NYSASBO Begins “Future of the Profession” Project
As times change, professions evolve. The characteristics that define many professions – such as what professionals need to do, and what they need to know – are much different now than they were just a few years ago. This is certainly true of the school business management profession. For good or bad, the mold of the profession will be cast by those who have a strong interest and stake in what it will look like. NYSASBO believes school business officials themselves are best positioned to envision what the profession will look like in the future and what is necessary to achieve that vision. Because of this, NYSASBO is pursuing the Future of the Profession project. Throughout the next eight months, NYSASBO will prepare a report that will examine the factors impacting school business management and make recommendations to strengthen the profession in ways that will best serve students now and for years to come.
To complete the project, NYSASBO will utilize “crowd sourcing,” a process that leverages mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. Through crowd sourcing many individuals are asked to make a small contribution rather than asking a few individuals to make a large contribution. In this case, instead of tasking a special ad hoc committee with the preparation of the report, NYSASBO has created a wiki on the Association website. This wiki will allow all members and selected stakeholders to contribute to and edit an online document. Using this collaborative tool, NYSASBO can tap into the collective energies and ideas of all school business officials. Members will be able to build on the thoughts and ideas of their colleagues, have a voice regarding the factors affecting their jobs, and ultimately chart the course of the future of their profession. Currently, the wiki includes an opening statement and sections on the most important factors affecting the profession as identified by the local chapter presidents at NYSASBO’s Fall Leadership Conference in September.
The project will be divided into two phases. From now until March 1, 2010, school business officials and selected stakeholders (e.g. superintendents, state agency representatives, SDBL program instructors, and elected officials) are encouraged to view the on-line document and share their thoughts and ideas. NYSASBO staff will monitor the contributions and assist with developing a coherent report and recommendations.
To be a part of the project, go to the NYSASBO website and follow the virtual “Conference Room” link in the Member Services menu on the left side of the page. From there, click on the link “Future of the Profession” in the list of currently Active Wikis. To edit the wiki, click the edit tab, which will take you to a page where you can make additions or modifications to the document.
Phase two of the project will begin at NYSASBO’s March Leadership Conference where chapter presidents will review the status of the report and its recommendations and suggest any modifications. A select group of contributors will then make the final changes to be submitted to the NYSASBO Board of Directors for approval in May. The final report and recommendations will be presented to the membership at the NYSASBO Annual Conference in June and subsequently distributed.
Remember, this is your profession. If you don’t actively engage in a dialog to shape the future of your profession, others will shape it for us.
PARTICIPATE IN THE FUTURE OF THE PROFESSION PROJECT WIKI>>>
FUTURE OF THE PROFESSION SURVEYS:
Survey 1: The Shared Business Official
Survey 2: The Central Business Office
