Competence. Confidence. When said aloud it might be difficult to tell the difference. In meaning, the two concepts are interdependent on each other. But once we know and understand what competency is, how do we get there? How do we help others develop those tools and skillsets to practice in a constantly evolving career? Does ‘competency’ just happen? How can we be intentional about building the workforce of now and the future? It is the ethical responsibility of architects supervising licensure candidates to guide their development and prepare them for practice. This session focuses on the knowledge, skills, and tasks that you and your teams need to know to for the competent practice of architecture. Students and licensure candidates will learn how to accelerate their career, while supervisors and firm owners will learn how to build up their staff, their teams, and their firms. Competent practice = protection of the public’s health, safety and welfare. A competent workforce = saved time and money = sustained profits.

Learning Objectives:

1. Realize the value of the elemental requirements of the path to licensure and their significance in professional development.

2. Compile a list of meaningful tasks to assign supervisees so that they develop the required competence to practice architecture to support and protect your clients and the public.

3. Recognize the impact of professional ethics on your employees, the firm, the firm’s culture, and the public’s health, safety, and welfare.

4. Utilize varying assessment methods to detemine the progress of yourself and colleagues by reinforcing the ethical development of your architecture licensure candidates’ detailed knowledge of the built environment to serve and protect the public.