Professionalism
Professionalism is the character that encompasses a professional person or a profession. A profession, on the other hand, is a calling that requires academic preparations that is intensive and specialized knowledge. The element of professionalism is what makes up the definition. These elements include looking at the part, accountability, competence, self-regulation, integrity and honesty and specialized knowledge. All these elements make up the definition in that each is entirely reliant on the character of the person. Looking the part is also dependent on the profession. An example is the lawyers who have to dress in suits due to their job, which requires one to be taken seriously.
A professional must have some qualities to meet their requirements. These qualities include being excellent at one’s job. One is required to set high standards and take pride in their work. Secondly, one must be capable of taking the high road. Thus they must be able to react rightly in difficult and tricky situations. In doing so, they must make choices that are honourable and honest rather than the easy way out. They must also be fair and respectful to their clients. Apart from being good at what they do, professionals must also be people that one can count on. Thus one must be able to honour their commitments at all times. Apart from these, one should also be able to maintain calmness even under pressure, be proactive, go the extra mile, and represent themselves and their organization in a significant way. These qualities, however, are constant regardless of one’s profession.
Professionalism and leadership are related. Both exhibit the same qualities that should be possessed by a person in these positions. Just like a professional, a leader should also be competent and be able to find solutions to problems having the sensitivity of the context in mind. They should also be able to plan, set goals and even measure progress. The two are, however, not synonyms. Leaders must possess the qualities of a professional yet; they have a different task to uphold from that of a professional.
At certain times people may lack professionalism in their workplace. An example is when a person has been sent by their company to deliver goods to a customer. When the delivery man gets the products, they instead decide to go home and deliver the goods at a later date than expected by the customer. The customer grows inpatient since they have been waiting for their products to no avail and decides to contact the company. That is when the company realizes that the goods had not been delivered. They do a follow up to the delivery man. In the end, the products are delivered, but the company loses that particular customer due to their poor services. The delivery man should have handled the situation better. Being a professional in his field, he should have done the delivery at the given date. If at all, he was unable to do that, he should have informed the company so that they can rearrange the delivery or sent another person. The delivery man, therefore, lacked the elements of professionalism. First, he cannot be counted on to deliver services on time. Secondly, he did not represent his company well. They ended up losing a customer due to his lack of professionalism.
In conclusion, professionalism is what makes people behave the way they do at their places of work. Being a professional requires one to uphold the utmost principles of professionalism. Leadership also has the same qualities as professionalism. However, leaders are also needed to be professional in their field of expertise.