A New Paradigm of Professionalism

The other day I was telling a friend about something that was happening with an employee in my business and her response was, “that’s just not professional!” 

I know she meant well and was having my back in that moment, but I gotta be honest - I had such a visceral, negative reaction to that word that I had to stop and think about what was going on.  What exactly do I think “professionalism,” is, and why does that word feel like a weapon to me?  

To understand why I was having that reaction, I had to go back in time to my very first design job out of school.  

I began my career in San Francisco, working for one of the top commercial design firms in the country.  I felt incredibly lucky to have that opportunity, and I was excited to be out of school and a “professional” interior designer at last!  

Here’s what being professional meant to me at that time:

• Always looking the part.  On the weekends I let my hair down and dressed comfortably, but “professional” appearance at work always meant stiff and uncomfortable clothes and shoes, makeup and hair.  Appearances and blending in were everything. Authenticity, comfort and self expression? Unprofessional.
• Leaving my feelings at home.  Professionals never cry, lose their tempers or get emotional.  It’s important to always be pleasant and have a smile on your face, no matter what.  Crying at work?  Unprofessional.
• Performing, no matter what.  There’s no excuse to miss a deadline or not follow through on your commitments.  I would KILL myself to get my work done, even if it meant making myself sick.  You basically have to ignore/subjugate your human body, with its inconvenient swings in energy, health and mood and force it to perform like a robot.  Needing more time to do your work?  Unprofessional.
• Never making a mistake.  Here’s where my toxic perfectionism really took root.  I truly believed as a professional my work HAD to be perfect at all times and there was NO EXCUSE for making a mistake.  Ever.  Making a mistake?  Unprofessional.

Over time, these ideas about what it meant to be “professional” became impossible to uphold.  I became more and more paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake, and the future of keeping up appearances in an office felt bleak. 

Finally, I just couldn’t do it any more.  

So, I quit my job and moved to Portland, a laid-back place where I felt so much more freedom to let go of my old ideas about “professionalism” and find a kinder, gentler way to work.  I was on a journey toward redefining my values around work and letting go of my ideas about “professionalism” that had become so paralyzing to me. 

 I started my own business so I could decide for myself what it meant to be “professional.”  Over the years, I let go of more and more of my old ideas of professionalism and embraced a new way to be. 

 Here’s what I value and embrace as “professionalism” now:

• I’ve replaced “image-conscious” and “professional-dress” with comfort, authenticity and self-expression.  You can’t do your best work when you’re uncomfortable or trying to fit into someone else’s mold of how you’re supposed to look.  Your personal style’s version of polished?  Yes.  Stiff and uncomfortable? No.  
• You’re allowed to be a human with human feelings.  We can talk about our feelings at work and be real in supporting each other through our real struggles AND get our work done.  In fact, we’re more able to focus on our work if we feel seen and supported by our team.  
• There is a discreet way to be honest and real with clients about what's going on with you that actually builds trust in a much more powerful way than our old veneer of “perfection/professionalism” that actually holds them at arm's length and makes it harder for them to trust you.  
• Work should fit around life, not the other way around.  We’re allowed to be humans with bodies that are sometimes tired and need rest, and lives where unexpected things come up that need our attention.  As long as we communicate and take responsibility for ourselves, there is a lot of room for “real life” to happen in a professional life. 
• Mistakes happen.  We don’t beat ourselves or each other up when they do.  It’s not about avoiding mistakes, but about taking responsibility when they happen to fix them.  Being open, clear and communicative about them.  Professionals make mistakes - they are just quick to take responsibility and fix them when they happen.  

 This is the business that I want to work for, and the culture that I have worked hard to create.  When it comes down to it, I realized my new idea of professionalism boils down to these four qualities: 

My new definition of Professionalism is: care, self-responsibility and trust. 

 When these are present, you can let go of all the “old” rules about what it means to be professional and do your best work.

 Going back to that story I told you about at the beginning of this post,  I realized that I didn’t think that my employee was being “unprofessional” in that circumstance because I knew she cared, she wanted to do a good job, and she was going to do what she could to make it right.  

 When it comes right down to it, isn’t that really all that we need?  Rather than stiff rules, we need to know that the people we work with care about doing a good job, are going to take responsibility if something goes wrong, and we can trust them to have our best interest at heart.  

 The rest of it?  Outdated ideas of professionalism that have become weaponized and lead to a whole lot of judgment of ourselves and others.  Not only are they not needed, but they can lead to a toxic work environment.  

 Join me in embracing a new idea of what it means to be a professional. 

Instead of feeling judged and paralyzed by an inhuman, robotic idea of professionalism, we can feel nurtured and empowered by a new paradigm of Professionalism. 

One where:

• We are free to be our authentic selves
• We have room for our real and actual lives to happen
• We can be human with human feelings and human bodies, and 
• We can make mistakes.  

That is how  I want to work.  That is the kind of professionalism I want to embody!

__________________

If you’d like some more guidance in this, set up a free discovery call with me HERE.  We can talk about ways I can support you in embracing a kinder, gentler paradigm of professionalism  in your Interior Design business so you can achieve your goals without beating yourself up in the process.