Gracious Profesionalism: What is it?

[buildmaster5000]

I thought there was a thread like this already, so feel free to redirect me if there is, but what would constitute Gracious Profesionalism to the CD community? We talk about it all the time, but do we really know what it is? What other examples outside of FIRST would show GP?

For me, I was at a swim meet where some isssues occured, but they wouldn't have affected the meet. Entries and timing got confused and there are protests that, in my mind, are not going to accomplish anything.

Is this what Dean Kamen had in mind when he started FIRST?

[JaneYoung]

Do you think the situation could have been resolved in a better way? If there was conflict regarding resolving the situation involving the issues, did you think of Gracious Professionalism and what it means? I'm not sure how you are applying that to the swim meet and then what you are asking.

There are several threads that discuss Gracious Professionalism and they are interesting reads. This one is interesting because you are thinking of situations outside of the FIRST world. That's cool.

Edit: I did a quick search and came up with a few threads with the phrase in the title and also some threads that discuss GP but may not be titled as such. If you have time, spend some time doing a little research on the topic here in CD. In the meantime, I hope your thread generates some interest.

Jane

[Foster]

Sometimes the CD karma is interesting, this cookie was at the top of the thread:

Only think of Gracious Professionalism as a standard to work toward personally. - Never use it as a gauge to point out someone else’s shortcomings. Rich Kressly

It's one of my favorites.

There are lots of interesting points made about GP. I'll give you a head start, search on JaneYoung's user id and you'll find that she has some of the best posts about GP in the forums.

Good luck.

[Clem1640]

Gracious professionalism revolves around two points:

1) Getting the job done. Effectively. Efficiently. This is the professional part.

2) Developing and maintaining the personal relationships with the people you work (and sometimes compete) with. The people you work with in getting one job done should be mors than willing to work with you on the next. This requires treating people fairly and respectfully, and giving credit where due.

[Rich Kressly]

I'm glad this comes up as a "fresh" topic every now and again. To gain the best understanding of any term/ideal/concept, it's best to go to the original source. In this case, that source is Dr. Woodie Flowers.
http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/content.aspx?id=36

To me, it's his term, and not ours. Thus, it's up to us to uphold its original intent as best we can and, as Foster pointed out in an old post of mine, it would seem very out of place and even silly to ever be caught saying, "Thing xyz isn't very GP." or using it in any way to judge others.

Study Woodie's definition as published at the FIRST site and think about applying it to your every day life as best you can. In a perfect world, we'd all spend enough personal time with Woodie to understand it best, but I'm not sure his living room is big enough for all of us :-)

Like Jane and others have stated already, also search around here for other related threads. I think you'll find a good deal of insight.

[Siri]

One of my favorite GP threads out there is this one. Jane is right, though: you've brought up an interesting and less-discussed topic regarding GP outside of FIRST. In fact, the first and last sections of the definition apply readily--and I suspect, deliberately--to just that.

"...It's a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community...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."

The center paragraph of the definition expounds on more FIRST/sports-centered examples. If Mr. Flowers doesn't object, I'd like to expound with my own examples. To me, Gracious Professionalism represents unbridled cooperation in achieving collective excellence. It's helped me realize that helping others isn't a product of any solely FIRST alliance system*, it's a goal in and of itself. Professionally, it's focused me on doing the best job possible. More importantly, though, it's about helping others work the best as well--not to the best of their ability, not even to the best of yours, but to the best you can achieve together. In the Air Force, we call this "Service Before Self". To me, it's the same thing, albeit manifested differently. It's about putting the mission, the group, the people, first--and putting everything you've got into their success. I've seen this on occasion outside of FIRST and the USAF, but I'd be interested in hearing others' stories.

*In fact, I'm pretty sure it predates alliances all together, though that was before my time.


EDIT: it's seems to be a day for CD karma...

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Gracious Professionalism is a compass, not a set of calipers. It should be used to guide what you do rather than to measure it.

Maybe in addition to searching threads on GP, you could take a look at the spotlight quotes on it.

[rsisk]

Gracious Professionalism, it's hard to describe, but I sure know when I'm not living up to it.