Now Introducing 5 Golden Guidelines To Maintaining Professionalism In The Workplace

By Perminus Wainaina

Everybody likes working in a professional work environment. Right?

In fact, if you want to get ahead of your career, be taken seriously, and have your boss think of you as an asset to the team, maintaining a professional personality around the office is of great importance.

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself what exactly employers mean by being professional?

Surely, is it enough to do your job well and show up in the office few hours before time consistently?

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Or are there other things expected of you in order to be viewed as a professional employee in the office?

As an Executive Career Coach in Kenya for over 10 years now, the first thing I advise both junior and senior professionals seeking for a clear career path is that you should strive to make professionalism part of your personality which is actually a learned skill that is simple to adapt.

And just so you know, people with high levels of professionalism are frequently considered for new opportunities & other job advancement.

This being the case, how then do you know if you are a professional employee?

1. You are good at what you do and the boss knows that he/she can always rely on you

Are you delivering your expectations? Are you meeting the set deadlines? Do you consider your work excellent or average?

You see, we all want our bosses and co-workers to view us as experts in what we do and this is what portrays your professionalism.

Competent people are dependable, knowledgeable and able. These are the employees, as I like to think, who attract opportunities and advance in their careers.

Question is, are you this competent person who can be relied on at work?

2. Professional people are more responsive and less reactive to issues in the office

Emotional intelligence as I like to call it comes in at this point.

As I have always highlighted in my previous posts,  you have to be aware of who you are as a person, what your default settings are in times of stress and fear in order for you to respond positively to others around the office.

Taking charge of your own self!

So simply put, professional people are emotionally intelligent. They respond positively to situations and this is the reason behind their less reactive and more responsive nature.

3. You have great respect for fellow colleagues and others in general

Tomorrow first thing in the morning, ask anyone in the office what treatment they want most from their bosses and colleagues as a sample task.

They will likely top their list with a desire to be treated with dignity and respect. Everybody wants this anyway.

 In the same light, nobody ever wants to work with that stubborn HR Officer who respects no one in the office apart from the boss partly because they know who holds the mantle and walks over everyone in the office simply because he/she has a good job title.

Being professional means upholding respect in the office.

You demonstrate this respect by acting in ways that show you are aware of your colleagues as people who deserve respect.

As such, you recognize that they have rights, opinions, wishes, experience, and competence. They have the right for you to regard them through this referential lens.

4. Professional people know where to draw a line when it comes to work life balance

As we said earlier, you can’t know nothing and expect people to consider you with high regards. Of course not!

You need to be vastly knowledgeable in all areas as a person in order to command some level of professional authority.

Also as a professional, you should be able to understand when to stop working and start with other aspects of life what I usually call work-life balance.

Remember, first you are a person with a private life before you become an employee of a certain company.

So, not letting your private life needlessly have an impact on your job, and not spending time at work attending to personal matters defines your professional levels.

5. Professional people are ethical

You’ve probably heard of several incidences of professional malpractice recently in the Kenyan medical industry which to some extend maybe close unethical professional behaviour.

Also not long ago, the Competition Authority of Kenya put 17 firms on notice over unethical business practices.

So what do I want to bring across here? Remember that a professional is an ethical person who will do everything in his/her power to uphold the ethical values of the position he/she holds.

It is always safe for you to “play by the rules” as a professional. This may cause friction in some organisations but ethical organizations will always stand by the right moral decisions and actions of their employees.

All things considered,

Every other employer in Kenya is more concerned about their employees’ soft skills, character and moral conduct.

The more professional you appear, the better professional impression you make and the more career opportunities come your way.

Don’t just be every other employee. Standout with a professional character!