What it means to be a professional

6

thinking out loud

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PROFESSIONAL

THE PULSE ISSUE TWO

7

Simon Blake is Proximity’s Client Services Manager, joining in 2016 and bringing to the team many years of experience working in private and government legal practice.

To describe someone as a consummate professional is a great compliment. We would all like to be thought of that way.

The consummate professional is easy to identify, but what is professionalism and what do you need to focus on to become more professional?

In my view, based on over 30 years in professional services environments, professionalism reflects a set of skills, attributes and behaviours that are demonstrated day in and day out. Technical and analytical skills are obviously important, but it’s attitude and behaviour that sets the true professional apart.

What are the right attitudes and behaviour? It’s possible to produce a list (and I do below), but at the heart of professionalism is a core desire to deliver outstanding service, help others achieve their goals, and strong ethical principles. Whether they realise it or not, the true professional makes their clients’ needs and goals their own goals, and they rate their success according to the outcome for the client.

Whilst they come in all shapes and sizes and have different backgrounds and styles, true professionals have many things in common, including:

broad subject matter competence – they are usually technically very strong in a few areas, but are highly capable across the entire range of work they do

being effective and efficient in what they do – they get the job done with minimal drama

having high standards – near enough is not good enough, but they also know not to overwork things and appreciate the wisdom in the saying ‘perfect is the enemy of good’

demonstrating consistent behaviour, regardless of whether they are having a good or bad day on a personal level

being good with people and great people to work with, for, and even against – people feel comfortable dealing with them, even if they are on the other side of the issue

listening more than they talk – as the Greek philosopher, Epictetus said ‘we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak’

being broad problem-solvers – they want to know how what they are doing fits in with broader picture

advising on risk management, being aware of common areas of risk and that risk can never be reduced to zero

providing a roadmap – so the client knows the direction that is being taken and is never taken by surprise

understanding their value add and value for money – they know what value they bring to the table

having the confidence and being comfortable discussing the elephant in the room

sharing knowledge and credit (and accepting responsibility)

accepting and owning mistakes (and learning from them) – they understand that mistakes are inevitable, but they focus on fixing the problem rather than seeking to allocate blame

identifying high value work - which leads to them doing professionally satisfying work that they enjoy and value, rather than whatever comes through the door

There’s always room for improvement

It’s apparent from this list that technical skills are a small (albeit very important) component of professionalism. Incremental improvement in technical skills get smaller the more experience we have, but for most of us there is significant scope for improvement in the other areas that mark the true professional.

If you are looking to improve, the journey begins with some self-reflection (or better still getting the views of others) as to how you perform against the non-technical aspects in the list above.

Once you have a better idea of your areas of strength and weakness, you’ll likely identify some easy wins and you’ll be well on your way to becoming more professional.

THE PULSE ISSUE TWO