Julie Medwid, MPT2
In early November I attended CPA’s Leadership Forum in Ottawa as the student representative for CPA’s Private Practice Division and it was a great experience.
I was fairly nervous about attending as I thought to myself, “I’m just a student; I don’t have much of a leadership role as a professional yet.” In the course of three days I learned so much about myself, both personally and professionally, and I gained knowledge about what it means to be a physiotherapist beyond the textbooks and research papers. Here are three lessons I learned:
Lesson 1: The Definition of a Leader
A leader is someone who is moving towards a goal – it is that simple. A leader is a person who does not accept the status quo and who works at creating a vision that will encourage movement towards the goal. Often a leader can be portrayed as someone who is humble, someone who takes time to interact with his or her peers, and someone who engages in conversations about visions, policy and change in the physiotherapy profession. During the panel discussion, Ontario Physiotherapy Association President Allan MacDonald said he thinks of leaders as having these three characteristics: Authenticity, Accountability, and Acumen. In my opinion, a leader looks at the strengths in others, encourages them, and nurtures their visions.
Lesson 2: Physiotherapy Beyond the Textbooks
As students, we are reminded in our classes and throughout our clinical placements of the Essential Competency Profile for Physiotherapists in Canada. Until the Leadership Forum I did not fully understand the concept of being an advocate in physiotherapy. I understood and practiced advocacy at the individual level, but at a population and community level I thought that role came later on as a professional. After being exposed to the bigger picture, I realized that students have skills and knowledge to offer in population and community advocacy. This may include involvement in constructive feedback to faculty in course evaluations, volunteering with advocacy groups or committees in the community, and not being afraid to jump outside of that comfort zone to offer ideas about policy and change.
Lesson 3: The Value of Networking
Lastly, the largest take-away from the Leadership Forum was the unmeasurable value of networking. This was a fairly daunting idea for me as an introvert. Emma Stokes, President of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, gave us some good advice to remember when networking: two up, two down, two sideways. This means making a point to talk to two people to two people whom you hold in high esteem, to two people to whom you can offer advice, and finally to two people with whom to share ideas. I met practitioners from all areas of practice – from new grads to seasoned therapists – and they each had so much insight and expertise to share on practice standards, policy, trends, hardships, and successes in the profession. As students, we can can get tunnel vision: with the countless hours of study, it can be difficult to see the big picture. Networking with professionals locally and from across Canada helps students have a greater perspective. This, in turn, helps those school projects, research articles, and therapy skills to become more meaningful.
In conclusion, leadership in our profession can start as a student. Sometimes it’s difficult to see oneself as a leader while still in university. However, every student has a set of skills they can offer that are both unique and valuable. Sometimes it takes networking and experiencing physiotherapy beyond textbooks to see where one fits into the big picture. With the current environment and upcoming trends in physiotherapy, students can start making a difference now.
