management, public health, law, and professional psychology. (Martin et al., 2017). Professional competency has been used as transferable skills from all areas of professionalism; for example outdoor adventure to management settings.
5.0 Graduate competencies
5.1 Positive Attitude
5.1.1 A positive attitude is vital for any role within work, coaching and general day to day life. I feel within most situations in life I have a positive attitude, I feel that if at least one person in a team of people is positive it will replicate onto the rest of the team making a positive vibe throughout the situation and day.
5.2 Self-management
5.2.1 I feel as a coach and leader I have improved over the years including my self-management such as my resilience and willingness to accept responsibility and reflect on my sessions and what I have learnt. Through self-management I have become a better leader and team member as I am more forthcoming to accept when things go wrong.
5.3 Team working
5.3.1 Over the year I have been a part of many teams, whether that is sports teams such as netball and football, or if it is working teams, I feel I have played a key part in each team’s success. When working in a team I have had an impact on the decisions made and co-operated with the goals in which they were aiming for.
5.4 Problem solving
5.4.1 There have been many times within my life in which I have problem solved by using the facts in front of me to make an appropriate decision, whether that is in a coaching situation and analysing the weather and ground conditions to adapting sessions to suit the needs of each individual.
5.5 Communication
5.5.1 My communication skills have improved through coaching, leading and instructing. My oral literacy has also improved along with my knowledge and understanding of the variety of technical language within outdoor activities.
5.6 Business and customer awareness
5.6.1 Whilst working for outdoor centres I have become more aware of the impact small businesses have on their work staff; the whole company was family run meaning a closer relationship with each member of staff, this then allowed the customers to feel safe and know the company is close to each of its customers. When I worked for the water sports centre I learnt that there was many loyal customers and participants as they felt the centre was run well and friendly by getting to know each of the staff members.
6.0 Interpersonal skills
6.1 These skills were earlier stated as ‘soft skills’, they refer to the skills needed for simple tasks such as communication and group skills. ‘Interpersonal is defined as relating or relationships between individuals. Groups use interpersonal skills to function and communicate.’ (Martin et al., 2017:169).Martin et al. (2017) have stated there are many skills in which make a leader, not just the technical, interpersonal and now known meta-skills but also basic competencies such as ‘knowledge’.
6.2 Graham (1997) has stated that as a leader one of the most important skills to have is communication, not only for safety but to be able to succeed within any sport. They are said to be valuable as they voice ‘your decisions, information, suggestions, and encouragement’ (Graham, 1997:85).
7.0 Technical skills – climbing
7.1 Technical skills as stated earlier are the hard skills in which an individual has within a specific sport. Priest and Gass (2005) state that technical skills ‘are competencies’ in which the individual is leading. They have said that technical skills are what an outdoor leader has at a level higher than what they are teaching. Martin et al (2005) has stated that technical skills are the basis in which all other skills are built upon; they tell us that things such as interpersonal skills are built from technical skills. When discussing technical skills personally I would use the example of climbing, this is because my technical knowledge and skills for this outdoor activity have increased over the many years of climbing, allowing me to lead the sport at a level in which is one less than I take part in, although this would be noted as only as beginner as I only socially and recreationally take part in the sport rather than competitively, this may hinder my progress and techniques as there is no means to what I am learning.
8.0 What professional I am
8.1 Throughout this report I have got a wider understanding of professionalism, practitioners and leadership competencies. Throughout all I have been comparing to my personal experiences both in climbing with my technical skills and general personal experiences in outdoor situations. My graduate competencies have improved and increased over the years studying at university allowing me to become a more employable graduate. As stated by Martin et al. (2017) many ‘professions rely’ on competent individuals with a knowledge within their specific outdoor discipline.
8.2 I feel that I am still evolving and learning, so I feel that if called a professional I would only be able to teach my specific sports at beginner level. For example I would be able to teach the basics in both climbing and stand up paddle boarding. This would categorise me as a professional but I feel there is still masses of room for improvement as I am always learning new skills and techniques for both sports even though I have taken part in them for many years. I would call myself more of a practitioner as I practice and take part in the sport more than I teach it.
9.0 Conclusion
9.1 To conclude there are many different ways in which professionals are noticed, whether this through their sport they compete in or the level in which they teach it. Practitioners are the people in which facilitate the sport and the professionals are who teaches it. Practitioners practice their sport at their own leisure, where as I feel that professionals compete at a high level. As seen within my SWOT analysis I feel that my lack of technical knowledge within sports would hinder my ability to be a better professional and practitioner.