Professionalism
You know that it's essential to be professional if you want to be a success. But what does "being professional" actually mean?
For some, being professional might mean dressing smartly at work, or doing a good job. For others, being professional means having advanced degrees or other certifications, framed and hung on the office wall. Professionalism encompasses all of these definitions. But, it also covers much more.
 |
" Hi. I’m a manager at my organization. I don’t feel that I’m professional enough. I don’t always word or say things in the proper manner. There’s very little respect from my staff. Can you help me? "
This is a tough question. Often we want to associate professionalism with leadership or management. In the world of business, everyone needs to be professional. And I agree with the reader – communication skills are important. Occasionally, we can put our foot in our mouths but if that happens too often…well, people figure it’s not a mistake, it’s who we are.
Knowing your stuff. Please notice I didn’t say “know everything”. Part of gaining respect is being able to say “I don’t know.” Be the best you can at what you do and don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know something.
Traits of professionalism:
- Standing for something. This is about ethics and having a moral compass. You don’t have to agree with someone to respect their ethics. I’ve known people who threw their moral compass out the window to avoid confrontation. People notice that stuff and their credibility is lost.
- Keeping your word. This is a big one. If you commit to something, then do it. If something happens and you can’t deliver – tell someone. Or renegotiate the deadline. Laying low and hoping people won’t notice doesn’t work.
- Being honest. I know this should go without saying but we all know that there are people who struggle with honesty. And I’m not even talking about those times when it’s all-out, mean-spirited lying. Think about when a person doesn’t tell someone about a mistake because they don’t want to get involved or confront the issue. Eventually the lies catch up.
- Supporting others. In my career, one of the quickest ways I’ve seen people lose the respect of their co-workers is when they to stop supporting them. In this case, being a manager is a tough job with many responsibilities. One of them is developing their team. When team members feel they’ve been abandoned, there’s a huge disconnect and respect is lost.
- Use your time productively at work. Focus on your job responsibilities and avoid getting pulled into social media, web browsing and phone activity while on the clock.
- Be kind and polite and use good manners to everyone you come into contact with, no matter what their role is, and no matter how you're feeling. This might sound unimportant, but it makes a significant impact.
- Learn to manage your emotions and gain awareness of your emotional triggers so you can manage your reactions positively and productively. Accept and reflect on feedback to assist as you learn and grow.
- Project a professional presence and dress appropriately for your industry and organization. A good rule of thumb is to dress in the position you aspire to have.
 |
Research has shown, and a great many executives now understand, that a heterogeneous workforce yields more innovation and better performance than a homogeneous one does.
With the Covid-19 epidemic, many employees — and their managers — are finding themselves working out of the office and separated from each other for the first time. Fortunately, there are specific, research-based steps that managers can take without great effort to improve the engagement and productivity of remote employees, even when there is little time to prepare.
First, it’s important to understand the common challenges, from isolation to distractions to lack of face-to-face supervision. Then managers can support remote workers with
1) regular, structured check-ins;
2) multiple communication options and established norms for each;
3) opportunities for social interactions; and
4) ongoing encouragement and emotional support.
In response to the uncertainties presented by Covid-19, many companies and universities have asked their employees to work remotely. While close to a quarter of the U.S. workforce already works from home at least part of the time, the new policies leave many employees — and their managers — working out of the office and separated from each other for the first time.
We have not identified any major company that is doing this well on a broad scale. But research and lessons gleaned from other contexts can point the way forward. In our work with leading management thinkers and practitioners across the country, we have arrived at a four-step strategy to help companies move toward greater and better representation for black leaders.
It involves shifting from an exclusive focus on the business case for racial diversity to embracing the moral one, promoting real conversations about race, revamping diversity and inclusion programs, and better managing career development at every stage.
Take a look at this list of corporate values: Communication. Respect. Integrity. Excellence. They sound pretty good, don’t they? Strong, concise, meaningful. Maybe they even resemble your own company’s values, the ones you spent so much time writing, debating, and revising. If so, you should be nervous. These are the corporate values of Enron, as stated in the company’s 2000 annual report. And as events have shown, they’re not meaningful; they’re meaningless.
Take a look at this list of corporate values: Communication. Respect. Integrity. Excellence. They sound pretty good, don’t they? Strong, concise, meaningful. Maybe they even resemble your own company’s values, the ones you spent so much time writing, debating, and revising. If so, you should be nervous. These are the corporate values of Enron, as stated in the company’s 2000 annual report. And as events have shown, they’re not meaningful; they’re meaningless.
GDP is higher per capita in countries where more managers come from lower social-class origins. Given the increasing importance of purpose and social impact to employees, customers, and other stakeholders, we believe there’s no better time to make this transformation. We also believe our framework can be adapted for other marginalized groups in the United States and around the world.
Taking these steps won’t be easy; executives will need to think deeply about their ethics and corporate culture and exert extra effort for a cause they may not consider central to their business. But the reward will be great: maximizing the human potential of everyone in the workplace.
As we said earlier, diversity and inclusion efforts have been gaining traction, and workforces are becoming increasingly multiracial. But given the dearth of black leaders, we would like to see companies jump-start their efforts in four ways.
And in more-progressive companies — ones truly committed to inclusion — a different kind of pushback sometimes occurs: If a team incorporates women, Asians, Latinos, and representatives of the LGBTQ community alongside white men, if it has data geeks and creative types, extroverts and introverts, able-bodied and physically challenged members, isn’t it diverse enough? Our answer: Not when teams, especially those at the highest levels, leave out the most marginalized group in the United States.
Our research suggests that success in the face of systemic discrimination often begins with affirming one’s own potential. When people believe in their ability to grow, they make decisions that reflect this conviction, such as investing in their potential, focusing on their unique strengths, and discovering new paths to success and fulfillment that align with their core values and leadership goals.
As workers are tasked with working from home to help flatten the curve of new coronavirus cases, new opportunities and obstacles for working remotely have emerged. Millions of people are trying to navigate nonexistent physical boundaries between their personal and professional lives within their homes. From dual-career couples invading each other’s work space, to children interrupting meetings at inopportune times, to caregiving for elderly family members, workers are forced to reconsider when and how they show up to work.
The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic starkly revealed fundamental deficiencies in health care delivery around the world. It also sparked innovations in the delivery of care and a transient change in how our organizations are managed. Many credited their successful Covid-19 response to flatter hierarchies, easier access to senior leaders, a sharper focus on what really matters, quicker decision-making, rapid experimentation and tolerance of experimental failure, and less-experienced staff spontaneously stepping up to lead. As one academic observed, “In a small crisis power moves to the center,” but in a big one, “it moves to the periphery.”
Leaders love to talk about corporate culture and values, yet many companies have a disconnect between what leaders preach and what is practiced throughout the organization. Improving corporate culture requires a sustained effort over time. A first step: Look at how well those values are being communicated to the workforce.
