PROFESSIONALISM VS PERSONALISM AT WORK

In my several years’ practices as a Human Resources Professional, I have witnessed both professionalism and unprofessionalism which I would prefer calling “personalism” from employees and employers. Regrettably, personalism is on the rise especially in public service Institutions. So what is professionalism? What is personalism? And Which one do you choose?

Professionalism can be understood as the conduct of an individual that demonstrates honour, integrity, and civil behavior toward adversaries in their line of work or volunteering.  Professionalism applies to every single human endeavor. Human Resources Professional, Lawyers, Accountants, Procurement Professions, Engineers, Maids, Teachers Doctors, Nurses, Builders, Subcontractors, Farmers, Bankers, Businessmen, Volunteers, and even retirees either practice professionalism in their daily lives or care nothing for it.

The opposite of professionalism can be called is unprofessionalism which I would prefer calling “personalism” in this context. 

According to the Free Dictionary by Farlex: unprofessionalism is defined as “not conforming to the standards of a profession or unprofessional behavior standards of a profession or unprofessional behavior.”

According to Free Dictionary by Farlex: Personalism is the quality of being characterized by purely personal modes of expression or behavior, idiosyncrasy. Personalism is therefore, is the mind set and conduct of a person who exhibits selfishness, the desire to “win” at any cost, and treating others with contempt and/or disrespect. Unfortunately, personalism seems to be the natural human reaction when we are placed under enormous stress or when things are not “going our way.”

Consider a situation where a Medical Personnel, start disclosing medical conditions of a person he treated to unauthorized persons just because the live in the same community and had personal differences during a drinking escapade or similar circumstances. Is that professionalism or personalism?

Consider a male HR Professional start soliciting sexual favours from a female recruitee for her to be expressly put on payroll. Or a Supervisor soliciting sexual favours from a female subordinate in order to recommend her for promotion.

Consider a HR Manager, asking for bribes in order to facilitate employment for an applicant. These examples sound sensitive but they are in reality. Would you consider this as Professionalism?

I have heard situations in some academic Institutions whereby a learned Professor, subjectively awards good grades to some selected students based on personal relationships outside campus or based on some conditionalities but not the quality of the papers. Similarly, some employees are not promoted because they consider their faces not their competencies, skills and deliverables at work. Those who don’t deserve certain promotions get promoted because they have personal interest and some bribe in different forms.

Once upon a time, a man from a community I was working in some time back, approached me in my office, I asked him, how I would be of a help, he told me that he came to thank me for ensuring that her wife was now substantively confirmed to her position after working for more than 6 years because someone at work used to ask her for sexual favours before processing her confirmations. This made me think, maybe he is thinking that the wife had now yielded to the request, however, he was quick to point out that her wife was narrating how I was of help and how did my job without asking for anything, so he was motivated to come and say, “thank you.”

Think of a time at work, school or business, when you got   angry, bitter because someone objected to your views and you labeled him as an enemy. By the way, the author once did that, left that meeting room in anger but later after calming down realized that, it was not professional to behavior like that in a meeting. At that time, I took things personally because my recommendations were not been considered.

What is expected in Professionalism:

We are all human beings and sometimes our emotions can overtake us and become personal at work, however we should at all cost strive for professionalism which includes but not limited to these:

  v  Be respectful:

Respect yourself and others at all times.

  v  Be trustworthy:

Trustworthiness is about fulfilling an assigned task- not letting down expectations, it is been dependable, and reliable when called upon to deliver a service.

v  Be accountable:

To be accountable is to stand tall and be counted for what actions you have undertaken, this is the blameworthiness and responsibility for your actions and its consequences- good or bad.

v  Be courteous and respectful:

Courteousness is being friendly, polite and well-mannered with a gracious consideration towards others.

v  Be honest, open and transparent:

Honesty is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as truthfulness, straightforwardness of conduct, loyalty, fairness, sincerity, openness in communication and generally operating in a way for others to see what actions are being performed. Honest is the best policy.

v  Be competent and improve continually:

Competence is the ability of an individual to do a job properly, it is a combination of knowledge, skills and behavior used to improve performance

v  Always be ethical:

Ethical behavior is acting within certain moral codes in accordance with the generally accepted code of conduct or rules.

v  Always be honorable and act with integrity:

Honorable action is behaving in a way that portrays “nobility of soul, magnanimity,” which is derived from virtuous conduct and personal integrity.

v  Be respectful of confidentiality;

Confidentiality is respecting the set of rules or promise that restricts you from further and unauthorized dissemination of information.

The benefits of professionalism far out-weighs personalism. In personalism, you may end up losing your integrity, respect as an Individual and organization, you may get sued for sexual harassment and get fired, you may end up hiring incompetent people and put the company at risk because of non-performers. The benefits of practicing personalism are just but momentarily as they are not sustainable.

Which one would Choose? Professionalism or Personalism?

God bless!

5 BENEFITS OF SYSTEMS THINKING

For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, form a single body. For the body does not consist of only one part, but of many. If the foot says, “Since I’m not a hand, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? And if the ear says, “Since I’m not an eye, I’m not part of the body,” that does not make it any less a part of the body, does it? If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? Now if all of it were one part, there wouldn’t be a body, would there? So there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or the head to the feet, “I don’t need you.” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable, and the parts of the body that we think are less honorable are treated with special honor, and we make our less attractive parts more attractive. However, our attractive parts don’t need this. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is praised, every part rejoices with it.

For me, this profound illustration above from the bible, simply summaries the systems thinking which was founded by Prof Jay Forrester.

Systems thinking is a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system's constituent parts interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. Systems thinking is concerned with understanding of a system by examining the linkages and interactions between the components that comprise the entirety of that defined system. Whole systems are composed of systems, the basic unit, which comprise several entities or departments (e.g. policies, processes, practices, Human Resources and Administration, Finance Department, Marketing Department, Production/Technical Department, Legal and many others according to organization setups) and may be broken down into further sub-systems.

Systems Thinking focuses on:

• The organization as a whole

• Interactions between parts, not the parts themselves

• The way systems affect other systems

• Reoccurring patterns rather than just individual events

• Change over time

• How feedback affects the parts

Systems Thinking involves both a mindset that focuses on how the parts of a whole are interrelated and a set of tools that help organizations examine complexity and looks to address problems proactively rather than reactively, relying on multi-level, multi-disciplinary teams to work together to generate solutions and create lasting improvements. It strives to develop people’s sensitivity to the interdependency of the entire system and the consequences of actions.    

         SOME BENEFITS OF SYSTEMS THINKING:

    1. There is greater collaboration which yield better results:

In a number of Organizations, there is interdepartmental rivalries e.g. Finance vs HR, Finance     Vs Audit /Production. Recently I saw some long social media chat, where a medical Doctor was saying that they don’t like Human Resources Professional because they think they are superior in the Ministry of Health.  All these try to show their superiority and this results into unhealthy working environment which doesn’t promote collaborate. John C. Maxwell said, “to collaborative team members, completing one another is more important than competing with one another.”

    2. Focus on results not just mere activities:

It is said, “Not everything that can be counted counts. Not everything that counts can    be counted.” You may be busy doing activities which are not even responding to your vision and goals. Companies want results not just activities. A system thinker will ensure that whatever they are focusing on will ultimately benefit the entire Organization not for seek of making allowances through trips, meetings which don’t yielded desired results.

   3.  Helps to priorities organization Key Success Factors:

If your roof is leaking, deciding to replace the damaged carpet and repaint the ceiling won’t lead to a lasting solution and will only drain your budget of the resources needed for the right fix. Organizations and individuals need to focus on their KPIs and ensure that they ask Key Performance Questions (KPQs).

   4.  Increase idea generation:

In system thinking, everyone is valued and this increases the sense of responsibility and ownership. Therefore, people feel more appreciated and easily open up to suggest and can also question the status quo. These new ideas can be implemented and find better and innovative ways of achieving desired results.

  5.  Generate knowledge and understanding beyond what a person already knows:

As a system thinker you will not just focus on your area of operation or your job role but you will endeavor to appreciate and understand the other Department’s work. When you’re entrenched in your own responsibilities, it’s easy to forget that other departments not only exist, but that you’re all serving one main goal: fulfilling the mission of your organization. Learning what other departments do and working with them on collaborative projects are ways to avoid losing sight of the organization’s other moving parts. Organizations with employees from different departments who work together on projects can benefit from sharing information and asking questions.

In summary systems thinking has more benefits and if well utilized can see actualization of individual and organizational goals as we are interdependent on each other. Be a system thinker!

“One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something.” –Henry David Thoreau

“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move towards higher levels.”—Albert Einstein