Series: Professionalism

My series of professionalism: the set of workplace behaviors that are generally expected at work. These behaviors are largely unspoken, but they do exist: there are consequences for violating them. In this series, I aim to write down some of these rules and explore their implications.

Professionalism: What is “professionalism” and why am I writing about it?

I’m starting a new series on professionalism: the set of workplace behaviors that are generally expected at work. These behaviors are largely unspoken, but they do exist: there are consequences for violating them. In this series, I aim to write down some of these rules and explore their implications. Eventually, I hope to have a solid list of what “professional behavior” really means.

April 12th, 2022 • behavior professionalism

Professionalism: Honesty is a professional behavior

Dishonesty at work is wrong except when it isn’t.

May 19th, 2022 • honesty professionalism

Professionalism: You should maintain a transition file

When you change jobs, ideally you’ll have the opportunity to brief your successor directly. But that isn’t always possible: you might get fired or laid off, you might leave for another job without a clear successor named before your last day, you might have to take sudden medical leave, etc. Situations like that will be disruptive, it’s unavoidable, but a transition file will help minimize that disruption.

November 9th, 2022 • management professionalism succession planning

Professionalism: No Yelling

It’s never acceptable to yell at work. The norms of professional behavior call for a cool demeanor. It’s normal to have emotions at work, but there’s a limit to how strongly you can express those emotions, particularly anger.

November 21st, 2023 • behavior emotion professionalism