Raise Your Professionalism Game

Professionalism: you might think it's all about suits and ties, but it's actually the fabric that binds a business together. It's a cornerstone of how you interact with your team, serve your customers, and even look after yourself. In this episode, host Pete Mohr digs into why professionalism is non-negotiable for business success.

Here are a few things Pete covers:

• The role of accountability in establishing a professional culture.
• How effective communication goes beyond just words.
• Why integrity is the silent engine of your business.
• How to maintain professionalism even under stress or pressure.

It’s time to take action:

If you're finding a gap in your business's professionalism, don't just sit there. Take a moment to jot down three immediate steps to enhance this aspect of your leadership and culture.

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Transcript

Pete Mohr: 0:42

When I say professionalism, what comes to mind for you is it may be suits and ties, big fancy words. Well, it's a lot more than that, quite honestly. And today, we're going to break it down. Because professionalism impacts every single aspect of your business, your customer service, your team dynamics, your bottom line, even your own well being as an entrepreneur, right professionalism. It's number eight of the 10 pillars of leadership here as we roll through, all 10 in this little mini series here on business owner breakthrough. And we'll start off a little bit with the cornerstones of professionalism. And of course, there are a few key components that make up professionalism. Let's talk first about accountability, right? When you say you're going to do something, do it. It's simple. But how many times have we seen people along the way, dropped the ball on this, and if you want to rise above, be the person who delivers always, and create the culture in your company of accountability, so that you're known to be professional. And to actually get the things done, that you say, and you promise that you're going to do for your clients to give them the better life, right. Next up, it's around communication. Being able to clearly and effectively get your point across is so essential. It's not just about what you say, it's about how you say it. And it goes beyond spoken or written words, your body language, your tone, and even your timing, with your communication that counts. And all of the different meetings that you have, whether it's customer facing, whether it's internal, whatever the case is, you know, the three different people in the five P's, right, we have people, we have our ideal clients, we have our awesome teammates, and we have our outsourced suppliers, you need to be able to communicate freely and effectively and professionally with all of those people in order to make the difference in your business. Right. Another key cornerstone, and it's kind of a given. But I feel as though it's important here to talk about its integrity, it's really doing the right thing, even when nobody's looking right. This is the key to building trust with both your team and your clients. And trust me, it's the bedrock of any successful business really, and things are so easily seen today out there. Now, it's very transparent. So if your business doesn't lead with integrity, and if you as the leader don't lead with integrity, there are going to be problems, right? Because professionalism isn't a one off, it's really a culture. And if you want your team to be professional, you have to make it part of the daily routine. And one of the ways to do this is through leading by example, you've got to walk the talk as the leader in your business, right. Let's also talk a little bit on the professional side of things about consistency. And it's really easy to be professional when things are going great. But the true test comes when you're under pressure, right? Or your business is under pressure. If the level of professionalism dips, when times are tough, things are not right. Right. Consistency is the name of the game, and every interaction with a client is a chance to demonstrate your business's professionalism, or you're punctual and responding to the inquiries, maybe, is your customer service team really super well trained? And if you're thinking, I really haven't done this lately, haven't looked into this lately? Well, this is your reminder, think about professionalism at every level of interaction within your business. And think about this, too. How have you maintained professionalism when the heat was on in the past, when that big deal fell apart? Maybe or when a client was super unhappy? How has your team handled it? Let's do sort of a quick activity. And part of the 10 pillars here is doing activities every week. But picture your business running at its most professional, right? What does that look like? And how big is the gap from what you've done in the past? Like those examples that we just talked about when quite honestly, I'm going to use some language here. But when the shit hits the fan, what has happened? How have you dealt with that? And think about the most professional way of looking at that. And what's the gap there, because that's what we're talking about here, right? Write down three immediate steps that you can take in those situations or help your team take in those situations that's going to raise the level of professionalism here. Because it's not rocket science, these small changes can make a big difference. Look, we only have time to scratch the surface here today on professionalism. But if you're finding it challenging to instill a culture of professionalism within your business and you want to dig a little deeper, all you need to do is reach out to speak to pete.com Head on over to speak to beat.com book in and fight with me. We'll have a quick chat to see if we're right fit to level up the professionalism and go through some other things that we can talk about as well for your business so that you can take it to the next level and you know, you've probably dealt with a difficult customer along the way Right, I'm sure you can probably even remember their name. While professionalism helps you handle those situations with grace, and you get to de escalate issues effectively, leaving a good or better impression, let's say, and it's an opportunity to turn a complaining customer really into a loyal one. And we've seen this happen many times, I'm sure you probably have as well. But handling a customer complaint professionally, could result not only in retaining that customer, but also impossible referrals down the road, depending on your business. And it's so so important. What about internal dealings, not just those customer facing ones, like team management. It's an area where professionalism is often overlooked, because we think we can do things differently within sort of our family at work. But your team members need to see a consistent professionalism from you too, right? It's not just a one off, it's got to be a habit, consistency, sets the bar for your employees allows a culture of professionalism to really permeate throughout your organization. And that's your job as the leader, right. That's what this whole series is about, to level up your leadership and level up your team and level up your business and professionalism is such a big part of that. So another angle, really on the professionalism side of things is ethics in a professional business leader ensures that the company adheres to the highest ethical standards, right? Ethics and Professionalism really go hand in hand, upholding ethical standards not only reinforces your business reputation, but it also mitigates risks associated with legal issues down the road, right? We don't want to have any of those for sure, right? Moreover, professionalism extends to Stakeholder Relations as well. And the stakeholders could be your investors, maybe your suppliers that we talked about, or even potentially regulatory bodies, depending on the industry that you're in, but handling interactions with them in a mature and professional manner, not only sustains relationship, but can also lead to more favorable terms and opportunities for collaboration down the road. So don't underestimate the impact of professionalism when you're negotiating a new deal or a partnership. And I always remember I'm thinking back when I used to play in a band, and one of the things that we used to see a lot of the festivals were many bands would come up just sort of in their ratty clothes and looking sort of less than stellar up on stage. And our band mantra at the time was to go up, well dressed and ready to perform for our audience out there. And it was one of the things we were known for, you know, these guys are professional group, they put stuff together, their harmonies are tight, the songs, they pick all of the different things, they look the part, you know, we had a sort of professional attitude to even something as simple as a part time bluegrass band. And it's just a way of conducting yourself. It's a way of conducting your business. Right? You might be asking Pete, how do I start elevating professionalism in my business? Well, it starts with setting clear expectations, right, it's getting back to that purpose and passion and vision and promise, create the guidelines really, that outline what professional behavior looks like in different scenarios, whether it's a customer interaction, the internal meetings, we've talked about digital communication, like even emails, or social posts, make these guidelines accessible to your team so that they ensure and they understand the reasons behind them all right, and lead by example, your team looks up to you. And if they see you maintaining a high level of professionalism, they're more likely to follow suit. And they are more likely to think that that's the expectation of your business. When you can offer training programs focused on soft skills like communication, or empathy, or ethics. Make sure to incorporate real world examples and scenarios in your training to ensure practicality of all of this sort of stuff. And when you're going through onboarding and all of that, it's a really important piece of the puzzle to set the expectation of professionalism within your organization, create an evaluation system to monitor how well they're adapting to professional guidelines and some of the constructive feedback that you're giving them on your ongoing sort of feedback meetings with them along the way in their journey as a team member, right. So there it is, professionalism really, might be seen as a given. But it's one of those things that can set your business apart in today's competitive landscape. And if you're serious about moving from operator owner, give this the attention that it deserves. It's another piece of the puzzle to help you enjoy more freedom and build a business that thrives. I hope you've been enjoying this little 10 part series here. And if you have best thing that you can do, really is to hit subscribe and you can do me a favor actually by liking and subscribing to the podcast as well or telling your friends that there's this great little podcast called the business owner breakthrough. They're short little clips that are going going to help them move from operator owner in their business. That would do me a big favor but also kind of positions you as the hero when you're helping them help themselves along the way, right? Because a lot of us have business owners We're in. We're business owners, we have friends as business owners who were in that circle. That would do me a great big favorite here too. Hopefully, things are moving along well for you. Remember to do the homework in each of these episodes. It's so so crucial that you're actually working on getting better at being a successful leader. Now go and make it a great day.

Unknown: 11:20

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