I can't even label myself as a professional......YET
This July, I was given the chance to conduct my first interview/meeting to a prospective employee of the company. He is already in his 30s. And there's this one question that my employer asked him that really struck me the most, "What does it truly mean to be a Professional?".
I've managed to make use of the past couple of weeks to wander around the question and can't help to ask myself these series of questions,
"What does it take to be a professional?
How can one say that he is a professional and not only claiming/assuming to be one?
How can one distinguish a professional to a non-professional?".
So, to fully grasp the meaning of the term, I've read numerous blogs, postings, and articles on what it means to be a professional in industries such as Medical, Accounting, HR, and IT. This writing will summarize all my learnings.
Note that my personal opinion doesn't need to be the same as yours. We all have different takes on what it really means to be a professional. The purpose of this is to enlighten people of what the general meaning of the word should be.
The word professional comes from the Latin word professus, past participle of profiteri, which literally translates to profess or confess. From the derivation of the word, we can all agree that the thought is that, professionals are those who 'professed' their skills to a certain degree that would ultimately help society.
However, the term "professional" is being thrown around by people who doesn't even know its meaning. Even I admit using it out of context sometimes. The sad truth here is, most people are miseducated or, worse, certainly have no idea on what it is to be a true professional.
To me, to be professional, a person must have these 7 characteristics:
Communicator
To be able to be a great communicator, you must develop the ability to work well with others. Being able to voice out your opinions, suggestions and recommendations to your team or to your workplace in a respectable manner would be a common trait amongst professionals.
Having professional people in the company would mean that the flow of knowledge is constant and thriving. People that can communicate well would be able to assess and delegate tasks with precision. This is good news to CEOs because having teamwork and a centralized knowledge among your employees in terms of knowing the vision and mission of the company would ultimately benefit your company in the long term.
Flexibility
A person who would adapt well to sudden change in his environment can be classified as a professional. Change in a company is inevitable, whether it be by external or internal factors, a change can't be avoided. We must all be composed enough to face and adapt to change. That's what set professionals among the rest.
Being able to see the bigger picture and adjust their actions based on that situation is what makes most companies edge out their competitors. A true professional is flexible enough to bend and not break at struggles and difficulties that he/she will face. Always remember that.
Competency
Have you ever seen an incompetent professional? Will you invest your money if the person that handles your investment is not competitive enough? No, right? So one important trait a professional must possess is Competency.
A competitive person is not intimidated, rather motivated by the success and failures of his/her competitor. Those people are committed in building their skills to excel at their current job. They also do this to prepare themselves in the future because they have a crystal clear path to their goal.
Being competitive enough is being up to date to the latest trends in your field. Become an adept and skillful specialist, always perform to the best of your abilities and always keep your knowledge up to date. Keep in mind that professionals know their trade.
Respectful
This characteristic exists in two approach: Being respectful in the company and being respectful with your clients.
Being respectful in the company means that you don't focus on yourself all the time. Praise your peers and not yourself. Learn to appreciate other people's efforts. Don't boast everything that you're doing to the world. The tip here is to step back, appreciate and respect others just as how you want to be appreciated and respected by them.
Being able to understand clients' needs and not their wants is a trait that professionals must learn throughout their career. It's hard to really go against a customer's needs but as my mentor showed me, you are the professional and you earn a living with what you do. When compared to the client, you know better about the product or service that they're availing. So you know the 'true need' of the customer. It will be hard at first but they will appreciate what you've done and thank you sooner or later when the results are out. While doing this, keep in mind that customer satisfaction is the utmost significant part when dealing with clients.
Rona O'Brien, dean of business management at GSM London said it perfectly when she said:
We all know people who only have one of these approach when it comes to being respectful. I personally know people who are nice to their family but take on an entirely different personality when dealing with their employees. What sets professionals from others is they possess both.
Honesty and Integrity
Professionals realize that honesty is really a vital component in the workplace. A company can't move forward if it doesn't have honesty, integrity and trustworthiness in its external and internal operations. It is in human nature that for you to be able to trust someone, he/she must exhibit trustworthiness and honesty to you. After all, how can you rely on someone who always lie and make up stories?
Hiring people with strong moral principles are one of the advices commonly given to HR Professionals in most companies. Also, upholding integrity and trustworthiness would benefit and take the company to new heights in terms of establishing reputation among the industry.
Responsibility and Accountability
A professional will hold himself accountable to mistakes done by his subordinates. He doesn't go victim-blaming on his employees even though it is their mistakes to begin with. Professionals admit to these mistakes and work themselves out of it. They know they can`t control but they can at least influence people around them. Being able to create this image as an individual who admits to his mistakes would release an atmosphere that would directly affect people around him.
Responsible and accountable people will do the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, even if it means others will approve or reject.
'There are also contributory factors of morality and ethics - a professional person should demonstrate a squeaky-clean, whiter-than-white stance,' says Penny Clarke, programme director of BSc Accounting at Manchester Business School.
Discipline
We often heard about this on social media sites when an irate customer will get mad at employees and surprisingly, these employees will control their emotions and respond 'professionally'. There's a reason and an explanation on how these people maintain to be calm in a rather stressful situation.
That is discipline, one of the most important tenets of professionalism. Discipline is closely tied to having self control and being respectful of others. Professionals have high EI(EQ) Emotional Intelligence(Emotional intelligence Quotient), the counterpart of IQ in terms of emotional well being. Professionals that have high EQ considers the emotions and needs of others.
Having discipline and self control is a common trait to billionaires such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and more. One can also see the discipline among motivational speakers Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Zig Ziglar, and the like.
As my heading reads, I'm still in the process of really developing and acquiring these characteristics that are the primary tenets of being a professional. I hope after you read this, you won't go squandering around telling people how professional you are or they are when in reality, you are missing some characteristics. Let this be a guide on how to be a professional in your field and industry. The reality is to recognize what you're missing from the list and work on it over time. Nothing can be obtained overnight that is worth it. You must strive and work hard for something that you want in order to realize its worth when you already have it. Begin establishing yourself as a professional today.
References:
http://www.accaglobal.com/my/en/student/sa/features/being-professional.html
https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Designations/Job-Ready-Program/What-it-means-to-be-a-professional.pdf
http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/coaching-developing-others/what-it-means-to-be-a-professional/
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-things-that-define-a-true-professional/
I've managed to make use of the past couple of weeks to wander around the question and can't help to ask myself these series of questions,
"What does it take to be a professional?
How can one say that he is a professional and not only claiming/assuming to be one?
How can one distinguish a professional to a non-professional?".
So, to fully grasp the meaning of the term, I've read numerous blogs, postings, and articles on what it means to be a professional in industries such as Medical, Accounting, HR, and IT. This writing will summarize all my learnings.
Note that my personal opinion doesn't need to be the same as yours. We all have different takes on what it really means to be a professional. The purpose of this is to enlighten people of what the general meaning of the word should be.
So to set things straight, for a human being to be labeled as a professional. What does he/she needs to have/possess as an individual?
The word professional comes from the Latin word professus, past participle of profiteri, which literally translates to profess or confess. From the derivation of the word, we can all agree that the thought is that, professionals are those who 'professed' their skills to a certain degree that would ultimately help society.
However, the term "professional" is being thrown around by people who doesn't even know its meaning. Even I admit using it out of context sometimes. The sad truth here is, most people are miseducated or, worse, certainly have no idea on what it is to be a true professional.
To me, to be professional, a person must have these 7 characteristics:
Communicator
To be able to be a great communicator, you must develop the ability to work well with others. Being able to voice out your opinions, suggestions and recommendations to your team or to your workplace in a respectable manner would be a common trait amongst professionals.
Having professional people in the company would mean that the flow of knowledge is constant and thriving. People that can communicate well would be able to assess and delegate tasks with precision. This is good news to CEOs because having teamwork and a centralized knowledge among your employees in terms of knowing the vision and mission of the company would ultimately benefit your company in the long term.
Flexibility
A person who would adapt well to sudden change in his environment can be classified as a professional. Change in a company is inevitable, whether it be by external or internal factors, a change can't be avoided. We must all be composed enough to face and adapt to change. That's what set professionals among the rest.
Being able to see the bigger picture and adjust their actions based on that situation is what makes most companies edge out their competitors. A true professional is flexible enough to bend and not break at struggles and difficulties that he/she will face. Always remember that.
Competency
Have you ever seen an incompetent professional? Will you invest your money if the person that handles your investment is not competitive enough? No, right? So one important trait a professional must possess is Competency.
A competitive person is not intimidated, rather motivated by the success and failures of his/her competitor. Those people are committed in building their skills to excel at their current job. They also do this to prepare themselves in the future because they have a crystal clear path to their goal.
Being competitive enough is being up to date to the latest trends in your field. Become an adept and skillful specialist, always perform to the best of your abilities and always keep your knowledge up to date. Keep in mind that professionals know their trade.
Respectful
This characteristic exists in two approach: Being respectful in the company and being respectful with your clients.
Being respectful in the company means that you don't focus on yourself all the time. Praise your peers and not yourself. Learn to appreciate other people's efforts. Don't boast everything that you're doing to the world. The tip here is to step back, appreciate and respect others just as how you want to be appreciated and respected by them.
Being able to understand clients' needs and not their wants is a trait that professionals must learn throughout their career. It's hard to really go against a customer's needs but as my mentor showed me, you are the professional and you earn a living with what you do. When compared to the client, you know better about the product or service that they're availing. So you know the 'true need' of the customer. It will be hard at first but they will appreciate what you've done and thank you sooner or later when the results are out. While doing this, keep in mind that customer satisfaction is the utmost significant part when dealing with clients.
Rona O'Brien, dean of business management at GSM London said it perfectly when she said:
In your personal life there are situations where you will be angry, shout, start an argument or be difficult with other people. While you don't want to entirely remove your individual personality at work, you must be able to dampen down the negative sides
Honesty and Integrity
Professionals realize that honesty is really a vital component in the workplace. A company can't move forward if it doesn't have honesty, integrity and trustworthiness in its external and internal operations. It is in human nature that for you to be able to trust someone, he/she must exhibit trustworthiness and honesty to you. After all, how can you rely on someone who always lie and make up stories?
Hiring people with strong moral principles are one of the advices commonly given to HR Professionals in most companies. Also, upholding integrity and trustworthiness would benefit and take the company to new heights in terms of establishing reputation among the industry.
Responsibility and Accountability
A professional will hold himself accountable to mistakes done by his subordinates. He doesn't go victim-blaming on his employees even though it is their mistakes to begin with. Professionals admit to these mistakes and work themselves out of it. They know they can`t control but they can at least influence people around them. Being able to create this image as an individual who admits to his mistakes would release an atmosphere that would directly affect people around him.
Responsible and accountable people will do the right thing at all times and in all circumstances, even if it means others will approve or reject.
'There are also contributory factors of morality and ethics - a professional person should demonstrate a squeaky-clean, whiter-than-white stance,' says Penny Clarke, programme director of BSc Accounting at Manchester Business School.
Discipline
We often heard about this on social media sites when an irate customer will get mad at employees and surprisingly, these employees will control their emotions and respond 'professionally'. There's a reason and an explanation on how these people maintain to be calm in a rather stressful situation.
That is discipline, one of the most important tenets of professionalism. Discipline is closely tied to having self control and being respectful of others. Professionals have high EI(EQ) Emotional Intelligence(Emotional intelligence Quotient), the counterpart of IQ in terms of emotional well being. Professionals that have high EQ considers the emotions and needs of others.
Having discipline and self control is a common trait to billionaires such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and more. One can also see the discipline among motivational speakers Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Zig Ziglar, and the like.
As my heading reads, I'm still in the process of really developing and acquiring these characteristics that are the primary tenets of being a professional. I hope after you read this, you won't go squandering around telling people how professional you are or they are when in reality, you are missing some characteristics. Let this be a guide on how to be a professional in your field and industry. The reality is to recognize what you're missing from the list and work on it over time. Nothing can be obtained overnight that is worth it. You must strive and work hard for something that you want in order to realize its worth when you already have it. Begin establishing yourself as a professional today.
References:
http://www.accaglobal.com/my/en/student/sa/features/being-professional.html
https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Designations/Job-Ready-Program/What-it-means-to-be-a-professional.pdf
http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/coaching-developing-others/what-it-means-to-be-a-professional/
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-things-that-define-a-true-professional/
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