What You Should Know About: THE LMA BODY OF KNOWLEDGE: The LMA BOK will provide a blueprint for the association's future educational programming and a professional development roadmap for members seeking to advance their careers.

AuthorLilley, Trish

The Body of Knowledge. Sounds a little mysterious, no? Conjures up images of an ancient, leather-bound volume secreted away in a subterranean LMA vault, or maybe a wizened oracle, muttering words from beneath a cloak in some mystical locale.

Well, it's hardly that dramatic. But it's definitely impressive!

The Body of Knowledge (BOK) is a new endeavor that LMA launched in early 2015 and will be unveiled in spring 2016. Essentially, the LMA BOK will provide a blueprint for the association's future educational programming and a professional development roadmap for members seeking to advance their careers.

"The launch of the Body of Knowledge will elevate the industry's professionalism, scope and value," says LMA Education Director Holly Amatangelo.

A Strong Foundation

One of the greatest benefits of association membership is access to timely educational offerings and programming. At every level of their careers, members turn to their association for the most current information on industry developments and trends. To ensure consistent standards in developing educational content, an association needs to have an articulated standard of knowledge for the industry.

That's where the BOK comes in.

Simply, a BOK is a document that clearly defines the essential and accepted domains (areas of expertise or practice) within a particular profession and outlines the associated competencies and skill sets required for professionals to be successful in those areas. BOKs develop and change over time and grow with the organization and the profession.

To develop a BOK, an association generally reaches out to experts and leaders in the industry to contribute their expertise and experience.

BOK, LMA-Style

In launching its BOK initiative, LMA wanted to ensure its continual development and delivery of learning opportunities and its position as the industry's trusted resource for professional development. To that end, the board reached out to a broad cross-section of association members to solicit their participation in the Educational Advisory Council (EAC). The EAC drives the BOK initiative and has collaborated for most of 2015 to develop comprehensive content for it. As it is an ongoing initiative that will evolve and grow with the profession, EAC participants will be appointed on an annual basis to strategize, guide best practices and serve as ambassadors.

"The results of this project will be a master blueprint of essential learning that we can provide to our...

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