Professionalism
is defined to be, “the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is
expected from a person who is trained to do a job well.” Also, to maintain a
level of professionalism, one must first be a professional. Or more simply,
have some sort of commercial gain through performance. Whether it is being
employed where one is financially compensated, or a student where the
compensation is a learned skill or ability. Certainly, professionalism is
something one should expect of an aviation professional, and since that is what
our class wishes to one day become, professionalism should be demonstrated by
my fellow classmates and myself. That being said, to me, professionalism is
something that has to done by example and although difficult to define, does
have some basic traits.
Timeliness has to be the first thing
that comes to mind when the concept of professionalism is brought up. In high
school sports I was quickly taught the concept that being on-time was late and
being early was on-time. If practice was at 11:00 am on a Saturday, the whole
team was expected to be there and ready well before that, and if anybody showed
up past 10:50, we all ran. Translate this experience to a college setting, the
professional thing to do would be to show up slightly before a scheduled class
time is to begin, and wait. Also, for flight lessons, show up thirty minutes
before lesson is to begin in order to properly pre-flight the plane, obtain a
weather brief, and generally avoid any “rushing” that would establish a poor
mentality and mood before a flight.
Secondly, a portion of
professionalism would have to be simply showing up. A good percentage of
college courses allot a portion of their grade to attendance. That means, a
person could receive points for just sitting in a chair. Coupled with the fact
that a person is paying money to essentially “reserve” a seat for a semester,
it is a wonder why some people never show up.
Another trait of professionalism
would be a person taking some sort of pride in their respective profession or
work. This could be in the form of speaking highly of their chosen profession,
defending it in conversation when others question its validity, gaining
personal enjoyment from it, or taking time outside of the traditional working environment
to reflect upon it to better one’s performance
Professionalism also would seem to
require a certain amount of a grooming standard as well. When I think of what a
professional would be, a suit and tie quickly comes to mind. However, this does
not mean that wearing anything “below” a suit would not be professional. It
simply means that there is a certain level of care that must be given to appearance
for a person to seem professional. This makes sense because if a person takes
the time to compose themselves accordingly and can afford to do so, this can
only mean that they must take similar care in their work and are compensated
for it.
But the most important aspect of
professionalism would be performing at a high level of skill or proficiency.
The difference between a person who does something professionally as opposed to
recreationally, is that the professional does the task for a living. So in order
for a person to become a professional, they must gain this level of skill
through practice and respect of their craft. For an aviation student this would
mean studying their materials, which could be textbooks, aircraft Pilot
Operating Handbooks, and other aviation related materials. Also, practicing of
flying skills through consistent flying.
These are just some basic examples
and traits of professionalism. Since each profession is unique from one
another, certain traits and abilities that would seem professional to one would
be unheard of in another. But, one thing is certain, a certain level of
professionalism is required for success in the professional world, not matter
what the job may be.
One example of pilots not being professional would be on Northwest Airlines Flight188. During which, both pilots became distracted during cruise flight and overflew their destination, Minneapolis-St. Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport, and continued northeast for approximately 150 miles over the next 16 minutes. However, an example of professionalism would be, when over the summer while working at Detroit Metro Airport, observing the professional demeanor of the Delta pilots while in the terminal. Some examples would be helping direct passengers to the right gate, being dressed in cleaned and maintained uniforms, and being friendly to children.
One example of pilots not being professional would be on Northwest Airlines Flight188. During which, both pilots became distracted during cruise flight and overflew their destination, Minneapolis-St. Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport, and continued northeast for approximately 150 miles over the next 16 minutes. However, an example of professionalism would be, when over the summer while working at Detroit Metro Airport, observing the professional demeanor of the Delta pilots while in the terminal. Some examples would be helping direct passengers to the right gate, being dressed in cleaned and maintained uniforms, and being friendly to children.
As for how I plan to keep building
my professional development throughout my career, I think it will be to try and
hold myself to the standard of what I believe professionalism is. This will
include the skills I previously mentioned, but also not constantly looking
forward to the next step in my career and taking time to focus on the present
and excel at that. Also, when the time comes to depart a particular position,
not “ burning any bridges” when I do leave, since you do not know when you will
run across someone again in your future.
References
Ahlers,
M. M. (2009, October 22). Airliner crew flies 150 miles past airport.
Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/10/22/airliner.fly.by/
Johnson
, B., & Smith , S. (2011, December 21). Professionalism: A ‘must have’
for all aviation workers. Retrieved from
http://www.aviationpros.com/article/10456996/ramp-workers-must-be-professionals-to-ensure-safety
Sumwalt,
R. L. (2011, March 30). Professionalism in aviation. Retrieved from
http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/speeches/sumwalt/Sumwalt_033011.pdf
Excellent work, it was a good read. You brought to light something that I haven't given any thought and that was the basics of professionalism that we have been thought since and early age: Listen to what your told, be polite, be respectful, be helpful, show up on time(or early), do the best you can do with any task, etc... In a way those times were the beginning of our professional careers and has defined how we control ourselves and how we present ourselves to others. Even though these are the most basic they are the foundation to what we build our professionalism off of.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent description of professionalism, especially the aspect of taking pride in your work. The idea of not abandoning some endeavor unfinished and not leaving it alone until you are proud of what has been accomplished is a genuine professional mark. Great ideas for building your personal professionalism, I may have to steal a few.
ReplyDeleteI like the example you used to define a non-professional act by pilots, by over shooting the airport by miles I would have to agree their complacency was not very professionalistic. I am glad to hear that you experienced professionalism in your internship this past summer.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about timeliness being a very important trait of a professional. I am one who believes that time is our most valuable resource as individuals and professionals. I myself struggle with being on time when I know fully well that it is a mark of a professional man or women. I believe it is a trait that I can improve on and others who want to be viewed as professional should be mindful of their timeliness as well. Thanks for your thoughts on the subject, very professional.
ReplyDeleteI agree that timeliness is a very important issue when speaking about professionalism. It is even more important for someone in the aviation industry. Everything in aviation is based on time. If you look at a flight, there is a lot that goes into making sure the plane departs and arrives on time. If any part of the process is late, it could cost the company money and potentially have disgruntled employees.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I like how you defined Professionalism; Also, I like when brought up the aspect of high level skill, I believe high skill is great example to become professional.
ReplyDelete