The New Professionalism

I just read an article on Linkedin and it made me stop and think. It's about the standards of professionalism and what that means today vs. in the past. A social media executive, says needing to act "professional" is simply outdated.

In reading the article and the comments it elicited, I quickly realized the main point was about the image you project, specifically focused on individual style choices and behavior (i.e., "I'm bubbly and chatty.") 

I've worked for a silicon valley high tech firm that disdained the "dress for success" attitude. In fact, we had suits on the wall with banned symbols across them. I completely enjoyed dressing how I was comfortable while in the office. But, when I made sales calls it was a different matter. It was important for me to not push too hard against the client culture because I needed people to listen to what I was saying and not be distracted by what I was wearing.

This points out how you cannot make a blatant statement about professionalism being outdated. It depends on your role in the company. If you are customer-facing, it could not be entirely up to you. In the tech firm I just mentioned, company leaders showed up at customer meetings looking like they were important people with critical things to impart. They understood how one appears can distract attention away from what needs to get done.

In the tech world, work environments tend to be tightly configured in large open spaces. Voices carry and there are few workspaces set aside to hold personal conversations. As for how you act in the office, being bubbly and chatty is fine, but don't do it where you can distract people who are working. That's not being unprofessional, it's just plain being disrespectful of your colleagues. 

Younger workers think they are breaking down outmoded morays but it really depends... if you're an inside the company worker who never deals with clients it's a different ballgame. It's up to company leadership to decide how they want to present their company to clients visiting for meetings and demos. Busily working people looks good no matter how they are dressed. But, chatty folks congregating instead of working will have the opposite impact. 

There has to be some standard for the office since we all need to be there together and coexist.

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/dont-hide-your-true-self-in-a-suit-4573857/