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

Influence and lead yourself first

ATTITUDE

MY FIRST PAID UP JOB

It was in 2003 when I completed my high school (grade 12) and while waiting for final results, I joined my brother in the capital city of Zambia –Lusaka. It was actually my first time to come to Lusaka and since I had all the times, I gave myself a tour of the city and first place to visit was the University of Zambia as it was my dream to study at the highest Institution of learning in Zambia. After sometimes, I started selling groceries at small business called “Katemba” along Tito road in Rhodespark. I would woke up as early a 06:00am to open the “katemba” so that I capture those buying bread, sugar and milk for their breakfast. I did this for some time and while selling I would be reading books and my favorite was “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. After sometime, I encouraged myself to look for a part time job so that I could raise some funds to start preparing for my college /University life and just to buy myself clothes and shoes. After failed attempts of applying for jobs due to non-availability of vacancies especially that I had not even obtained my grade 12 results, it was difficult to land on a job even in industries. One blessed time, I finally got a job in a restaurant owned by some foreign Investors as a Waiter/Cleaner.

My job responsibilities were cleaning, mopping the floor, arranging tables, serve people, remove dirty dishes and glasses from tables, then take them to the kitchen for cleaning, offloading food from the truck during deliveries and others as assigned. We used to work from 09:00am to 10:00pm everyday including Sundays and my monthly salary was K90 (old currency). Ooh yes, below even the minimum wage for those who believe in minimum wages but one thing I liked was meeting new people every day and most of them used to encourage to go school and I used to enjoy different meals. My salary off course was peanut but I was saving it and I used to receive some tips more than even my salary.

I worked there for some months and my high school results came out. By then I had saved some monies to buy myself a bus ticket to Kasama, buy some clothes and gifts for mother. When I requested for few days off to enable travel to my former school-Mungwi Technical, my supervisor refused and gave me two choices, to go and get fired or not to go and keep my job. I looked at him and told him, that, “this was not my destination or final job, it was just a passing phase, I needed to get my results and apply to College/University.” However, despite pleading with him, he was adamant and therefore I chose to quit and left to collect my results. By the grace of God, I had passed well and got accepted at the University of Zambia under Government Bursary.

Years later, I decided to take my fiancé to have ice cream in the same restaurant and coincidently found my former workmates and same supervisor who looked surprised because by then I had graduated and working for a prestigious Bank. I told my fiancé that, some 4 years ago, I used to clean these tables, clean every droplet of food stuff on the floor and today is a different story.

I share this real life experience so that we can learn something:

¨       You are not defined by your prevailing circumstances

¨       You should follow what is best for you willfully

¨       Tough times are not permanent unless you permit them

¨       Life is full of choices, choose wisely

¨       Don’t ever despise small beginnings

¨       Don’t ever look down at people

¨       Use you time wisely and productively, find something to do e.g. voluntary work, read books

¨       Don’t permit anyone to hinder your progress

¨       Refuse to be stagnate or settling for anything

¨       Not everyone will support your dreams and visions

¨       Always Encourage and believe in yourself

¨      To be a champion you have to win some battles especially the battle of the mind

¨   There is time to serve and time to be served

¨       Above all, trust in God because He is always faithful

“If you can’t believe in miracles, then believe in yourself. When you want something bad enough, let that drive push you to make it happen. Sometimes you’ll run into brick walls that are put there to test you. Find a way around them and stay focused on your dream. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” ---Isabel Lopez

“So many people will tell you “no”, and you need to find something you believe in so hard that you just smile and tell them “watch me”. Learn to take rejection as motivation to prove people wrong. Be unstoppable. Refuse to give up, no matter what. It’s the best skill you can ever learn.” ― Charlotte Eriksson

God bless you!!

You are your choices by BMC

THE POWER OF YOUR CHOICES

Personal development legend Jim Rohn said , "if the idea to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labour , entertainment over education , delusion over truth and doubt over confidence .The choices are ours to make . But while we curse the effect (the outcome ) , we continue to nourish the cause ( i.e we are the ones fueling  the cause of that outcome )". The fact of the matter  is that we all make choices , good or bad . If I may ask, how many choices have you  made today? If you list them they will be quite a number from the food you chose to eat , the movies you chose to watch , the music you listened to just to mention a few . Believe it or not you have astonishing power to make choices each day such as the :

Power to choose encouragment over discouragement
Power to choose self motivation over self pity
Power to choose action over mere talking
Power to choose investment over consumption

Power to choose right friends over bad company
Power to choose to invest in knowledge over laziness
Power to choose hard work over laziness
Power to offer compliment over unobjective criticisms
Power to choose to be productive over inproductive

The important thing is that we all have the power within us to make such choices which should help us become better human beings. The power of choice is a gift from God and it's up to you to
 choosewisely . It is said by Catherine Pulsifer that, "life presents many choices, the choices we make determine our future." This is true because the choices we make ultimately influence our decisions and these decisions determines our future or the ultimate output . For instance, if you consciously or unconsciously choose laziness over hardworking , the results of such would include lacking which will bring about poverty and other hardship. Equally, if a student choose to study hard , the results will show . If you decide to be lazy to work in this performance driven work culture , your job will be terminated and you will give visa to poverty and economic hardships in your life. If you choose to ignore the speed limit , police will arrest you or may end up causing accidents . If you to choose to steal company property , you be caught , charged and end up losing your job , perhaps even jailed . 

The important thing to remember when making such choices is to ask whether that will help you to achieve your goal , whether that is a priority or not . Ask yourself whether that choice you are making is important to your life goals . If you make that choice today, what will it mean for your tomorrow , your next month , your next year? 

Consider an intern who chooses to work for free to gain experience and another one who choose to remain at home till when he gets a full time job. All these two have their rights to make choices but
a wise choice would be to invest in gaining experience even if it's for free or no monthly allowance. I have seen interns who maximised their time , demonstrated good attitude , worked hard and ended up having full time jobs .

Consider a business man who after making some profits in his business venture decides to spend his profit on big luxury cars , holidays abroad etc and one who choose to reinvest the profit and gain more market shares . Believe me or not , the one who chose to spend his profit on consumption will end up not growing his business and risk liquidation . I have seen some close friends and relatives who chose  early gratifications , consumption and ended up selling their possessions to make money for rentals when they could have built their own houses instead of spending on luxury holidays . Holidays are off course important but you have to make wise choices at right times .

While growing up in a village I recall good friends, I used to school with at the same school in the same classroom and some chose not to study but other bad vises and later on dropped out of school , chose early marriages and unproductive lives. When I recently visited my village to bury my grandfather , I met few of them in a sorry state , asking for monies from me that life was tough in the village.I honestly I felt bad because these guys had potential to excel but they chose a different root and the results not desirable . 

Friends , each of one of us encounters difficult times, hardships , headaches , hurt feelings , physical and emotional pains and this is not what matters but how you choose to respond to them matters most .You  have the choice to program your mind for victory , for making wise choices because ultimately whatever you  choose to put into it (mind programming ) will be reflected in outputs.

The power of your choice affects you destiny. It may seem  hard to choose right over wrong but the rewards of wise choices are far much better than the consequences of bad choices. Remember that

you do have a choice . And like the legend Jim Rohn had put it , "Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we will do with our lives. The first choice we can make is to be less than we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less. To try less and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation And the second choice? To do it all! To become all that we can possibly be. To read every book that we possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can. To give and share as much as we possibly can. To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can."

Some Inspirational quotes from Jim Rohn:😊

"Days are expensive. When you spend a day , you have one less day to spend. So make sure you
  spend each day wisely."

"We must all suffer one of two things:the pain of discipline or the pain of regret."

"You cannot make progress without making decisions,"


God bless you!