We talk a lot about professional people (here and here)
and unprofessional people (here and here).
It's an important distinction. Professionalism can make the difference in
getting the job you want, landing the client you'd like to bring in, or
achieving whatever opportunity you want to pursue.
There's something bigger about that word, though--something that
can unlock good habits and vastly improve your odds of success in any endeavor.
I learned a bit about these aspects of professionalism during my time in Nanet Suite, and I learned even more as a Business Development Executive for an IT firm.
A
professional is technically someone who does something for money, but the
word has come to suggest more: a true expert--someone who is no-nonsense,
experienced, and reliable. It's a word we use in the business environment constantly,
separating great leaders from the not-so-great.
Here
are seven short but crucial things Bill Murphy learned that true professionalism
requires, along with the biggest challenges associated with them:
1.
Confidence.
While
it's actually the last thing on this list that you should acquire, it's the
first thing that other people notice. Professional people know what
the heck they're doing, and they carry themselves in a manner that
communicates it. They're also confident enough to acknowledge the things they
don't know. True, authentic confidence is impossible without the other six
items below.
Challenge: Build your
confidence on something real--not just bluster.
2.
Communication skills.
The
ability to communicate clearly is a prerequisite to professionalism. It does
nobody any good to become a valued expert at something but have no ability (or
perhaps no desire) to explain it effectively to others. Take the technical
person who intentionally obfuscates out of fear: unprofessional as a leader at
least, no matter how good he or she may be at the technical side of the job.
Challenge: Take pride in your
area of expertise, and be willing and eager to share its wonders with others.
3.
Integrity.
At
its core, professionalism is about the trust that others can have in you to do
your job--and do it well. If you don't have integrity, however, nothing else
matters. Measure yourself by how you act when you're sure nobody's watching.
Challenge: Hold yourself to a
higher standard of integrity than others would.
4.
Strategic thinking.
Truly
professional people think long-term. They see the big picture and they
identify goals worth pursing. Professionals should be able to explain how each
step in the journey they're traveling relates to achieving worthwhile
objectives.
Challenge: Articulate to
yourself and others what you're doing--and, more important, why it matters.
5.
Tactical proficiency.
That
said, people can't be true professionals by only understanding their field from
a strategic perspective. They have to actually be proficient at the real job
they're doing. You can't be a truly professional leader of an editorial team,
for example, if you don't know how to report and edit; you can't be a
truly professional engineer if you don't know the underlying science.
Challenge: Stay up-to-date on
the developments that make your field work. Even better, be one of the
innovators.
6.
Leadership.
A great leader empowers other people, treats them with respect,
and gives them a goal worth working for. He or she also sees other people as
just that--people--and holds them accountable. (For what it's worth,
there's a big difference between a great
leader and a mere manager.)
Challenge: Ask yourself, if
your kid brother or sister were to join the military, would you want them to
have a leader like you in charge?
7.
Followership.
There
aren't a lot of business management books out there on the idea of "how to
be a really great follower." That's too bad. For one thing, studying
leadership without studying followership is sort of like learning to jump out
of an airplane without learning how to open your parachute. For another, none
of us is always in charge. We're members of teams, and truly professional
people want their teams to succeed. Truly professional people understand that
means helping other leaders to achieve.
Challenge: Ask yourself, when was the last time you set aside your ego
and enthusiastically embraced the role of a follower
Drop your thoughts on what you think about this.
No comments:
Post a Comment