Managing
Change in Exercise Physiology
Tommy Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP,
EPC
Professor and Chair
Director, Exercise Physiology
Laboratories
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
“Thinking is easy.
Acting is difficult. To put one’s thoughts into action is the most
difficult thing in the world.” -- Goethe
When students are asked to reflect
on what exercise physiology will be like in 10 years, they have no idea
of what to expect or what should be a logical development or change in
the field. The typical undergraduate program of kinesiology or exercise
science is not designed to educate students to think as exercise physiologists.
Hence, imagine as they may, students are not challenged to ask questions
about what exercise physiology ought to be or to even question whether
“what is” should change or continue as has been for decades. Students
have no information about professional credentials or whether such credentials
are even important. This lack of a professional education of students
as exercise physiologists just will not cut it anymore.
Business as Usual: The
Problem!
Business as usual has not
worked. Things have been the same far too long. We cannot continue
doing things as we have been. We must change, and we must grow in
our understanding and responsibility to think differently. It is
simply impractical to expect that we should be doing things next year or
five years from now the same way we have been doing for 50 plus years.
Therefore, we must rethink how exercise physiology is taught in our colleges
and universities. A major part of the process begins with turning
to the American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP).
Students and their teachers can learn from ASEP, and they can also help
ASEP grow and spread the message that ASEP is “The Professional Organization
of Exercise Physiologists”. It is the right fit for what must
be done because it is forward thinking and timely. It is disciplined
thinking with the end in mind.
Rethinking Exercise Physiology
At first glance, the idea
of rethinking exercise physiology may be considered wrong by some of us.
But, it is just common sense that the existence of an academic degree ought
to serve the student. That is, beginning college with the idea in
mind to be an exercise physiologist ought to result in realizing one’s
ideal future in the public sector. Anything fundamentally different,
both in the design of the curriculum and the thinking that supports it,
from the student’s notion of the ideal future should be upgraded with core
competencies and associated hands-on skills. In short, the most important
thing to take away from reading this article is that sports medicine is
the end of one kind of exercise physiology and ASEP is the beginning of
another. Another important fact to acknowledge is that we are in
a transition period that is reshaping the way we think about exercise physiology.
All of this means simply that our views about exercise physiologists, career
opportunities, and how we communicate with the entire world are changing.
Our entire world as we know is changing from only the PhD perspective to
the difficult to imagine but necessary thinking that exercise physiologists
ought to emerge from a credible undergraduate academic degree in exercise
physiology.
The New Focus of Exercise
Physiologists
Not only is it possible
to conceive of exercise physiologists without the PhD degree; the idea
is becoming increasingly an accepted idea. Virtually at no time in
history has this been the case. The change is directly a function
of how members of ASEP have been the driving force of change. The
Internet and cyberspace along with the PEPonline
articles about professionalism and the discussions with colleagues have
helped, too. The next four years will certainly create new ways of
thinking about professionalism and professionalization. The ASEP
Board of Directors is dedicated to the revolutionary idea of change in
thinking about exercise physiology. No longer is exercise physiology
considered singly as a discipline, especially since it now meets the criteria
for being a profession. Yet, at the same time, the Board has created
fear and uncertainty in those who are uncomfortable with the implications
of reshaping our mind-sets and the sports medicine paradigm that have been
comfortable for decades. There is also fear and doubt associated
with merely remaining static. Individuals in the latter example have
found themselves understanding that if change is to occur, they must have
the guts to step outside of what they have found comfortable. It
is simple common sense, but true. This should be the focus of all exercise
physiologists, including the ASEP organization, that is, to help each and
every exercise physiologist address the stages of change.
A primary underlying reason
that it is important in finding ourselves (through the study of how change
occurs) is in coming to terms with the reason for our existence.
ASEP, for example, exists for its members. Similarly, educational
programs should exist for the students. Students are the customers,
and individuals responsible for the educational programs must be customer-driven.
The best way to understand this point is that the jobs exercise physiologists
locate and/or create ought to have a logical connection to the focus on
meeting the student’s needs. Where necessary, chairs and professors
must restructure, reorganize, and redesign their departmental courses to
meet accreditation. The academic major must not only support students
in locating good paying jobs, it should also encourage students to buy
into the major in the first place. This point cannot be stressed
enough. It is also essential that the academic teachers get involved
in the ASEP effort to achieve its goals and objectives. They need
to understand that the effort to change how exercise physiologists think
and relate to each other requires perseverance, consistency, and flexibility.
At this point, it is important
to highlight what has been stated earlier. Many students appear to
have no idea what exercise physiology is, where it is going, or whether
the present conditions should be upgraded. And, unfortunately, many
teachers in the field are equally confused. There are dead ends everywhere
when we fail to share a common vision that defines and leads us.
Moreover, it is a mistake to expect an understanding of the future when
leaders fail to think, plan, and manage the customer-driven concerns and
issues before them. It is essential therefore that we keep the ASEP
vision and purpose in mind and share the same with students and faculty.
Pretty simple, right? The answer is, “Not really”. Knowing
what to do and doing it are clearly two different things. While common
sense suggests “get with the program” and do what is right for our students,
in particular, we remain confused if not frozen in ways that distract from
reaching our goals. What we should be doing is following through
with the accreditation of undergraduate academic programs.
Replacing Old Thinking
with New Thinking
The problem is that our
shared thinking needs revision. If we know where we want to be in
the near future, then we need to replace our old thinking with the new.
Part of that change is in our focusing on the outcomes we desire for both
our students and the emerging profession. However, until we place
the concerns that face exercise physiology before our concerns, progress
will be slow. What is also needed is a tracking system to determine
the success of our work. The best place to begin tracking, monitoring,
and reporting specific actions for developing and putting into place the
ASEP initiatives is at the chair level of all committees. Chairs
are responsible for developing a plan of action that involves the members
from the beginning through implementation. It is also important to
assess collective leadership, its readiness, and determination to overcome
potential barriers. This is one of the key tasks in making the difference
in how smoothly and effectively the organization is tailored to realize
change.
The change that is most important
in replacing old thinking with new thinking is to keep in mind the importance
of “professionalization” and what it means to the field of exercise
physiology. Hence, the thinking of the collective leadership ought
to be driven by the goals of the ASEP organization. On behalf of
its members, goals pull everyone together to move the organization in the
same direction. ASEP, like every organization, must commit to the
goals as well as the means by which to achieve them. Members must
believe that it is possible to be successful and, if it helps, Goethe said
it best:
“Whatever you can
do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic
in it.”
Members, therefore, must look
beyond the decades of investment in sports medicine in order to be leaders
within exercise physiology. They must be bold, and they must take
risks. This isn’t new information. Thinking outside of established
boundaries is necessary to look beyond what exercise physiology is today
to see what it can be in the future.
ASEP members need to be radial
in thinking about exercise physiology. They need to challenge their
colleagues to rethink their views of professionalism and ASEP. It
is the only way to stop other healthcare professionals from shaping the
future of exercise physiology. We should commit to achieving the
goal of “professional status” in exactly the same way that physical therapists,
occupational therapist, nurses, and other professionals have done.
It is logical, right, down-to-earth, timely, and intimidating. When
accomplished, it will be immensely helpful in marketing our students, academic
programs, the values we stand for, informing others of our core competencies
and capabilities in the public sector, in driving the profession to a distinctive
professional status, and in governance. Ultimately, the new professionalism
will drive the organization to define its philosophy and, especially, the
philosophy of exercise physiology.
The Rallying Cry
In my experience, not having
a philosophy of exercise physiology has been a major mistake in planning
and implementation. In addition to the need to increase focus on
the students as customers, identifying core organizational values is a
beginning point for what exercise physiologists believe in. The recently
developed “Standards of Professional Practice for Exercise Physiologists”
will help to contribute insight and direction in the key areas that are
important to communicating the fundamentals of an exercise physiology philosophy.
Perhaps, the rallying cry for the moment is “ASEP, The Professional
Organization of Exercise Physiologists”. It reflects the essence
of the ASEP organization as well as differentiating the organization from
the competition. The rallying cry cannot be readily duplicated by
the competition since the key single thrust within the ASEP mission statement
is “professionalism”. The organization is positioned specifically
to empower its members in the public sector. This point is
in particular the competitive edge of ASEP.
What We Must Keep in Mind
Concrete decisions about
what we are doing and whether we are doing the right things spring from
a defined vision and mission that set the stage for measuring both appropriateness
and influence of ASEP. The decisions are directly related to the
quantifiable outcome measurements on a monthly and yearly basis.
The measurements provide an understanding of whether the organization is
achieving its goals and objectives. Otherwise, the leadership would
not know whether the organization is successful in making corrective actions
and managing its responsibility to the members and the public sector.
Most important in the measurement side of an organization is the degree
to which it helps its members achieve a better professional and social
lifestyle. Membership satisfaction is imperative. Another consideration
is the activity of the committees.
It is important, therefore,
to get the results in a timely fashion to benchmark the organization’s
progress in membership satisfaction. Building an organization is
not easy. Aside from a variety of factors that must be constantly
considered, evaluated, and updated, one of the most significant is the
gathering of candid feedback from internal and external sources.
The “reality check” and thus progress or the lack of it will identify what
is being done right or it will highlight glaring discrepancies and/or failure
in leadership. This is why it is so critical to track and assess
what is going on within the designated committees of an organization.
Tracking and assessment can be accomplish in several ways,
but most importantly by direct phone call or email following a regular
evaluation period of a committee’s work. Follow-up and management
will help put in place necessary changes and strategies to better support
the mission of the organization. The process will also help ensure
that a clear sense of purpose is understood, agreed-upon, and demonstrated
via a commitment that measures up.
It is critical that the leadership
identifies with specificity the goals that are important to the ASEP organization.
Then, of equal importance is the determination of exactly the dates of
measurements as well as how the committee chair and/or ASEP leadership
will define progress towards an individual goal. Specific target
dates for measuring the progress of individual committees cannot be
overlooked. Even if the measurement is not where the committee would
like it, it nonetheless imperative that a fair and accurate assessment
is agreed-upon at specific targets. In other words, at designated
target dates, each chairperson of all the committees and the leadership
should have before them an ASEP Report Card. The Report should
be both a formal and a written analysis of the results at specific targets,
including the mapping of what should or should not be the general practice
within the individual committees and/or throughout the ASEP organization.
The results should be shared across the leadership. Where valuable
and informative, the results and the implications should be shared with
the membership via a formal report (such as via the ASEPNewsletter).
This thinking is actually no different from the obvious effort to set priorities;
one of which is the critical planning and re-planning that is at the top
of the priority order of events. As long as the leadership is in
the game of building the organization and supporting its members, its existence
will not be threatened. After all, no organization can survive or
create change without help from within its membership. Everything
about the organization depends upon the members. Make no mistake,
they must be unified, motivated, and determined to accomplish the goals
and objectives of the organization.
Marketing the EPC Exam
The other message we must
keep in mind is that the leadership of ASEP must give exercise physiologists
a reason to buy into the organization instead of a competitor. One
reason is the national certification created by ASEP; the “Exercise Physiologist
Certified” exam whereby the exercise physiologist is referred to as an
“EPC”. Although it is a new certification, it is the only professional
board certification for exercise physiologists. In time, it will
be essential for exercise physiologists to be an EPC to practice exercise
physiology. It is one of the essential ingredients in the professionalization
of exercise physiology. Other important ingredients include accreditation
and licensure. The challenge however is always the ability of the
leadership of any organization to bring together the ingredients and the
message of professionalism as one. It is not simple by any means.
Considerable amount of work is involved while trying to keep the overall
process simple and straight- forward. Behind the work is the notion
that to be successful in exercise physiology, we need to get the credentials
to win. Here, winning is the distinction that sets the exercise physiologists
apart from other exercise professionals. It is a strategy in thinking
that other professionals will recognize.
In this way, it is a statement
of fact, that is, to use the title “Exercise Physiologist” requires certification
by the professional body that certifies exercise physiologists. The
thinking is logical, and it is right. It also goes to the very foundation
of what ASEP is about. In other words, it is one of the cornerstones
of the organization. Leadership in exercise physiology results directly
from having the right title defined by the right academic course work and
certification and/or licensure. The organization itself, defined
by its members, is also defined by its simplicity. Keeping this thought
in mind, it is crystal clear that certification is only a part of ASEP’s
strategic action to professionalize exercise physiologists.
Licensure
Clearly, the paradigm shift
from sports medicine thinking to exercise physiology thinking requires
a serious focus on other strategies such as licensure. Again, the
idea is simple. ASEP is not about creating certifications after certifications.
There is only the need for one certification. The old version of
thinking that supports a type of mass production of exercise professionals
is wrong. The ASEP leadership understands the value in “specialized
niche” certification, and the beauty of the effort is that it has been
hard work but fun as well. Just take a moment and look at the expressions
of person with the EPC credential. He/she understands the value and
the legal importance of being identified as an Exercise Physiologist
Certified. In time, even as it is obvious now, the shared feelings
about the EPC is not only sustainable (both personally and professionally)
but a shared strategy of immense importance that will be the “glue” to
produce and market a well-defined departure from sports medicine.
State Associations and
Student Chapters
In order to get the fullest
possible implementation of ASEP within our colleges and universities, it
is essential that we develop well-positioned “student chapters” and “state
organizations”. Failure to do so will leave ASEP with a tremendous
Internet presence, but no specific, concrete actions for implementing the
ASEP philosophy. The goal is not to exist just as a major organization,
although important; rather, to achieve a sense of shared community and
commitment at all levels of possible involvement. The shared image
and shared responsibilities are important to moving exercise physiology
in the right direction to stand together for the right reasons. Part
of the latter is directly linked to the ASEP integrity and consistency
with its mission and purpose. To do this successfully, integrating
exercise physiologists at all levels is a high priority within the ASEP
strategy. It a way, it is also a wake-up call and a reality check
for members of ASEP. This is not to say that members have not been
working hard to realize these objectives. The fact is they have worked
hard at both.
Summary
To think about it, ASEP
is a phenomenon. In just four years, members of ASEP have caused
exercise physiologists in the United States to rethink the field and reprioritize
their commitment to a new exercise physiology. Naturally, to fully
commit to achieving the ASEP goals and objectives, the exercise physiology
“collective leadership” within ASEP must actively work together in planning
and problem solving. Realizing the future vision of a fully developed
exercise physiology profession requires responsible leadership that is
accountable to resolving issues that distract from professionalism and
financial stability. The fact is, unfortunately, most of us do not
think about the future of exercise physiology. Even if we are active
in attending meetings and working on committees, there still exist a tremendous
amount of work (and especially with our personal development). The
purpose of the development is so common and expected that the process has
not changed for decades. It is the way college teachers go about
their work. Simply put, there is the world of the tenured and promoted
teachers. There is also the other world. No one wants to become
part of the other world of non-tenured teachers. On the other hand,
the first rule of building a profession is to build the infrastructure.
Once in place, the structure sets the circumstances to monitor change and
model new behavior.
However, as has been stated,
implementing change is never easy. Most mindsets and most of what
we engage in at work and at our professional meetings are designed to perpetuate
the status quo. By the very nature of the existence of ASEP, it has
created major unrest because it is not “things as usual”. In all
likelihood, the best way to understand the challenges before ASEP in its
effort to create and improve upon exercise physiology in the public sector
is to study the change process. For example, like change of any kind,
change represents a threat to individuals who are comfortable with doing
“whatever” a certain way. The threat is significant as it often times
results in depression and/or confusion. Exercise physiologists who
are negative towards ASEP, and who tell others about how bad it is may
not realize that the resistance is expected. In time, however, with
increased communication, asking questions, and constantly working on the
vision and the why of ASEP, each new member of ASEP will help maximize
its leadership. One by one, all members become fully committed individuals
and teams of hope to promote the professional development of exercise physiology
Copyright
©1997-2001 American Society of Exercise Physiologists. All Rights
Reserved.
ASEP
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