What Is A Business Professional?

What makes a good business professional?  What qualities do you have to have to stand out and be noticed?  What kind of expectations do other people have of you?

 For one thing, a business professional always gives and does the best they can do.  A professional commits beyond their self and has respect for others.  Professionals take responsibility for themselves and for the work they do.  They always consider the consequences and the impact their actions would have on others.

Some of the qualities you would need to have aren’t that surprising and a lot are just common sense.  You should be courteous at all times and make allowances for other mistakes.  You need to show firmness and honestly in all your dealings with not just businesses but people too.  If there are details that are confidential or if you’re dealing with a privacy matter, show the respect that the situation would merit.  Always give credit where credit is due. You also need to give your full attention when listening to others. Always speak clearly and be sure to apologize for any misunderstandings or miscommunications that might come up between you and others.

In dealing with day to day business, you need to be impartial.  Keep your private opinion of people, just that...private.  If you have a personal bias or an intolerance of someone, no one needs to know about it.  If you feel you had had been dealt a bad business deal, take the appropriate action rather than vengeful action to hurt another business or another person. Always show self-control in public and avoid public confrontations and public disagreements.

When you commit to something, follow through with that commitment, both in the business world and private. You want to be known as a person of their word. Always be reliable and dependable in all your business dealings whether internal or external.  If you’re running late for a meeting, call and let the office know you’re going to be delayed.  If there are going to be problems with a project, let your co-workers know so they aren’t left out of the loop.  If you always do your best work, the results will reflect that.

 Never use your work email for sending out personal email.  When dealing with email, double check numbers, grammar, and especially spelling of company and individual's names.  Make sure the right document is attached to the correct email and the address is correct before hitting the send button.  When important pieces of information are received, follow up with a phone call to confirm that you did receive them.  Sometimes it’s not enough to just send a fax or an email.

You could join an association or society that is pertinent to your business or profession.  You can also do volunteer work and donate your services to a community or charity group that is in need of them.  You can be a mentor to an apprentice or even a student.

As you can see, there is a lot of common sense in being a business professional, you just have to use yours.

In what ways are you a business professional?  Please comment and let me know.