For young entrepreneurs, corporate
associates, and students who aspires for a profession and wants to make it big
in a just living, needs to have an answer to this question – what is
professionalism?
That day I came across a skating
instructor for kids whom the parents admired for his sheer ‘professionalism’.
They say he always comes on time, gives equal opportunity to all the kids,
physically sweats it out himself and seems to enjoy his job. So he is a
‘professional’.
On the other hand we do come across
people whom we label as ‘unprofessional’. We observe certain common character
traits in them – never delivers on time, work or product never to our
satisfaction, quality compromised, promise not kept and value-for-money not
found.
An aspiring professional needs to be
sensitive about it. A professional is a person who will not only deliver but
will also take care to make a 360 degree deliverance.
So to answer my question, what is
‘professionalism’?
Professionalism is an attitude -
1. To give your 100% to the job that you
undertake.
2. To do justice to the trust of people
that they have put in you.
3. To deliver, no matter what.
4. And to respect yourself.
A professional is a person who can
deliver without being supervised. He is a person who knows how to give his 100%
even when no one is looking. And can certify his own work.
A person who can give his 100% only in
the presence of his boss is ‘unprofessional’.
How do you judge professionalism in a
person? Or how do you evaluate the professional in you?
Since it’s an attitude, the attitude
lives with him and spills over to his other aspects of life and not remain
confined to only the job that pays him money.
Like a successful Vice President
of a company, when he enters the kitchen to fix up a simple breakfast of
toast-scrambled-eggs-and-coffee will do so with perfection, will probably have
a special touch to it and will also leave the cook-top clean after use! These
people, when they pick up a hobby, usually do well at it. They will display
distinct ideology, honesty and values. And if you invite them to a party, they
are usually quiet punctual.
A housewife and a mother who packs the
kids lunch box early in the morning and puts them on the bus sharp at 8AM,
no-matter-what, is a professional.
A dad, who promises his son to be there
for his school annual sports day and keeps his promise is a professional.
A housemaid who rings the doorbell every
morning at 7am, be it rain, storm or sunshine is a professional.
The attitude lives on.
When we take up a job, we all do so for
money. But a professional attitude would be to also evaluate, if we are skilled
enough for that job, whether we will be able to do justice to our salary, and
whether we will like doing the job. This giving-the-best attitude will in turn
benefit us. If we like the job, we will give it our best. And when we give any
job our best we will always prosper.
So when we are talking about
professionalism, we are talking about the right kind of attitude and with that,
all life’s complicated battles are won!
