ARE YOU A PROFESSIONAL? WHAT IS YOUR PERCENTAGE AVAILABILITY RATING? - IT REALLY DOES MATTER

ARE YOU A PROFESSIONAL? WHAT IS YOUR PERCENTAGE AVAILABILITY RATING? - IT DOES REALLY MATTER

As professionals we pride ourselves in our credentials and the authoritative power that come with them, our voice and opinion matters to those with whom and for whom we
work. We execute our mandate with verve and pride.

However one realises that the average well trained professional would do the same and it is almost
totally expected of them, so there must be something to set apart the professional who will stand shoulders above the rest. In this instance the author has coined a term "PROFESSIONAL AVAILABILITY PERCENTAGE RATING"

No we unpack the PAPR concept. Being professionals we work with other professionals from other disciplines who subscribe to their own codes. These codes dictate that they operate in certain ways and stand guided by certain standard practices. P.A.P.R however is independent of professional codes, it is a personally determined factor which every professional would be better off aware of than not. It is the quality that will set apart the average professional from the ones who would be drivers of positive change and development, it becomes inherent in the professional who would achieve legendary status in their work.
 The key work in the P.A.P.R concept is "availability" and the topic of this discussion rephrased is "how available are you as a professional to do your work?" That respectable  work which some disciplines give titles, prefixes and suffixes to one's name e.g. Dr. XYZ MD, Mr. XYZ C.A, Eng. XYZ, Ms. XYZ Ph.D. amongst many others to show the effort put in and level of scholarly expertise we would have attained in that discipline.

What really shows our grasp of the concepts of our work and proves our competence beyond doubt is the day-to-day execution of our mandate, those who come knocking to our offices for one reason or another have a belief that we are well positioned to address their needs hence their coming to us and not another person.

How do we then show our availability and responsiveness to them? Do we give the time of day to at least state what they have come for? Sometimes a person may just approach us out of misinformation about what we do or mere ignorance, they are still a client by virtue of knocking on our door and
stating their story, to straighten the record for them if they have come to the wrong office is OUR DUTY and redirecting them to the correct office now goes into increasing our availability score. Someone  might just say "sorry you have come to the wrong office" and end there, there would be no legally binding premise compelling one to redirect the lost client as "it is the job of the receptionist"  yet doing it one loses absolutely nothing but gains PAPR points.

There are some professionals with
high pressure high strung jobs who observe religious time-keeping to the
milli-second, when it's break time they drop everything right there and then to enjoy their break-time without interruption, they will only pick up after the end of the break, when it's official knock off time at day end they do it on the dot and go away any attempt to reach after hours or during off-duty time is futile as the mobile phone initially goes unanswered then to voicemail, any continued attempts thereafter the number is not reachable, they have switched off because they are off duty and work is calling, NO THANK YOU!

Such is a typical scenario and it can be debated upon from all angles for or against that kind of behaviour, this professional however during official
working hours executes fully without holding  back as per contractual obligation. The general observation is that it creates a sour taste in the mouth of that professional's superior and all other stakeholders who might find themselves pressed to make that call at that awkward time in order to address a particular situation. It paints an image of an unavailable person despite the competence and skill one possesses.

The worst case is when a professional needs to be pushed and begged by less powerful clients and coerced even by seniors to the work that they are engaged to do. These are the professionals who exhibit the "feel me at my work place syndrome" it is both sad and disheartening to experience. A whole adult wakes up and shows up at work only to be grovelled for in order to do the very thing they woke up  to spend the day doing. Colloquially where the author comes from we ask "for the what?"
"for the why?"

Then there is a professional who attends to all clients with the same enthusiasm whether or not they have come to the right office, by "client" we mean every person who comes to one's office whether physically or through other means be it through the phone or via the various internet driven mediums. This professional is available and reachable more often than not even during off-duty periods. This professional goes the extra mile and is not religious with time per se, when there is a task which can be done and dusted by eating into their break-time by some minutes they do it and compensate
later when time permits. They are flexible.
This professional finds and derives satisfaction from seeing tasks fully executed right through and satisfied clients, the work is more of a calling than mere duty to them.
It is refreshing to be served by such  a professional as a client, they can serve so well to a point where one feels some kind of guilt for having this person go the extra mile when another person could have shut one out without room for recourse because it is "the extra mile".

This is food for thought for professionals to stimulate debate, ponder and draw one's own conclusions. It is also an indictment on all forms of laziness by professionals when we directly and deliberately subject clients and stakeholders to unprofessional conduct. It is understandable that there are genuine instances of communication breakdown between client and service provider when the well known "extra miler"' is perceived as the total opposite by a client who does not know them and holds this broken communication situation as a first impression.

As professionals reading this some might actually be employers or representing employers at C-suite level, it is also worth noting that some behaviours by the professional employees are reactive to the organisational culture which has been fostered over time or to the unappreciative attitude of senior management towards effort put in
by employees especially professionals.

Yes, people are supposed to just do what they are paid for and do it well  but it is the duty of a good leader to recognise that good effort and acknowledge it so that it grows into the organisational culture and best practices become the norm rather than the exception.

 So employers have a role to play in encouraging the PAPR growth of their employees as much as it is a personal and conscious decision on the part of the employee to determine whether they would be an "extra miler" or "religious time-keeper". Some employers  take the "extra milers" for granted and leave it too late and lose them only for pride to worsen things when they are too proud to engage the employee and seek redress. When the "extra milers" don't vote with their feet they sometimes just decide to change their behaviour and become less and less available as the unavailable ones described earlier in this discussion.

A scripture the author likes to share in the context of work is; Colossians 3:23-24 KJV
[23] And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; [24] Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

So in light of the above regardless of the environment in which one works, there is reason to always bring one's "A" game and increase one's PAPR and feel blessed for doing it and seeing the results of one's effort.

It therefore matters what one's professional availability percentage rating is, what is yours dear reader?

THE GOLDEN WORD FOUNTAIN - (TGWF)