The Importance of Being Organized and Professional

 Most clinicians have gone through years of graduate school and work in a subculture where being organized and professional is an important expectation.  They have learned over their years in school and in practice that they are expected to be responsive to requests, to complete tasks on time, and to stay organized in order to get large amounts of work done.  In that subculture, being disorganized or less than professional in appearance or communication is typically interpreted as a sign of being a poor clinician.

 Most Peer Support Specialist are working in healthcare settings alongside these clinicians.  Most have not gone to graduate school and many have not lived in a subculture with such an emphasis on being organized and professional.  In one sense, that difference is desirable, as we want Peer Support Specialists who clients see as different from clinicians.  However, Peer Support Specialists often have to work with clinicians and navigate clinical subcultures in a way that results in respect and collaboration with those clinicians.  To do that successfully, consider the following suggestions:

 1.     Professionals all have a professional identity that they are deeply tied to.  They function almost like tribes, seeing their professional role as part of who they are and what team they are part of.  As a Peer Support Specialist, you want to recognize their roles and differences.  Learn about them and respect those differences.  At the same time, embrace your role and connect with other Peer Support Specialists in a way that builds your identity in your organization.  Help the Peer Support Specialist team establish a unique voice among the other professional groups in your work setting.

 2.     There is a history of a ‘pecking order’ between professions that relates to status and control.  This ‘pecking order’ has been breaking down recently but it is important that Peer Support Specialists recognize the remnants of this in your organization, and on specific teams when it is active.  Because of the typical lack of graduate training, many clinicians will see Peer Support Specialists as at the bottom or outside the “hierarchy” of clinical roles.  They may say that overtly or indirectly.  Recognize that this is going to be common, and is most likely to be seen in clinicians who do not understand the advantages of Peer Support Specialists.  This hierarchy is going to change dramatically over the next 10 years, as more clinicians get experience with peers.  Be patient and persistent in the face of this eroding hierarchy.

 3.     Use the model and language of ‘interprofessional collaboration’ to join and navigate around clinical teams.  There is good research indicating that teams of different professions that collaborate well, produce the best clinical outcomes for their clients.  Use that fact and the language of collaboration to secure your role on your team.  You are part of the team because your involvement will improve the outcomes of the care provided.  Use that reason to build your role.

 4.     Professionals have developed habits around being conscientious and timely.  They are very attentive to rules and expectations and are typically anxious when their performance does not meet these.  They interpret coworkers who are not conscientious and timely in their work as being poor clinicians.  That means that you need to attend to those expectations, because healthcare professionals quickly and unconsciously will draw negative conclusions when you don’t.

  5.     This is also true about being organized.  Professionals are used to setting goals for teams and making assignments, setting deadlines and measuring outcomes.  This approach is mirrored in a lot of business training, with concepts such as Smart Goals, PDSA, quality improvement, etc.  Peers want to understand this focus on organization and respect it.  If you get a chance to participate in quality improvement training, do so.  Learn the processes and language of organizational effectiveness and efficiency, and use that to be part of your team.

 6. Clothes, credentials, etc. are all parts of the professionalism that healthcare professionals are training in.  Peer Support Specialists are different from clinicians, but you are still part of their organization and so you will want to think through how you show that you are a professional as well.  Talk openly with your supervisors and with other Peer Support Specialists about this.  Be thoughtful about these signs of professionalism and use them to achieve your goals.

KEY WORDS: Peer Support Specialist, Professionalism, Peer Support, Peer Support Training, Peer Support Certification, Peer Support Jobs