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Does professional citizenship resonate with you?

Lizzie O'Brien

So, you think you’re a professional? And most of us do. Think we’re professionals. We get to work on time, roll up our sleeves, coach colleagues, advise the business, fight fires; balancing the needs of workers and organisations at the same time. And we go home. To our friends and loved ones, to the gym, to the pub, to the cinema.

But if we’re professionals, do our responsibilities start and end with our day job? Do we have a duty to use our unique skills to help others? How can we go beyond our roles while balancing our work, family and other busy life commitments? These ideas sit at the heart of professional citizenship, which is described by the University of Minnesota as 'an identity: seeing oneself first as a citizen with special expertise working alongside other citizens with their own special expertise in order to solve community problems that require everyone’s effort.’

So, what do you think? How can we be better professional citizens? And should we be? Does the concept resonate with you? Please share your thoughts - the good, the bad and the ugly!

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  • Hello Lizzie,
    This is an interesting discourse you have initiated. However, for me, I would look at things a bit differently.

    Professionalism to me is not necessarily about making your skills available outside work. It is more about how you conduct yourself in carrying out your work or while pursuing your organisation's aims, and whether your conduct outside of work presents a positive view of the profession you are a part of.

    Secondly, personally, the order for me is not work first, so my behaviour outside of work is not necessarily driven by values arising out of a set of 'professional' ethos. Rather, my behaviour at work and indeed outside of work are driven by my own personal values and core beliefs. For instance, I always engage people on the premise that I ought to show respect and kindness to others even when I do not agree with them. And irrespective of whether I am at work or not, this premise applies.

    I am involved in my community but not because of my profession, rather because I genuinely care about the causes I am involved in and the difference they make to other people's lives. And that will happen regardless of whatever 'professional' role I find myself engaged in at any point in time.
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  • Hello Lizzie,
    This is an interesting discourse you have initiated. However, for me, I would look at things a bit differently.

    Professionalism to me is not necessarily about making your skills available outside work. It is more about how you conduct yourself in carrying out your work or while pursuing your organisation's aims, and whether your conduct outside of work presents a positive view of the profession you are a part of.

    Secondly, personally, the order for me is not work first, so my behaviour outside of work is not necessarily driven by values arising out of a set of 'professional' ethos. Rather, my behaviour at work and indeed outside of work are driven by my own personal values and core beliefs. For instance, I always engage people on the premise that I ought to show respect and kindness to others even when I do not agree with them. And irrespective of whether I am at work or not, this premise applies.

    I am involved in my community but not because of my profession, rather because I genuinely care about the causes I am involved in and the difference they make to other people's lives. And that will happen regardless of whatever 'professional' role I find myself engaged in at any point in time.
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