I often hear experienced colleagues describing ‘imposter syndrome’ – feelings of self-doubt and incompetence which persist despite recognisable experience, learning and expertise. This condition seems to particularly affect clinical academics and was written about very recently by fellow blogger and clinical academic Vikki Snaith; despite her many achievements, she is still plagued by her inner critic. Perhaps it is inevitable that as you learn more you realise how much more there is to know, and consequently how much it is that you don’t know about your given field of specialism. I recently experienced some what of an epiphany, whereby I have been able to recognise where my expertise is emerging (and it’s not where I thought it might be). I’m sure that imposter syndrome will creep back in sooner or later so, while I have clarity and confidence, I felt it important to write it down to encourage others to celebrate our hard-earned expertise too.
As a speech and language therapist (SLT) I have been trained in, and spent several years honing the craft of, communication. The obvious ways in which SLTs support communication are in helping people to develop or rehabilitate their speech, and to support their expression by encouraging and enhancing other means of communicating such as sign, gesture, writing and pictures. We may work with conversation partners, parents and other professionals to support people with communication difficulties, and/or encourage the development of environments that are conducive to good communication. SLTs also develop less widely recognised skills in listening. Listening to disordered or distorted speech, ‘listening’ with our eyes to the non-verbal expressions that some people use, but also listening to what is not said or explicitly communicated, but is expressed in the intention, context or simply by a glance or gesture. It is these skills of embodied listening (considering how a person’s communication intent making me feel) that I have refined through the course of my PhD. I have spent time exploring and learning about the theoretical underpinnings for this type of knowing, and practically applied my skills in interviews with people who have complex communication difficulties, and then again during data analysis. I am looking forward to sharing my learning about this at the RCSLT conference next month and discussing it further with colleagues who engage with my poster presentation. Expertise can be latent, and may need careful and considered attention, and then explicit acknowledgement to bring it to the surface. We can attend to our emerging expertise through reflection and reflexivity, but may also may benefit from the help of an external gaze on our practice to enable them to identify it. I have found that a combination of coaching and supervision have helped me to explore this area of expertise. I have observed that it is often difficult for SLTs to recognise and describe our expertise in listening and I feel fortunate to have had the time and support to be able to explore this often undervalued skill deeply.
Careful, attentive and active listening are recognised as important skills in Hilary Cottam’s Radical Help. I was lent this book by a colleague and it made for an inspirational summer read. It also helped me to contextualise the expertise that I am developing in collaboration. I have blogged previously about my experiences of evolving the PPI group for my research project, using creative methods to establish collaborative and productive relationships. While I was reading Radical Help, I felt excited to learn about how the author engaged creativity in the experimental social projects she describes in the book, and how her and her colleagues had used the space that design methods create to enable them to innovate and generate change. I have had the privilege of co-editing a book about collaborative methods in service-user involvement with the most excellent Anna Volkmer, during which I have learnt such a lot about the theory of collaboration and how it has been put into practice by other colleagues working with seldom heard voices. Writing a journal article about my PPI group, which was published earlier this year, enabled me to reflect on and articulate the knowledge and skills that I have acquired in the area of collaborative practice. While reading Cottam’s book I realised how important expertise in listening, creativity and collaboration are to transforming public services, and how the principles of collaborative practice are being deployed in innovative projects outside of research and healthcare.
Why do I think that I am an expert (or a least an emerging one)? Listening, creativity and collaboration are areas that my fellowship has given me the opportunity to learn about theoretically and to engage in practically. I believe that developing expertise is dependent on having both relevant knowledge and practical experience of a set of valued skills. I can now feel confident that I am developing expertise in the areas I have described because I am being approached by other people to share my learning with them. I have established partnerships with colleagues within my own profession and clinical field to support development in these areas of mutual interest. I have also been able to translate my expertise to colleagues in other areas of academia and practice to help inform their thinking and learning. I can read books like Radical Help and critique them based on where I feel there are similarities between the projects described and my work, where I would like to see more information or data in the text, and how I think I can apply some of the lessons and learning from others to my own ongoing professional development. I consider being an expert as being about recognising my skills and experience but also acknowledging what I don’t know and feeling confident to approach others for help, advice and support.
My research is concerned with developing a patient-reported outcome measure. I had assumed that my expertise would emerge in the field of outcomes and measurement. Through the process of conducting my research and sharing my learning, I have been interested and surprised in the aspects of the project that have piqued the engagement of other people. They often mirror my own enthusiasm for a topic. I have also learned, through reading, writing and reflecting on my journey, where I am developing expertise that can be translated to other clinical, academic and practice areas to facilitate transformative thinking and innovation. I know that the imposter gremlin is lurking around and I feel confident that I will not feel confident about my expertise forever. However, I do think that as part of a community of emerging clinical academic practitioners, I have a duty to celebrate my expertise when I can in order that the skills and knowledge of all clinical academics are more widely recognised across health and academic systems.
Unspoken Voices Project 