Professionalism

I’d like to share an article from an old business magazine I just read entitled “Being a Professional Being @ Work”. This is written by L. Ron Hubbard. What strikes me most in the article is his thorough and eye-opening definition of Professionalism. We might be thinking that it is just a plain serious way of how we should Team Leaders, clients, and office mates in general like how those busy well dressed people in the higher end corporate world face each other. Well, according to Hubbard, it is not just like that. According to him, it is how we act at work that determines whether you are a professional or not.

It is rather a sad fate for us not to understand the real nature of professionalism. It is true because according to Hubbard our society in itself does not emphasize its importance.
Maybe that’s the reason why people tend to be stocked and satisfied that to believe that being a less professional person at work or Hubbard named as “being an Amateur” is normal and will still be accepted by all as to how our society had built us. We tend to hate people who says “trabaho lang walang personalan” or despise for having such an attitude. Or worse we tend to personally say that he is O.A. or ‘feeling boss’ when we hear them talk about work in a very serious way. Many employees just then accept less-than-good results. I mean, they don’t make their own special way to innovate and improve their usual outputs. And many more amateurish scenario anywhere and anyhow. For instance, some schools let their students graduate even though they knew they still don’t know how to read; there are still evident corruption in our government funds, powerful accused senators and other officials don’t appear in court hearings; a plenty of government employees still sleeps during office hours; there are still fraudulent elections; and some others that may not fit this page. And what society does? Society tends to balance the off-putting result of these scenarios in a way to give more or less out of the worse results.

Are we getting to our goals with their dumb amateurs games @ work?

According to Hubbard, at the time that there are amateur players at work we are actually losing out a way of a better result. We are delaying progress. We are preventing ourselves to improve. We are being selfish. Moreover, those amateurs have a so-called a “Just getting by” attitude to face the world. Bahala na. We are satisfied by how the world is created. We tend to gamble and leave things as it is like joining in with the flow.

Well, what exactly are Hubbard’s differences of being a professional from being an amateur?

A professional learns every aspect of the tasks. An amateur skips the learning process whenever possible

A professional carefully discovers what is needed and wanted for the team. An amateur assumes what he needs and wants.

A professional keeps his or her work area clean and orderly. An amateur has a messy, confused or dirty work area.

A professional is focused and clear-headed. An amateur is confused and distracted.

A professional does not let mistakes slide by. An amateur ignores or hides mistakes.

A professional jumps into difficult assignments, of a more challenging task. An amateur tries to get out of difficult work.

A professional completes projects as soon as possible. An amateur is surrounded by a lot of back logs.

A professional remains level-headed and optimistic. An amateur gets upset and assumes the worst.

A professional handles money and accounts very carefully. An amateur is sloppy with money or accounts.

A professional faces up to other people's upsets and problems. An amateur avoids others' problems.

A professional uses higher emotional tones: Enthusiasm, cheerfulness, interest, contentment. An amateur uses lower emotional tones: anger, hostility, resentment, fear, and victim.

A professional is focused and purposeful. An amateur is scattered and confused.

A professional persists until the objective is achieved. An amateur gives up.

A professional produces more than expected. An amateur produces just enough to get by.

A professional produces a high-quality product or service. An amateur produces medium-to-low quality product or service.

A professional earns the same pay with an amateur and he is happy with it. An amateur thinks he earns low pay and feels it's unfair.

A professional is okay when his salary is deducted with taxes. An amateur thinks a way how to avoid them.

A professional has a promising future. An amateur has an uncertain future.

A professional faces his office mates with respect. An amateur don’t care criticizing them.



I hope all of us will embrace professionalism. Amen.