PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION
Most program and staff development professionals work within McClelland's Competency Model that focuses on building individuals' capabilities to perform the tasks and processes that create a "sustainable competitive advantage" in for-profit organizations, meaningful improvements for clientele in not-for-profit organizations, and professional success for all personnel (McClelland, 1973; 1998).
Extension organizations rely on the competency approach to help personnel to acquire, enhance, and implement the skills needed to realize our vision and mission for the citizens our states (Harder, Place, & Scheer, 2010; Scheer, Cochran, Harder, & Place, 2011; Scheer, Ferrari, Earnest, & Connors, 2006).
Over the last few decades, Extension organizations have been building their capacity to thrive as change has become constant, rapid, and even disruptive (Torppa & Smith, 2011). Having just celebrated our 100th anniversary, the time is right to ask: What does the landscape look like for the future of extension work and what are the skills our personnel will need in the future?
Our purpose for study was to explore the competencies that will be needed by future extension personnel to ensure Extension remains our nation's premier community partner in using science-based knowledge to improve the social, economic and environmental conditions that affect quality of life.
As a foundation for understanding needed competencies, we conducted a literature review of multiple scholarly publications, applied studies and professional essays, articles and public presentations representing a wide range of Extension organizations across the county. We then conducted a comparative analysis which resulted in the identification of past, current and anticipated competencies.
Looking first at previously recognized skills, we found that many categories of competencies remain central to Extension's needs. Specifically, many competencies were consistently listed in nearly all studies, a few previously recommended competencies were absent from more recent lists, but some that were dropped reappeared in later works. Competencies that maintained priority status included: Extension Knowledge, Communication/Marketing/PR, Technology, Research Skills, Program Planning/Implementation/Evaluation, Interpersonal Skills, Leadership and Management.
Competencies that appeared, disappeared and reappeared over time include Professionalism and Continuous Professional Development, Diversity Appreciation and Knowledge, Key Personality Attributes, Community Development Knowledge, Business Sense/Ability to Work with Funding and Grants, and Networking.
Next, exploring competencies for future extension programming, we searched our sources for indications about the capacities that will underpin future success. Findings suggested most of the categories identified above will retain importance, but the operationalization of skills within those categories will evolve as Extension professionals adapt to changing conditions. A few of the new capacities that will be needed include:
Evaluation. With information and misinformation readily available from similar looking sources, future Extension educators will need to apply traditional evaluation skills to assessing the quality of the information they use and to help clientele distinguish between evidence-based information and spin (November, 2016).
Teaching. As Raison (2014) noted, the traditional model of information delivery must give way as Extension educators help guide our audiences' interpretations and applications of the information they bring to a learning context. This will include abilities to help audiences to think complexly, make sense of disparate ideas, and reframe perspectives.
Networking. More than forming partnerships, Extension educators will be sought by their communities to serve as the trusted leaders who can convene and facilitate groups of community partners as they develop plans to address local issues.
Technology. Rather than learning to use applications effectively, the skills necessary to harness the power of networks will be needed to overcome social group polarization and build customer relations management systems (Languster, 2015; Cummings, Andrews, Weber & Postert, 2015; Argabright, 2018).
Urban Audiences. With 80% of the U.S. population living in urban or metropolitan areas, necessary competencies to build connectivity among urban, suburban, and rural communities will be critical (Fox, Ruemanapp, Proden & Gaolach, 2017).
Relevant Experience. We can no longer assume that our new professionals will begin their Extension careers with on-farm or other in vivo experience to bolster their theoretical knowledge; training and development support for fundamental skills will be necessary and expected (Crawford, Lang, Fink, Dalton & Fielitz, 2011).
Extension organizations will continue to evolve as the communities we serve evolve. As program and staff development professionals, awareness of the ways these changes will profoundly affect our personnel's ability to perform their duties effectively will be critical to our ability to provide the training and support necessary to ensure the continued success of extension organizations across the nation.
