Speak Out Feb 2020 DIGITAL EDITION. pdf

From the President

Welcome to the first issue of Speak Out for 2020. It’s been a challenging summer, where our notion of what defines Australia as a society, and our values, have been put to the test. The Speak Out editorial for February 2019 made mention of record temperatures, bushfires, and severe flooding, and this summer has been similar. National Office is aware that some members and their families have been adversely affected by events this year, and have stepped up efforts to support them as best they can. Although I was glued to the news, professionally speaking my January was relatively quiet, and so I took the opportunity to "skill up" by attending some workshops. Some were within my comfort zone, and some really weren’t. Clinical governance? I can deal with that. But one workshop was on Corporate Governance, which is an area I really wanted to explore more. During one section of the learning, the facilitator started to talk about the notion of "organisational culture". In groups we discussed the values of various agencies and associations, and how setting those values is vital. Naming the right values is vitally important in terms of communicating what a company stands for. I had to smile as I thought about how hard it seems to be for a group of us to agree on a definition at times. If you want to slow a speech pathologist down, ask them to narrow down a concept to four or five key words and lock them in. (Just as a side note: this does not appear to be such a problem in the accounting industry). But what turned everything around for me is when the facilitator suggested that organisational culture defines how a business or association will react when faced with an emergency. Well, now we’re talking. Because over the past few months, it’s been heart-warming to see the reaction across social media from our colleagues when faced with disaster. I’ve read about how some members were evacuated from their homes, and then returned, and then scrolled through the well wishes from their colleagues. Initiatives, including the building of social stories, AAC aids, and accessible information for people with communication disorders have sprung up from a range of sources. Similarly, with the increased vigilance around

the Coronavirus, I’ve been watching members starting to ask questions about this. How do we best operate a practice around this, within and across a variety of settings? And again, people are sharing ideas, approaches, and resources. Not out of self-interest, but with a genuine need to make sure that those people most vulnerable to a potential outbreak (who are often our clients) are as protected as they can be. And, as our members ask questions and take steps forward, our National Office staff have stepped up, and are providing information as fast as it becomes available. It’s important that we look back and recognise the successes of what the Association has achieved over the past twelve months, and a summary of our advances in advocacy, disability services, and public awareness are highlighted in this issue. What I’m taking from all of this is that, as our world changes, the mindset of our profession is adapting alongside it. Reading through this issue of Speak Out , this is very evident. I’m intrigued by the program for our National Conference this year. The theme, Local Contexts, Global Practice is woven through the workshops, seminars, and presentation groupings. This is shaping up to be a memorable conference, and I can’t wait for the full program to be launched on February 12. Of course, behind all this, we have reached 10,000 members. In this issue, you’ll meet our ten thousandth member. And you will also meet a variety of other members here too, who we congratulate for their innovation, their ability to coach family members, their ground breaking research into linguistic culture and diversity, and their first steps from clinical placement into new worlds. Because that is also a part of what we do well: we recognise the efforts of our colleagues. So, that brings us back to this workshop. Towards the end, the facilitator said that organisational culture is a tricky concept to measure, and it would be foolhardy to assume that any association has a complete understanding of their “culture”. But if this issue of Speak Out is anything to go by, even in a world that is unpredictable and occasionally frightening, I think we have some pretty positive indicators that, in times of emergency, we have the numbers, and the collegiality, to be amazing.

Tim Kittel

Tim Kittel National President

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February 2020 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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