In an all-member memo, IABC chair Robin McCasland takes about 1,000 words to say the annual Leadership Institute is coming up Feb. 6-8, where several boring meetings will be held in New Orleans. At those meetings, they'll rename some old things to make them sound new (all the training stuff IABC offers will from now on be called the "IABC Academy"). And they'll cook up schemes to molify grouchy people whose accreditation is being made obsolete by a new certification program. Or as McCasland puts it, "We intend to nurture that special community." Thank you, Nurse Ratched.
I won't bore you with the dearth of details, but here's a sampling of McCasland's prose:
A small team of communication professionals will participate in a job task analysis (JTA), paving the way for development of a blueprint and exam for our first certification program. This first certification program will be targeted to communication professionals at the Generalist/Specialist level of their communication careers. The designation for people who attain this certification will be CCP, which stands for Certified Communication Professional.The JTA is based on the six Global Principles℠ that were determined by IABC’s Career Road Map Committee. The committee members developed these principles based on their in-depth analysis of a wealth of research on our profession. The JTA defines job roles and competencies that will be required to earn the CCP designation.
These folks must be operating on the W.C. Fields communication plan: If you can't dazzle them with brilliance (DTWB) baffle them with bullshit (BTWB).
We use lots of words when we want to say very little.
I agree.
The line that the new certification will be “targeted to communication professionals” v. supporting or serving communicators reminds me of a saying:
There are two ways to walk into a room. You can say, Here I Am! or you can say, There You Are (and put the emphasis on the other person/customer). IABC is saying Here I Am.