Knowing work environments differ greatly, understand and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
Key Components:
- Demonstrate personal accountability, integrity, and effective work habits
- Prioritize and complete tasks in order to consistently meet or exceed goals and expectations
4 Parts of Professionalism
Cultivate savvy interpersonal skills that allow you to effectively share your message both verbally and in writing.
“Follow through on your verbal and written communications.” Practice good time-management in order to punctually follow through on commitments.
“Showing up with dedication. Being present both physically and mentally.” “Demonstrate investment” in the organization by being engaged (may be indicated by eye contact, body language, active listening, asking questions, etc).
“Respecting everyone, of differing backgrounds and cultures, in the workspace.” Refrain from harmful gossip.
Authenticity in the Professional World
You may hear the phrase “Be Authentic in Your Workplace” thrown around. But, what does it mean to be authentic in a professional setting? What does it involve? Ultimately, we cannot answer that question for you, because it is up to you to determine how you want to show up in your work environment.
While we can’t answer the question for you, we can provide some tools for how you can explore what it can look like to be authentic and how to decide for yourself what feels right and comfortable.
Step One: Identify Your Values
Career values are the principles that outline what makes work meaningful to you. When navigating the workplace, it’s important to know what values are guiding your work. These values can help you make decisions, articulate your needs, and help you focus your attention on what matters most.
Step Two: Identify Your Boundaries
Boundaries are an important safeguard to ensure that you are safe in your workplace. Boundaries protect your physical, mental, and/or emotional wellbeing, and they reduce the likelihood of burnout. It’s important to know what your workplace boundaries are and to learn strategies for how to enforce them.
Step Three: Identify Your Preferences
A personal user manual is an outline of how you like to work, collaborate, communicate, and receive feedback. This is a great way to identify your work preferences and communicate them to your team in a fun, easy way. This can be done on your own or developed as a team.
Work/Life Navigation
Work/life balance is the way in which you manage your time and energy between your work life and your life outside of work. Work/life balance is extremely broad, as it encapsulates all of your time, but it includes concepts like relationship management/maintenance, stress levels, boundary-setting, achieving goals, and finding time for relaxation.
It’s important to clarify what a healthy balance between work and life can mean for you.
While it is often called work/life balance, it is also an ongoing process that will change as situations arise in either area. Thus, it’s important to regularly reflect on and articulate your work/life balance.
A Seat at the Table: Professionalism and Etiquette Series
What is Professionalism?
Personal Accountability
Getting Feedback
