Don’t act like a pig at work! Use these tips to clean up your act!
Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking about a person who just seemed to ‘get it’? Their participation was articulate, they were prepared, and they had considered all angles of the situation that was being discussed. In business, being professional can help you get ahead in your career or personal endeavors. There is no specific mix of traits that can make somebody a ‘true professional’, and many of them take years to develop and master fully. So to help you focus, we’ve picked out 11 traits that we feel pack the biggest punch when it comes to presenting yourself professionally:
- Competence – Know your stuff! Make sure to review meeting agendas before you walk in, review relevant materials, and try doing a quick Google search for topics that are similar to what is being discussed. Then, take some time to jot down your thoughts that are related to the subject at hand. When it’s your turn to contribute, talk to these points and related them back to your specific role and how you can apply your skills to help.
- Be the Go-To Person – Put yourself in positions where YOU are the expert. This may mean spending extra time learning new things that are crucial to your business. When you’re becoming the go-to person, actions speak louder than words. Rather than telling others that you’re the expert – start showing them. Volunteer to lend a hand and keep doing this until you’re the unofficial person in charge. Do this in several areas to help make yourself indispensable to the business. This will show that you take your job seriously and are focused on creating value for the company.
- Set an Agenda – When you’re running the show, make sure that you know what you want to cover when you walk into a meeting or start a project. Plan out the things you want to cover and what contributions you are looking to receive from other people who are attending. As you proceed, take diligent notes about what was discussed, then take some time to read them back to your audience to make sure you fully understood everything that was said. Do this until you have a consensus among the people you’re working with and have clearly identified any next steps.
- Support and Acknowledge others – It is often said that the best way to help yourself is by helping others. The more you support and acknowledge the contribution of others, the more they will support and acknowledge you. After all, business is often times a team exercise.
- Be Honest – Nobody is perfect, and we all make mistakes. Don’t try to hide the truth, even if it means exposing a mistake. Knowing the details of a situation can help your peers and superiors provide better guidance and help you learn. At the end of the day, issues come and go, and what seems like a big deal today will likely be forgotten in a month’s time. What will be remembered is how you handled the issue and sought help in order to correct it.
- Be Reliable – Show up on time for work and meetings. When you make a promise, stand by it and follow through. Don’t just tell people what you think they want to hear. If you say you’ll have something done by the end of the week – make sure you do it, even if it means putting in extra time or effort. At the end of the day, you control the expectations that you set with others. If they know they can trust you, then chances are they won’t mind if you tell them it’ll take an extra couple of days to get it done. The best way to build that trust, is to consistently deliver on your promises.
- Make time to communicate – We all have that person who wants immediate attention. Whether it is a client, coworker, or boss, that need can be distracting from the other work that you’re trying to get done. In these situations, don’t just shut the other person down. Instead, take your hands away from your keyboard, turn to face them (or answer the phone/email), and hear what they have to say. Give them your undivided attention for a few minutes. Then, at the end of the interaction, you can tell them what the best way to communicate with you is in the future.
- Be confident – Know your stuff and act like it. Speak clearly and with authority on the topics that you want to cover. Being confident can also mean not being afraid to ask for guidance or feedback when you’re not sure.
- Listen carefully – A good practice when dealing with clients, unhappy employees, or anyone that is looking for your assistance is to listen carefully and then repeat your understanding of their issue back to them. This is known as ‘Active Listening and it helps demonstrate that you understood what they’ve said, and that your response will be relevant to their concerns.
- Be proactive – If you’ve got a meeting coming up, or a new client coming on board, take time to research the topic or their company and become familiar with some background information. If you notice an issue unfolding, don’t just wait until it becomes a big deal and somebody else asks you to lend a hand – offer to take the lead or participate in some way. By doing this, you will demonstrate strong leadership abilities and will come to be known as a ‘doer’ which goes a long way in any professional context.
- Be Thorough – In our experience, a lot of this comes down to one simple thing: editing. We’ve already talked about the importance of doing your research and getting to know the background on certain topics – but one thing can be more important than the all – which is reading and reviewing your plans before acting on them. This can help you correct issues with tone, fill in gaps in logic, and help ensure that whomever is receiving your information clearly understands the thoughts that you’re trying to convey.
So there you have it: 11 easy ways to act like a professional. These were created to be applied in any professional context – whether you are starting your own business, or still working for somebody else. There are lots of other things that you can do as well, and everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses. The one thing that runs through all of these topics is to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Make sure you understand what the problem is and how they would want it to be solved. ‘Treat others as you would want to be treated’ is called the golden rule for a reason, after all. Don’t forget to signup for our newsletter to receive more tips!
