February 2024 SOCRA Source Journal - Journal - Page 17
rest of the staff. Any differences
between leaders and managers
and the rest of the staff can then
be identified.
Along with setting standards
for professional behaviors
and skills, it is important to
set standards for avoiding
unprofessional behaviors
and ensuring professionalism
standards are set up so
staff are encouraged not
to behave unprofessionally.
Unprofessionalism means not
conforming to the standards or
accepted code of conduct of a
profession, whether face-to-face
or in a virtual environment.
Surveys by the Center for
Professional Excellence
identified many unprofessional
behaviors, including:
• Inappropriate relationships
• Blaming
• Breaches of confidentiality
• Lack of hygiene
• Inappropriate self-disclosure
• Exploitation (money or gifts)
• Getting emotional or flying
off the handle
• Bullying
• Physical or verbal
intimidation
• Use of profanity
Any of these unprofessional
behaviors that are devastating
to a specific workplace must
be specified so that people
know the importance of the
established professional
behaviors. In some
organizations, physical or verbal
intimidation and use of profanity
are considered serious.
After reviewing survey
results, staff who are
working on establishing a
workplace-specific culture of
professionalism must develop
a code of professional conduct.
The code should list what is
expected. Once the code
of professional conduct has
been developed, it must be
disseminated. Visual cues
such as infographics or a hard
copy code of professional
conduct are important for
reminding people about the
professionalism standards.
If the workplace is physical,
visual cues can be placed in the
conference room or other areas.
Professionalism standards can
be posted on the website and
mentioned at the beginning of
meetings.
People must know the
consequences of not following
TABLE 4:
DETERMINING THE PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIORS TO BE
ENCOURAGED
•
•
•
•
•
•
Collect input as many ways as possible
Provide examples
Request suggestions
Conduct focus groups
Conduct surveys to select behaviors, ethical standards, and
skills/knowledge to be encouraged
Communicate survey results
the professionalism standards. A
standard pyramid for promoting
professionalism shows that
an egregious breach of the
standards, such as physical or
verbal intimidation or the use
of profanity, immediately goes
to a guided intervention or a
disciplinary intervention.
A single concern about a
minor breach can be handled
informally with a cup of coffee
to discuss the breach. If there
is a pattern of breaches, then
an awareness intervention
or a more formal discussion
is necessary. If the pattern
persists, authority steps in
for a guided or disciplinary
intervention. About 98% of
professionalism standard
transgressions end after an
informal discussion because
people say that they did not
know they had breached the
standards or realize that their
behavior was unprofessional.
MONITORING AND METRICS
Determining the monitoring and
metrics for the professionalism
standards and providing
support to participants is the
third phase of establishing a
workplace-specific culture of
professionalism. The survey
is an important baseline that
shows how prevalent people
believe certain behaviors are
in the workplace. The staff
working on the professionalism
standards must roll out the
monitoring plan and provide
options for small groups to
discuss challenges.
Table 5 provides an overview
of the monitoring plan, metrics,
and support. In determining the
monitoring plan and metrics,
it is important to consider the
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