Introducing the Resourceful Practitioner

Abstract

This chapter sets the scene for the arguments to be made later in the book, that a relational turn in professional expertise is occurring, and we therefore need to understand better what it involves for practitioners, clients and organisations. The core themes are introduced: as professionals operate across professional boundaries with other specialists and with clients on complex problems, working with and contributing to the resources that can be brought to bear on these problems, they operate outside the safety net of their organisations’ bureaucratic procedures. Consequently, rather than following established institutional practices, they rely on their specialist knowledge and their expertise in working with others while they negotiate the accomplishment of complex tasks. Topics covered in this chapter include what does being a professional mean now: the knowledge-laden nature of specialist professional practices; professional identity and the idea of relational expertise.