What does Gracious Professionalism mean to you

[Brian Michell]

Hello Chief Delphi. TaRDIS 5416 is going having a bit of a restructure to our team code of conduct and we are trying to achieve a deeper understanding of what Gracious Professionalism is to make sure that our members can truly act with it. My question is: "What does GP mean to you?"

To me it means that you act with kindness towards everybody. That includes all students, mentors, and anybody else you're interacting with. You should be open minded when others are presenting their ideas. It means that you should congratulate all the teams after your match is done, regardless of how the game went.

Any insight to what it means to you would be greatly appreciated by all of us at TaRDIS!

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Brian Michell

Hello Chief Delphi. TaRDIS 5416 is going having a bit of a restructure to our team code of conduct and we are trying to achieve a deeper understanding of what Gracious Professionalism is to make sure that our members can truly act with it. My question is: "What does GP mean to you?"

To me it means that you act with kindness towards everybody. That includes all students, mentors, and anybody else you're interacting with. You should be open minded when others are presenting their ideas. It means that you should congratulate all the teams after your match is done, regardless of how the game went.

Any insight to what it means to you would be greatly appreciated by all of us at TaRDIS!

If you were to look up definitions of "Gracious", and "Professional" (definitions supported by non-trivial scholarship), and cite them, wouldn't your job be done?

I think there is a good case to be made that the phrase means nothing more, and nothing less, than what you get by concatenating the meanings of the words.

I think that is precisely why those two words were chosen, and why other words were not.

Does that make sense?

Blake

[Brian Michell]

Originally Posted by gblake

If you were to look up definitions of "Gracious", and "Professional" (definitions supported by non-trivial scholarship), and cite them, wouldn't your job be done?

I think there is a good case to be made that the phrase means nothing more, and nothing less, than what you get by concatenating the meanings of each individual word.

I think that is precisely why those two words were chosen, and why the others were not.

Does that make sense?

Blake

That does make sense. Thank you for your advice on that, we will definitely include that in our restructure. However, and I may be naive for saying so, people also assign meanings to words and ideals. We could all crack open a Websters dictionary and find the definition but I think it would have much less of an impact on those who are not initiated in the culture of FIRST.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Brian Michell

That does make sense. Thank you for your advice on that, we will definitely include that in our restructure. However, and I may be naive for saying so, people also assign meanings to words and ideals. We could all crack open a Websters dictionary and find the definition I think it would have much less of an impact on those who are not initiated in the culture of FIRST.

Well, now you are straying into a different kettle of fish, and you aren't naive; but... your result might lead people along a path different from the one the original author intended.

IMO it isn't necessary to be initiated into the FIRST culture to fully and immediately understand behaving both graciously and professionally. Along those lines, if participating in FIRST involves learning a (re)definition of GP that is different from what Jane Doe on the street would understand, then I think FIRST has let a problem creep into its program.

I believe that it is extremely valuable for GP to be clear and simple, with no special additions, subtractions, or meanings known (only) by a subset of those who might hear the term. In this regard, we aren't illuminati. Instead, what we know is ordinary.

However, in some circles, choosing to let those two words influence us more than Jane Doe might, can set us apart, and make us extraordinary.

Good luck with your Code of Conduct rewrite,
Blake

[Knufire]

Considering FIRST has copyrighted the phrase, I think that gracious professionalism and Gracious Professionalism® are similar, but not exactly the same.

Originally Posted by http://www.firstinspires.org/about/vision-and-mission

FIRST Values
Gracious Professionalism®

Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST Distinguished Advisor and Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, coined the term "Gracious Professionalism®."

https://youtu.be/h2e6gxczMxc

Gracious Professionalism is part of the ethos of FIRST. It's a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community.

With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. They avoid treating anyone like losers. No chest thumping tough talk, but no sticky-sweet platitudes either. Knowledge, competition, and empathy are comfortably blended.

In the long run, Gracious Professionalism is part of pursuing a meaningful life. One can add to society and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing one has acted with integrity and sensitivity.

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Knufire

Considering FIRST has copyrighted the phrase, I think that gracious professionalism and Gracious Professionalism® are similar, but not exactly the same.

In that video, Woodie says "... we do our best work while helping others, and treating others with respect and kindness. This ethos is something I like to call gracious professionalism."

So both Woodie and the text from FIRST says GP® is an ethos.

I have a lot of faith in Woodie's command of English, but just to be sure I double-checked whether he was saying the GP ethos should embody anything inconsistent with, or in addition to, the definitions I would find if I did a little searching through dictionaries published online to learn about "gracious" and "professionalism", as ordinary separate words.

My conclusion: No important differences. I believe that being g and p, and embracing GP® are the same (close enough for road work).

Again, good luck with the rewrite Brian. Remember, simple is (often) good.

Blake

[GeeTwo]

Gracious Professionalism is more than the sum of its parts.

Gracious: Compete with grace, Win with grace, Lose with grace.
Professionalism: Take responsibility for your actions, treat people (including customers, fellow professionals, and technicians) with respect.

GP combines and expands these, and includes several radical concepts when viewed relative to popular and corporate culture, including notably:

• Don't impede or tear down your competition -- build them up! (The 2:30 of each match excepted).
• Share your design! (You may get feedback for improvement, and someone may do your design better than you did. These are both GOOD things.)
• Don't hold other teams to your team's core values.