February 7, 2023
Professional Courtesy
An agent goes into their office one day. The telephone rings and she answers. The person says, “Can you help me understand what Dr. So-n-so said at his presentation at the local Jaycees meeting this week?”
The agent is confused and embarrassed. She was never even told that Dr. So-n-so would be in her county, let alone what topic he was speaking on. How should she respond? What will the person on the other end of the line think?
Perhaps the person thinks that the right hand of K-State Research and Extension doesn’t know what the left is doing.
Specialists are often asked to give presentations at non-extension functions. There is nothing wrong with that. Many researchers will work with cooperators within a county to conduct research with or without the agent’s involvement. There is nothing wrong with that, either.
What is wrong is when this happens without informing the local agent. People naturally assume that whenever a K-State Research and Extension specialist and researcher does something in their community that the local agent knows and that they can go to them to have follow up questions answered.
If they do not know about the specialist’s or researcher’s activity in the local area, how can they be prepared? Specialists and researchers: Whenever you are doing something independently of the local extension office, please contact the agents and let them know. It is professional courtesy.
Similarly, agents, whenever you invite an external resource to deliver a presentation at one of your meetings, you should contact the specialist most closely related to that content to let them know. If it is a specialist from another extension system, they will probably talk to our similar specialist to understand the situation from the Kansas context.
It is embarrassing to find out about the arrangement in this manner. Agents: Call the specialist up and let them know. It is professional courtesy.
Calling the specialist when it is a non-extension speaker could also be wise. There have been situations arise when an agent has put somebody on a program that ends up presenting controversial information. A simple call to a specialist with that content expertise may have saved that agent from embarrassment.