157 6.5.2 Membership

Association Membership

Membership in professional organizations is a way for professionals with comparable objectives to link together to have the voice of many, versus the voice of one. Professional Nursing organizations and networks are effective tools for:

• Professional development
• Career advancement
• Practice support^[1]

Joining an organization can assist with:

• Personal growth
• Increased professional potential
• Knowledge growth
• Support to generate change
• Legal support/advice^[2]

Communities of practice

As we have discussed in previous lessons, communities of practice are important as a professional learning and support strategy. These are a type of professional association that have the potential to:

• Connect people
• Provide a shared context for people to communicate and share
• Foster conversation between people who come together to:
• Explore possibilities
• Resolve perplexing problems
• Generate new opportunities
• Stimulate learning through communication, mentoring, coaching, and self-reflection
• Capture and share current understanding to help individuals improve their practice
• Present collaborative practices to groups and organizations
• Help people organize around focused actions
• Produce innovative understandings to help people transform their practice^[3]