Throughout my career I have had to manage the perception of professionalism. Whether this be a conversation of optics or work ethic, it’s been a constant thing in my adult life. Some folk rely on me and perceive me as the definition of professionalism while others feel I am sufficiently lacking in that department.
A lot of my life has been spent as a polarizing person. My value and your vision of me is entirely based on what you feel is important in life. I’ve interacted with a lot of people and it started to make me wonder what professionalism even is.
This is another one of those blogs waxing poetic on a word.
The definition of professionalism
Google, leveraging Oxford, defines professionalism as:
the competence or skill expected of a professional
This is clearly one of those words where we need to now go Google another definition in order to know what it means. Professionalism just means being competent as a professional. Le sigh, here is the definition of Professional, as told by Google, stealing from Oxford:
As an Adjective:
relating to or belonging to a profession (fuck, after another Google, this is a paid occupation you have to train for and get a formal occupation).
engaged in a specified activity as one's main paid occupation rather than as a pastime
It appears you can be described as professional by getting a formal degree and training OR by getting paid for a hobby. Let’s check the as a noun definition for Professional:
a person engaged or qualified in a profession.
a person engaged in a specified activity, especially a sport or branch of the performing arts, as a main paid occupation rather than as a pastime.
Oh look they mean the same thing. Basically to display professionalism means to act in accordance with what is expected of someone competent in your field. All that is the “technical definition”. The word has a whole other meaning, check out these quotes I found on Queens University's website.
The skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well” Merrium-Webster, n.d. (That’s the OTHER dictionary dude).
“‘Professionalism’ is commonly understood as an individual’s adherence to a set of standards, code of conduct or collection of qualities that characterize accepted practice within a particular area of activity” Universities UK et al. 2004 (nobody that mattered said this clearly).
Oh snap, old timey norms are here.
The optics of life are all that matters
I’ve always understood professional behaviour as being honest and competent. It turns out there is a lot of social theatre that goes into being perceived as professional. Once in CEGEP (Quebec school thing) this guy named Dave said something profound to me. He pointed out that polite behaviour was the social lubricant that let strangers who dislike each other work together.
Believe it or not, my haircut has been considered unprofessional by many. Apparently it’s not the custom for middle managers to look like me. I want to be clear, the company I worked at was very accepting of my aesthetic choices. There were individuals I met along the way who felt different.
The quality of my work, and ability to display competence was called into question by some over what I looked like. I understand I look like I’m a stoner. By all definitions, I am a stoner. Stoners have plenty of places in the corporate sphere. The thing is, I always landed in roles that were not typically held by people who looked and acted like me.
Had I been a graphic designer, I probably would have been left alone.
Now I understand that you need to dress the part you want to play. I have always had a suit. I tie my hair into a ponytail. My beard is big, and that’s fine, in 2024 no one cares. Be that as it may I do trim it when it gets too unruly.
The thing is there is more to optics than appearance. There is behavioural adaptation. I am not good at masking whatever shit’s up in my brain to be “normal”. It takes a lot for me to behave in public in ways that are “appropriate”. In my 30’s with a lot of help from a lot of people I am pretty good at it. In my 20’s I was very bad at it.
I never understood the rules.
There are a lot of dumb rules in society
Sometimes you aren’t raised with parents that teach you the social class rules for a higher class. I come from welfare. My parents never really got that cultural training that many people get and I grew up with a different set of rules and ethics than basic middle-class Canada.
As I navigated my way into a middle class salary I learned right quick that there aren’t a lot of resources to teach that “common sense” bullshit everyone goes on about. Maybe this is what my parents were supposed to do, but while they did their best, they didn’t live the same kind of life I ended up living.
Over time I came to believe maybe I’m on a spectrum. I’m undiagnosed, but I connect real well with folk on spectrums. The neurodivergent types. I never really understood the weirdly fake norms of the neurotypical ones. I’m not that comfortable with that language. Having never been tested, I don’t want to simply cling to some label or another like an attention seeker.
On the other hand, everyone close to me in my life has pointed out how socially weird I am. Often it’s part of why they love me. The problem is, following a bunch of trivial rules often impacts your perceived level of professionalism.
Thankfully there are a lot more resources out there. You may not know this but TikTokers going on about mental health struggles makes me feel less alone sometimes.
Professionalism is both the work and the image
As much as I wish professionalism was about the work and the grind, the image matters too. In the same way I need a clean car to do Uber (because I provide a service and the expectation for a professional is that the car is clean), I need to code switch my behavioural norms to fit the environments I am in.
I am getting better at this over time. How you present yourself matters a lot. The thing is, you need to make opportunity choices when you present yourself as you do. I had a lot of trouble at my last company because the way I behaved showed them I was into the side hustle more than the main job.
When I go out now, I have several uniforms, and mannerism sets that are based on the role I need to play. To some this is fake as fuck. To have to act in different roles. But the reality is, this is how I make money in life. We all play a role in doing our jobs. I just play a lot of roles depending on how you know me.
I perceive myself as professional. Though I behave unprofessionally sometimes, what makes me a professional is how I handle my fuckups. I do my best to deliver honest work based on the merit of my past experience. I try to manage expectations and not mislead.
To some my nature is never going to be professional and I can live with that. I no longer really give a shit what the people who don’t want to pay me think as much. Plenty of people do want to pay me. Life is like that.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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