Professional as a culture
I was at a presentation recently by the Army engagement team. The Army recognised that society’s understanding of the role and service of the modern British Army was not what it should be and they’ve set about putting that right.
It was a hugely impressive presentation, covering everything from their military and defence roles to their status as employers and in the community. It was slick, clear and, certainly from my perspective, achieved its goal.
Much was made of the ethics of the army and of taking a professional approach to everything that they do. Tangible evidence of this was the speakers themselves. Made up of serving soldiers of all ages, ranks and backgrounds, each one was confident, well trained, clearly spoken, and fully engaging with their audience.
The abiding message throughout, for every topic and every strategy was “We do things professionally. We do things right”.
And it showed.
It made me think. Whenever I ask the partners and team of an accountancy firm to describe their firm I can guarantee that the word professional will come out, and I’m sure that they are…most of the time.
How many times have you been on a course and seen practitioners slipping out once they’ve clocked their CPD points?
How many times have you known your own management to slip because your ‘too busy’?
How many times have you allowed a client to get away with their responsibilities for running a business because they’re ‘too busy’ or can’t afford it?
How often do you allow a failing in your business to continue because ‘you’ll get round to it?
From polishing their boots to public speaking, the Army has a culture of professionalism that it doesn’t allow to slip, because it knows that, when tested, that culture of professionalism makes the difference. They provide a global and cyber defence force and community service role in a very complex world with less personnel than you can fit into Twickenham stadium and remain the envy of their peers.
Hand on heart, can you honestly say that your standards of professionalism never slip?
Maybe it’s time to pay more attention to something that we can take for granted.
