Australian Immigration Daily News

Building a strong migration advice profession is a tactical process, not a goal. As migration advisers, building on an already robust profession is the systematic process of consolidating the various groups within our migration profession around a specific goal. The specific goal of our profession is to protect, advance, promote, and preserve the Australian migration advice industry.

Part of the profession-building process for the migration advice profession is the guiding and propulsion of all groups into a place of closeness, mutual understanding, and trust, despite our differences. In essence, building the migration advice profession is like setting the “table” for a healthy marriage.

Forging respectful relationships and mutual respect of our professional associations, whether they be Registered Migration Agent (RMA) associations, Law Societies or a mix of lawyers and RMAs requires each of us to engage in the behaviours mentioned above. This will minimise the interpersonal obstacles and personal biases that can hinder overall productivity and growth as a migration advice profession.

Why would we do that?

The answer is simple. A migration advice profession that works well together performs and grows at a higher level of efficiency than one burdened with ongoing conflict, mistrust, and a lot of ridiculous bickering.

Example.
Punch and Judy run a talk-back show about the migration profession. Punch likes to poke fun, criticise and make snide jokes about various people and organisations in the migration profession, and Judy laughs and supports this view. Punch and Judy see their competitors as having more political capital than they do, or “only in it for the money”, and disparage others efforts, telling their listeners that they are “not doing enough”. They spend time fault-finding and mocking others.

“That’s just how these companies are! More interested in making money through CPD than in what is good for the profession”, Punch and Judy say to their listeners.  Punch doesn’t like not being the centre of attention and is keen to lift his profile. He continues to speak negatively about various organisations in the profession who he perceives as doing better than him, and Judy does the same.

Meanwhile, the organisations that Punch and Judy disparage view Punch and Judy as incessant, irrelevant talkers, desperate to be noticed and admired as “truth tellers”.  Some groups and their leaders say to one another, "Oh no!  “Fresh RMAs are going to listen to this Punch and Judy show, innocently believing and taking on board these ill-informed views. Punch and Judy speak with authority as if they have some inside knowledge, when they don’t, and they give away stuff no one asks for.  They’re just doing that to make friends. Let’s ignore Punch and Judy because friendships built on gossip shows are unprofessional.”

Some industry organisations see themselves as committed to being productive and marking off as many tasks they can from their never ending list of duties in a day, saying “I am here to do a job, advancing the profession, and I’m going to do that instead of listening to the Punch and Judy Show”.

Two totally different perspectives.

These two perspectives have a productivity barrier which impacts on the whole profession.

What profession-building does…
With effective migration advice profession-building, groups within the profession can explore the motivations, personalities, weaknesses, values, triggers, and needs of other members of the profession.  In other words, they learn how to “handle” one another in ways that leverage strengths and enable everyone to work well together.  We would like to give a shout out to the MIA, a different organisation in the same profession, but with whom Migration Alliance has some shared values.  We acknowledge and admire the President, John Hourigan. We do not have to agree on everything to have respect for those who run the MIA.  We also respect and admire the views of other long-term leaders in the profession such as Roz Germov, Migration Barrister, Peter Bollard, Accredited Specialist Migration Lawyer, and David Prince of the LCA.  Whilst we do not agree on all matters there are parts we can respect and admire in all persons and groups.

Profession-building isn't a tick and flick type activity. Common everyday situations can cause a high-functioning migration advice profession to plummet to a bunch of disconnected strangers or warring parties. Here are a few ways this can happen:
* new splinter groups in the profession arrive and interpersonal dynamics shift
* organisations acquire new CEOs or their departmental leaders change (i.e. new managers, restructuring, etc.)
*government changes from Labor to Liberal which can affect organisations, their lobbying efforts, and even the migration settings for Australia. Top this off with migration scandals in the news, national disasters, a pandemic, and even an election year….it can all create more and more divisions.

Depending on the type of organisation or person you are, any one of these scenarios can throw a monkey wrench into the professional dynamic.

Tension and worry often invade the non-profit associations and their elected representatives and staff. Colleagues snap at one another. Mistrust surfaces as some team members assume others were preparing to “jump ship” to go and work for an alternative organisation. It can get ugly.

If any of the team dynamics change, a new team-building process must start afresh before irreparable damage is done, and the team is permanently impacted. Migration Advisers and organisations can find positive ways to build teams, and help form a whole-of-profession identity. 

Profession-building speaks to creating trust and positive interactions that help RMAs see one another and each other's organisations in a new, fresh way.

What Migration Profession cohesion does....
The team-building process explores, unveils, and enlightens members of the RMA profession. In it’s best contexts, profession-building is the direct result of intentional plans, exercises, and/or experiences of the peak associations and their members.

Professional cohesion is the bonds, trust, and connection that results from the above-mentioned plans, exercises, and experiences. This is something all RMAs should want to protect just like a married couple tries to protect their sense of connection as the years go by.

Professional cohesion is a “closeness” rooted in understanding and acceptance, but not necessarily because of furious agreement all the time. It influences interactions, reduces conflicts, and cultivates a sense of belonging and a sort of membership to the whole profession.

Here is the stick in the mud. Professional cohesion doesn’t last if left unattended. Like a cheap perfume, it’s temporary. Without regular maintenance, it fizzles out and fades away. Professional-cohesion requires maintenance.

Remember the earlier example about the imaginary radio hosts Punch and Judy? Say the same scenario happened, but a week before, they read this article and considered whether their actions divide the profession or create cohesiveness.

After reading this article maybe Punch and Judy would customise their talk show in a way that helps all groups and individuals to better relate to their colleagues. They might begin their show with a warm “Good morning” whilst positively acknowledging groups they have previously ridiculed.

Similarly, the organisations which have previously been mocked by Punch and Judy would interpret their show with a bit more empathy and interest. They may listen to the Punch and Judy show and say, “Oh boy, they have some valid comments here and could be a little stressed. I’ll send them some information on what we are doing so they can advise their listeners.”

A little bit of insight goes a long way.

So, in summary:

Profession building – the process of bringing all migration advisers together. (The journey)
Profession cohesion – the state of being that enables migration advisers to feel positively connected to other migration advisers, organizational goals, and purposes of the profession. (The destination)

To have both will benefit us all.