Professionalism Case

What does Professionalism mean to me? Professionalism in my term means it is someone who is very dedicated to their profession. It is an important and great decision to follow by the rules and ethics of professionalism. If we did not have anyone that cared about their profession it would cause a lot of problems in our society today. It could cause a lot of disruption in your workplace. In order to abide by professionalism you must take pride in your job, percieve realistic goals and values, and know what your expectations are.

When being a professional you must conduct yourself in a professional manner. You must learn how to treat others with respect and be loyal to yourself and your team. Professionalism, more or less, is a standard on which you carry yourself in and out of the workplace. Communication is a quality that one must to effectively in any point in time. In order to do my job correctly, efficiant, and tactfully I must show complete professionalism in all areas of my life. I have always seen professionalism defined as to lead by example.

When you are leading in the military it has to be professional, and when doing so it has to be tactful. Even when you are not leading you must act as if you where to do so. Being dedicated by remaining professional at all time, you must react to certain situations calm and thoughtfully. You must understand that there are all different tyes of personell in the work place, and you have to respect them which I believe to be a part of professionalism. You never know what people have been through, done, or seen in the life they had before they met you so you must be respectful/professional in how/what you say. Learn the persons backround before assuming or saying what comes to mind.

Also, just cause your talking respectfully or professionaly does not mean you are being professional. Being professional aslo includes the way you act, how you do things and what you do. For example, I could stand and talk to someone respectfully and professionally and it still not be proactive at being professional. I could also walk up to a NCO and say, “sergeant blah blah blah”, but not be standing at the position of parade rest. That would conclude my example at being unprofessional. When you are talking professionally you must respect everyones views and values and still proceed to the point you are trying to make or explain.

You also must remain content when speaking while frustrated in certain situations to keep from offending someone or hurting their feelings. Get a mutual feel for where each person stands on certain topics throughout all aspects of communication with each person to refrain from causing any kind of problem that could possibly occur. For example, you could possibly recite to yourself, in a mirror, a possible conversation you might hold with a person that you know get easily offended. Also, you could start a conversation with “all due respect”, or “not to offend you”. Those are some possible conversation starters with someone who you might find difficult to strike up a coversation with.

With people who you dont know at all, which are the easiest to offend just cause the fact that they dont know you, your personality and how you react. So remain professional and understanding to other people and their perspective of things, because also you also never know who somebody actually is. For example, you are driving down the street and someone cuts you off, you drive up next the the individual in the intesection and cuss them out. Boom! He ends up yelling back, and he just so happens to be a command saergeant major and you get an article 15 for being unprofessional and not maintaining your military bearing.

Maintaining your military bearing is the similar as being professional, But also has another definition to it, it means you are a soldier and should act like one at all times (being professional). Also it states that if you act unprofessional you are displaying to the world that the military is unprofessional. This is why you must maintain professional at all times cause you are the face of the military. Perception is reality in a lot of peoples eyes, that is a big deal in the military. In search of being professional you must, and I quote “cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s”.

Believe it or not a lot of individuals do not know how to become and maintain being professional. This is a perfect to quote “lead by example”, be an example for others to learn from you and you could always learn from others. If you are not learning something every day you are wasting your own time. Its always a perfect time to learn and today I learned about professionalism. From a bit of research through internet and a few friends, and also from what I know and have experienced from day to day. A lot of issues I have been through could of been solved by just using some professionalism, for example, thinking before I reacted to certain situations and conversations. Always carry yourself professional and people will think much more highly about you and the way they percieve you. Even the little things count, like making sure that you laces are tucked in, clean shave and to be early to places that you are required to be at. Professionalsm is one of the main keys to being a great soldier. Don’t get me wrong there are sometimes you dont have to be as professional as you usually are. For example,when you are at your home with your family and friends. These are the people you know the best, and you know your boundries of what you can say and what you can not say.

In conclusion, I overall think this was a great essay to write. I learned a lot and was able to use some of my other aquired skills to write this essay on professionalism. I will indeed use them at my workplace and also in my daily life. I now know how to conduct myself in a professional manner and will continue to do so.