Professionals.
Literally, that word means just “people with a profession.”
But most of us picture something different when we think of a professional. We expect a professional to be high quality, demonstrating competence, courtesy, and character above the average.
And we are justifiably angry when someone claims to be a professional and fails to demonstrate those characteristics.
In many ways, courtesy is the key.
Because courtesy is impossible without heartfelt respect of others.
Respect is an authentic regard for the other person, a recognition that the person we are speaking with or about is someone who is valuable, has feelings, and should be treated with dignity. Respect is just an aspect of love for others.
If a professional respects her clients, she will place their needs over her self-serving endeavors, so her clients will be able to trust her. Similarly, if a professional respects his customers he will work to increase his competence so he can serve them better.
If someone has no respect for others any courtesy is just a façade. That person will have no motivation to grow in skill or integrity, for all his efforts will be self-serving instead of focused on his clients. And if at some point self is no longer served by courtesy, she will drop even the pretense of it.
Yesterday I watched as the Governor of Puerto Rico became an object lesson in the worst kind of way.
As you probably are by now aware, for the past two weeks the governor of Puerto Rico had been urged by his constituency and the legislative branch to resign for serious charges of corruption and bribery. But this corruption has been known for a while and he is not the only official involved.
So what finally prompted the Puerto Rican people to rise up in protest and demand change?
Demonstrable proof of a lack of respect for his constituency.
The final straw for the Puerto Rican people was a collection of leaked chat messages that showed the governor to be a man with callous disregard for other people. He mocked political opponents, had obscene references toward women and homosexuals, and found crude amusement in the deaths that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Later he apologized, but it was politically motived, not heartfelt. It was actually an attempt to justify himself by saying that the chats were “private,” implying that they should be disregarded because he never intended the information to get out.
But courtesy fails when it is a façade we wear in public to protect the feelings of others. Respect comes from within and must be authentic, or the pretense will be exposed eventually.
The governor’s lack of respect for his constituency had been demonstrated through his political corruption. He was not a man his people trusted.
And then once his true opinion of other people was exposed to the world, his people lost all patience with this man they already knew to be corrupt.
And when it no longer served him to pretend to be courteous, he stopped even that.
If the governor had retained any lingering respect for his people, he would have faced the media directly, apologized with sincerity, and resigned his post.
But instead, he cared for his own ego, and perhaps for his own safety, more than others.
- He manipulated the press and the protestors, keeping them in a small room for over 90 minutes while he snuck out of the city.
- He promised to address the people directly and then sent a spokesperson to say the address would come later still.
- And when he finally did speak, it was via a pre-recorded Facebook video.
And even then, he attempted (but failed) to deceive the people into thinking the recording was live. (if you want to know more about the whole story, the CBS Reporter David Begnaud is an excellent source)
His actions showed a complete disregard for other people, the truth, or his word.
First his chats and then his behavior yesterday proved that any concern he showed toward his constituents in the past was play-acting.
Had he respected others, he would have put their well-being above his own pride and resigned days ago.
His behavior is extreme, but the point remains: a lack of regard for other people was the root of his problems.
And what about for the rest of us, with less visible roles?
Our competence and trustworthiness will only go as far as our authentic respect for others goes.
Consider the medical practitioner who wants to find the best solution for her patients. She will research solutions and specialists until she is able to help them.
Her respect will cause her to be more competent.
Conversely, consider another health practitioner who is always late, often is lacking important supplies, and offers highly-personal excuses to his patients, burdening them with his problems.
His disregard for his patients causes him to fail in both courtesy and competence.
Or consider the customer service representative who half-heartedly hears the client and then just reads the less-than-helpful script, versus the representative who listens closely, realizes the script doesn’t fully address the customer’s needs, and then connects him to a different department.
Similarly, a professional plumber will not only fix the plumbing issue but will arrive within the designated window and clean up after himself when gone.
The examples are endless, and they all come back to the same point…
True professionals recognize their clients or customers as people, with needs and feelings.
True professionals value people and treat them with respect.
Everything we do as professionals stems from a basic respect for our customers or clients.
If we respect others we will
- pause to listen to them, understanding how we can serve them better.
- take the time to learn our craft, honing our skills so we can serve them better.
- reschedule, if life demands it, without providing excess personal information that would burden our customer.
- own up to our mistakes and resolve them quickly.
But if we don’t respect others, we will act out of self-interest, whether for our own amusement or pride or convenience or fortune.
We may not experience the catastrophic downfall of the governor of Puerto Rico because he is an extreme example in a prominent position. But if we replace our professionalism with only a pretense of respect, the truth will come out, and we will lose the respect and trust of those who matter to us.