Professionalizing a Profession: A Message From I.C.E.’s Executive Director

When I first started as the executive director of I.C.E. back in 2011, the Board often discussed how an organization should go about professionalizing the occupation of credentialing. It seemed like a daunting task at the time. Yet, the more we discussed the topic, the more we realized that we were already on our way. It is definitely a journey, but it’s a worthy one.

I share with you here the steps that I.C.E. has taken over the years toward professionalization. You will notice that the common theme throughout this process is the involvement of many individuals who truly care about the profession.

Trigger Event: Realizing the Need for Professionalization

Way Back in 1977, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS) of the U.S. Federal government issued a grant to help them understand what quality healthcare certifications looked like. There had been a proliferation of certifications at the time, and the HHS was having trouble identifying quality programs from others. This request, and funding, launched the establishment of the need for standards.

Creating a Professional Standards Organization to Meet the Need

This request from the Department of Health helped form the National Commission for Health Certifying Agencies (NCHCA). This organization involved many interested experts, with familiar names like Paul Grace, Larry Fabrey and Joan Knapp. These individuals were on the cutting edge of certification development and the emerging field of psychometric science.

Developing Standards for a Defined Industry

The primary focus of the NCHCA was to write standards to be applied to certification programs to indicate quality. These standards would soon verify the level of quality that HHS was seeking as a differentiator of nursing certifications. The Standards have been reviewed and updated over the years (recently approximately every five years) and continue to either push the industry forward or reflect evolving concerns and practices.

Creating Our Professional Membership Society

In 1989 the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA, the precursor to I.C.E.) was established as a membership organization to serve the burgeoning field of credentialing organizations and their staff. It was at this time that the standards were broadened and moved beyond serving just health certifications to apply to any profession or occupation’s certification program. To reflect this change, it was also at this time that NCHCA changed its name to the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) as you might know it today.

Honing Our Body of Knowledge

In 2006, Cynthia Durley, president of NOCA, wrote a letter to the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The letter focused on proposed regulations for senior advisors and included the following:

“Historically, as a new occupation comes into being and evolves, its body of knowledge develops and becomes accepted by the individuals performing that job, by employers and by customers. The emergence of a defined body of knowledge and a specific vocabulary are important steps in the development and definition of an occupation.”

This explanation encapsulates a general route toward professionalization but also mirrors the path I.C.E. has taken in creating a body of knowledge.

As the individuals in NOCA began meeting and sharing best practices, they started to see the need for literature in the field that would capture those practices. The “NOCA Guide to Understanding Credentialing Concepts” (precursor to the “Handbook on Certification”) was first published in the late 90s. Subsequently, three editions of the “Certification: I.C.E. Handbook” have been published. The most recent edition was edited by James Henderson, PhD.

A professional body of knowledge could be developed in any number of forms, including textbooks, terminology documents and academic research. I.C.E.’s body of knowledge, for example, includes a range of publications such as white papers, research papers and an online journal (Credentialing Insights). Dozens of individuals within I.C.E. have been instrumental in producing these resources.

Conducting a Job Analysis (JA/JTA)

A job analysis is typically conducted with the assistance of subject matter experts (SMEs) in the field. I.C.E. first conducted its job analysis in 2010 under the leadership of Jim Henderson, PhD, and a task force of many dedicated members. The report included the following phases: 1) Initial Development and Validation 2) Pilot Study 3) Validation Study and 4) Development of Specifications. While the study did not immediately lead to a certification, it was the basis of the development of the I.C.E. Certificate for Credentialing Specialists, an online training program that includes an assessment-based certificate.

Defining a Career Pathway

 In 2019, Anjali Weber led the Career Pathway Task Force. This created a career pathway, based on data gathered from the members, which acknowledged that professionals in the credentialing field often enter through a variety ways and a myriad of skills and experience. The Competency Matrix illustrated the various competencies needed.

Building Our Community

While a community of professionals in a like field may seem like a given within association management, it’s not always such a generous and contributive community like ours. The difference is that professionals in credentialing genuinely want to share their knowledge and experience (good and not-so-good) so that we can all learn and improve. Tapping into this community is easy. It happens at the I.C.E. Exchange, or in any learning environment like webinars and workshops, or online in the I.C.E. Member Community where questions are asked and answered almost every day by the knowledgeable professionals who operate in credentialing.

Leveraging Certification

The process of building a certification program for a profession can be daunting. I.C.E. began building its certification — the ICE-CCP® — in 2019 under the capable leadership of Linda Anguish and the Certification Services Council, led by Bill Ellis, RPh, MS, ICE-CCP. Launched with a beta examination in the fall of 2021, the program was supported by so many individuals and companies in the credentialing space and it is taking off. The benefit of a certification in any particular field is the signal it sends to the employers that there is a means for recognizing those with established and demonstrated knowledge, skills and abilities. It is especially significant for the field of professional credentialing to model its own program. 

Other steps for other professions might include licensure, academic degree programs or even an occupational code from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. No matter the steps taken, any given field or occupation can endeavor to professionalize with any number of these elements. At the end of the day, it’s truly the effort, passion and caring expertise of the people involved who make the difference.

Please reach out to I.C.E. management if you have additional insights into the professionalization path over the past several decades that the organization has taken. If you have historical information that might be helpful to filling in the gaps, please reach out to me.