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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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  • Missed this first time around, but it's an interesting comment for me to read here now living in a tiny community on a remote island and working in HR for the largest employer - the government.

    Working in HR here is different to the UK. You have to balance what's right for an individual and government, with what is right for the Island as a whole. If we fire a local for misconduct, they need to find a job somewhere on the island or inevitably we'll end up supporting them with welfare needs or even worse, in prison instead. If we decide not to renew the contract of one overseas-recruited member of staff, but their partner is working in an important locally-recruited role, with skills not available elsewhere on the island, then we might lose another valued member of the team. If I'm down the pub and someone comes to me a bit drunk with a HR issue that warrants investigation, I can't ignore what I know. I will have to speak to them again on Monday and take action..

    Sometimes you have to take a very pragmatic approach and look at the bigger picture! My role goes beyond the walls of my office here.
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  • Missed this first time around, but it's an interesting comment for me to read here now living in a tiny community on a remote island and working in HR for the largest employer - the government.

    Working in HR here is different to the UK. You have to balance what's right for an individual and government, with what is right for the Island as a whole. If we fire a local for misconduct, they need to find a job somewhere on the island or inevitably we'll end up supporting them with welfare needs or even worse, in prison instead. If we decide not to renew the contract of one overseas-recruited member of staff, but their partner is working in an important locally-recruited role, with skills not available elsewhere on the island, then we might lose another valued member of the team. If I'm down the pub and someone comes to me a bit drunk with a HR issue that warrants investigation, I can't ignore what I know. I will have to speak to them again on Monday and take action..

    Sometimes you have to take a very pragmatic approach and look at the bigger picture! My role goes beyond the walls of my office here.
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