Professionalism

The other day at the conference put on for our third year pre-interns I listened to the Regina Chief of Police talk about professionalism. He went through many of the characteristics of professionals but he missed one.

The one characteristic he missed was active membership in professional organizations. I believe that supporting and building professional organizations is an obligation.

Any profession is defined by its specialized expertise - a commonly held expertise amongst those that call themselves that type of professional.

That unique body of knowledge, no matter what the profession, is changing, evolving and growing. For the professional who has completed their formal schooling the professional development offered by professional organizations is an important opportunity to maintain their currency.

So professional organizations must be organized so that the growth, development and dissemination of the knowledge base is facilitated.

Professional organizations are made up of people. It is the members of such an organization that create the networking, growth and development, and dissemination opportunities. It is the members that write the articles, publish the journals, organize the conferences and make the presentations.

So professionals must belong and contribute to the workings of their professional organization.

What kind of professional are you? Do you belong to your professional organization? Do you contribute to your professional organization?