What does it mean to be a Professional?
Decades ago I had a friend tell me this question was posed to their High School class. I never found out what the class concluded.
Over the years I have thought often about the answer to this question.
My earlier conclusion was that professionalism meant a separation of work and personal life. This is something that I think the older generation is better at. The younger generation seems more transparent about personal matters in the workplace.
As the years go by, however, my experience doesn’t support this conclusion as a definition of professionalism. I find many professionals are actually quite personable.
This has caused me to re-evaluate the answer to this question.
I think the answer I would give now is that professionalism means ownership. It means responsibility and accountability for producing the appropriate results.
I walked into a CostCo last week looking for a large household item. I found a smiling attentive employee with whom I asked where I might find the item I was looking for. He said “I’m new here,” and shrugged his shoulders.
There was this moment of pregnant miscommunication.
No doubt he was unable to help me due to his present unfamiliarity with the store layout, but as a customer I felt neglected.
I thought to myself, “Well, are you going to get someone for me who knows where this item is?” And then I realized I had, perhaps, misaligned expectations for customer service from a new employee at a wholesale warehouse selling everything from car tires to margarine.
Then the light bulb went on—a more professional employee would have “owned” my problem. They would have found someone who did know where my item was and would have walked with me until my problem was solved.
Suddenly I realized I had the answer to my decades-old question: Professionalism means ownership. Ownership of issues. Ownership of assignments. Ownership of tasks.
My thanks go out to the anonymous clueless employee. After several decades, I finally have my answer.
How would you answer this question?
Mike J. Berry
www.RedRockResearch.com
April 12th, 2008 at 1:23 am
How about, “meeting or exceeding the expectations of those you serve in your profession.”?
I think you have to phrase it in terms of the service you provide to individuals. In the eyes of one person your behaviour may not match the expectations they have of someone in your position - they would see you as lacking professionalism. Another person may have lower/different expectations and see you in a different light.
I work in IT and it’s clear that those who I consider to be most professional are those held in the highest esteem of their clients.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:40 am
I would agree that professionalism is about ownership. In business it’s about accountability - are you accountable? If so, then you must own the issue at hand and search for the solution. Being professional doesn’t mean you know all the answers - it means you will continually improve your skills and grow your network of subject matter experts that may have the answers to particular problems - or at least help you go in the right direction. It is ultimately up to the professional to see the problem through to the finish line whereby a solution is the prize.