The Importance of Being Unprofessional

By Tom Bellinson

Here at MSIS, we seem to be striving for something better than the traditional business environment. Whenever I hear the word "better," I can't help but think of the word "different."  If we're going to be different, then we had better examine all the things we do that are "the same" as traditional business practices.

Professionalism is one of those ideas that needs a bit of examination.  Let's break it down.  It seems to me that there are two main components to professionalism: 1) how you present yourself physically (dress, and personal maintenance), and 2) your communications.  Some communication is passive, but most is active or at least intentional.  It is this latter form of professionalism on which I would like to focus.

Professional communications have come to be synonymous with emotionless business and/or technical talk.  Hmm.  What's wrong with this picture?  Here's what's strange about this whole concept: modern management principles teach us that we should be "passionate" about our work.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I think about the word "passion," I can't help but envisage strong emotion.  So, if being professional is about containing my emotions, I want no part of it.  You shouldn't either.  This is not a license to become a raving lunatic, but c'mon!  I bring my whole self to work every day whether you like it or not.  If you are leaving part of yourself at home, it's probably the passion we're not getting around here.  That's the juice.  We should want that.

The challenge for an organization full of totally engaged passionate people is learning how to express and respond to emotions in a constructive manner.  The first impulse I tend to have is to suppress my negative emotional thoughts.  I do this to spare my colleagues the stress of dealing with my problems.  Unfortunately, this deprives them of the opportunity to understand the issue(s) that is/are preventing me from being happy.  It's not fair to me and it's not fair to them.  I must be vigilant to avoid suppressing my negative emotions.

When I have the privilege of being on the receiving end of negative emotions, my first impulse is to attempt to squelch them in some manner.  This isn't good either.  Let's be honest: they make us uncomfortable.  When someone shares a negative emotion with me, it is a gift and should be treated as such.  It is an act of courage and trust on their part to share it and it is incumbent upon me to respect that emotion and seek to understand its source (or root cause for all you Six Sigma freaks out there).  Doing this builds trust, commitment and respect.  And that, my friends, is at the core of building good teams.

So, the next time you feel the need to share your emotions with your teammates and they tell you that you are being unprofessional -- agree with them.  Remind them that you are not a professional.  You are a human being.  Remind them that there's a reason why Google spends an inordinate amount of time evaluating emotional intelligence when they hire new employees.  It's because emotions are the essence of greatness.  They are the "better" in "different."


NOTE: I am currently reading a book entitled Software for Your Head by Jim and Michele McCarthy (you can find it here if you're interested).  It was recommended by Chet Hendrickson of the Ron and Chet show.  I will be writing a series about the teachings within and this is a taste of what I've read so far.