A professional person is one who offers competence and integrity of service based upon a skilled intellectual technique and an agreed code of conduct. A professional provides services to clients, allowing them to complete work that they would otherwise not be able to carry out themselves.
Clients employ a professional on the basis of their:
- Obtained Qualifications, which allow them to be members of a recognised professional organisation.
- Skills, including their specialist knowledge and long term experience.
- Trust and Ethics; a professional will look after the client’s interests unlike commercial relationships.
The ability to be professional is not something you are born with, it’s not a job title, it’s a learned behaviour. To be professional is to be the best you can be at your job, good at listening to the brief and representing the interests of your client, giving trustworthy technical advice, being knowledgeable and competent in your chosen profession.
Landscape Architects are obliged to conduct themselves in accordance with The Code of Standards of Conduct and Practice. The Code lays down the standards of professional conduct and practice expected of Landscape Architects.
Another definition of who is a professional:
- Person formally certified by a professional body of belonging to a specific profession by virtue of having completed a required course of studies and/or practice. And whose competence can usually be measured against an established set of standards.
- Person who has achieved an acclaimed level of proficiency in a calling or trade.
