In the old days only three types of people qualified to be called professionals: priests, doctors and lawyers. Today, virtually everyone call himself a professional. Just look at the newspaper advertisements. Whether it is waste disposal or burying the dead, they all claim the “p” word for themselves.
The Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has this to say about professionalism:
“Sociologists have been known to define professionalism as self-defined power elitism or as organized exclusivity along guild lines, much in the sense that George Bernard Shaw characterized all professions as “conspiracies against the laity”. Sociological definitions of professionalism involving checklists of perceived or claimed characteristics (altruism, self-governance, esoteric knowledge, special skills, ethical behaviour, etc.) became less fashionable in the late 20th century.”
In this short checkered history of professionalism, there is cause for cheer and jeer. While the move away from elitism and exclusivity may be seen as positive, the new professionals no longer care for the old professional qualities such as altruism and ethical behaviour.
The critical characteristic of professionalism these days seems to be: being paid for work. So Wayne Rooney is a professional, never mind that he is “playing” all the time, and swears and rants on the soccer pitch, quite the worst model for our young people. Even prostitutes may whitewash their “work” with that more reputable “p” word since theirs are known as the “world’s oldest profession”.
If professionalism is of such doubtful pedigree, why would SHELTER want to hassle with it?
The world professional is still a useful symbol for integrity and trustworthiness, expertise and knowledge and high standards of performance – which are qualities SHELTER strives for.
The Asia Pacific NGO Awards which had the theme: celebrating success. . .rewarding excellence which we won last year attests to SHELTER’s professionalism in the area of finance and donations. SHELTER has internal and external checks and balances to ensure that donations from the public do not go amiss.
However, in the area of expertise and standards, a lot of work needs to be done. SHELTER was started off 24 years ago by people with a big good heart but little or no experience in running children’s homes. That is probably the story of most indigenous NGOs. But after all these years, surely we must have learnt a thing or two, if not become experts in the game. Like every other organization, SHELTER constantly needs to improve to reduce the casualty rate.
Where results are concerned, while we have turned around many of our children, we have also failed a number of them. Do we really know what we are doing?
What needs to be done is for us to collate all the wisdom and learning acquired from 24 years’ experience, as well as mine the knowledge out there and set them out in guidelines and procedures so that we do not have to re-invent the wheel every few years and make the same mistakes. But equally important, in the process of setting out procedures, we establish standards and principles to guide the work to greater excellence. This is what people expect from professionals.
When I started in social work in a different organization almost 20 years ago, I found myself fumbling in the dark, even though that organization had been in the work for more than five years. I committed the most basic errors. Although there is no better teacher than the school of hard-knocks, I could have been saved not a few heartaches – mine and my clients’ and their families’ – if I had been led by the hand of established procedures and guidelines.
The days are over when the only requirement for full-time “social work” is a big heart. Full-time staff in our homes must have a good heart, but they must also be learners and learned. In other words, we must be professionals.
Our goal of acquiring ISO 9001 in the near future is a means towards this end. But SHELTER staff of the future will not just blindly follow procedures, but will have the initiative and self-motivation to understand and apply the principles of SHELTER’s work and become experts in the field.
At the same time, donors and supporters of NGOs should raise their expectations of the organizations to which they give. In these days of increasing fraud in society, when there is no more honour even among thieves, donors have to scrutinize appeals for donations more closely. In demanding accountability and good results from NGOs, donors help to improve professionalism and in that way, better serve society.
LHJ |