Basics of Professionalism

Dear Readers,

In this posting, I would like to talk about certain “Basics” of professionalism. Though these are “Basics”, I am sure you would agree with me that, it’s still lacking. Basics are important. Basics are like foundation. Without proper foundation, nothing can stand. It can spell disaster. It cannot be faked. Hence this particular topic.

Confidentiality:

During the course of our employment or interaction with employees or friends, we will come across many information and some of them could be confidential. Say for instance, a colleague of yours might share some genuine work related concerns or sometimes it could be personal too. What if I share it with others the next day? What would you think of me and what is the value I demonstrate here?

What is shared in confidence should remain confident and should never be shared with anyone. When shared, we violate the other person’s trust and we show utmost disrespect to them.

This is one important trait that’s absolutely required to build relationship and trust.  A true professional must be trust-worthy.

Remember, it takes years to build trust and seconds to lose it.

Respect for people:

Respect to people, irrespective of their social / hierarchical status, is very important. It’s not about how we treat our seniors. It’s about how we treat those who are below us and those who cannot even raise their voice back.

It’s important that we respect people.  Even if the other person does not respect us, we should respect them.  We need to respect, not because the other person is a gentleman but because we are gentlemen.  Respect for people or the lack of it defines who we are and our value system.

“Sometimes” we see “success” going to the head. Success is all about being there in the right place, in the right time and with the right people.  Every human being is born with adequate amount of intelligence to learn and grow.  Some have got the opportunity and some have not.  That’s the ONLY differentiator and otherwise, everyone could have become successful.  Hence every human being deserves equal respect.

Subrato Bagchi, one of the founders of Mindtree is a standing example for many values and for this value too. He never called his drivers as drivers or by their name when he was a child. He always suffixed their name with “uncle”.  His kids call their drives the same way with respect.  The reason is, it was one of the basic values taught by his father at the young age of Subroto, which he taught to his kids too.

How do we treat our office boys? Do we know their name? How do we treat our lower rank employees? A point to ponder.

In my career, I’ve seen goody-goody managers reacting very very badly to the office boys for smallest mistakes.  I’ve seen the so-called Good Managers reacting badly to drivers or watchmen for smallest things. 

I am not implying that we should not reprimand.  But how we do it with “dignity” for the individuals is important. 

Treat people the way you want to be treated.  Every human being deserves Dignity.

I am going to talk about few more Basics in the coming weeks.  What is your take on this topic? Pls. do share your thoughts and feedback. 

 diD yOU enJOY ReADinG ThIS ArTIcLE? 

                                  If yES, 

yOU maY sHAre it wiTH Your FriENds tOO.

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