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Unread 10-03-2008, 12:50
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Let's Put the Professionalism back in Gracious Professionalism

I want to talk about Gracious Professionalism. Mainly I want to talk about Professionalism and how it is being somewhat overlooked in the name of being Gracious.

Gracious Professionalism is not blindly agreeing with the organization of FIRST. Speaking well of FIRST may be gracious but speaking without thinking for yourself about the topic at hand it is grossly unprofessional. Internal criticism of FIRST, both before and after any plan is executed, is both healthy and necessary for the organization to function and improve.

This post has been anonymously coauthored. I tell you this to illustrate how the atmosphere of fear of counter-criticism is negatively impacting FIRST. It is a sad day when people are nervous to post a post asking people to be professional and think critically. I do not blame FIRST employees for this mentality. The issue comes from the droves of people who love FIRST to the point that they can not bear to hear other people speak ill of it. I ask you, for the good of this organization, to hear these voices in an objective professional manner as they might provide valuable insights.

There are absolutely unprofessional ways of criticizing something but that doesn't make criticism inherently unprofessional. Which side of a debate a post falls on does not determine how graciously professional the statement itself is. A polite, respectful, well thought out, factually based argument that the owner is capable of admitting the faults in seems far more important.

Considering yourself Graciously Professional is not a carte blanche for you to judge people and their ideas. Dismissing another person and their ideas because you have found a label, judged them by it, and found them not to fit is grossly unprofessional no matter what the name of that label is. The professional response is to instead consider these people's arguments and, if you disagree, to debate them point for point with logic and facts.

There are many ungracious posts on this forum. They are generally whiny, insulting, or both. This behavior is generally caught and the author receives negative reputation marks or comments asking him/her to modify future behavior.

There are also many unprofessional posts on this forum. They tend to be lacking in facts, research, original thinking, a spine, or some combination of the above. Many of them are in vague praise of FIRST or reprimanding somebody who the author believe has spoken ill of FIRST. These posts are generally at best ignored and occasionally actually rewarded. Don't get me wrong, FIRST is wonderful and I frankly haven't got the words to express how the program has changed my life for the better, but those facts don't constitute a counter-argument in a debate.

The ability to act as a professional in the adult world is one of the most important gifts FIRST gives to the students. Everybody, and I mean everybody in this organization from a freshman on a rookie team to the members of the GDC, must work to uphold this standard in order us to properly be able to give it to the next generation of FIRSTers.

I honestly feel that it is high time we began considering the act of being unprofessional as great a fault as being ungracious.
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