One way to maintain professionalism
is to always have a good attitude
about what you're doing.
This comes across in the tone of voice
that you use when you're communicating with people.
You want to partner with a customer
to be able to solve a particular problem
or you want to be able to project an air of confidence
about the things that you are doing.
As technical professionals, we know
there's some problems that can't be fixed.
There's no going back.
In those cases you want to be able to do the best that you
can and make sure you provide helpful options
for the people that need to resolve this issue.
Remember that the attitude that you have
has a direct impact on how people feel
about a particular situation.
Very often it's not that a problem has occurred
but how you handle the problem the makes all the difference.
In today's workplace, we want to be
sure to maintain the correct level of cultural sensitivity.
For example we want to use the appropriate professional titles
when communicating with other people.
You want to remember that you're the person who's
teaching someone else about the problem that's occurring
and how you're going to solve these particular issues.
You're not there to insult anyone or make
fun of what somebody may think about a particular problem.
Your job is to make people smarter about what they're
doing so that they can make better
decisions about the technology that they're using.
You also don't want to be too judgmental because you also
are going to be making some very big mistakes.
Everyone does.
And it's important that you remember that
and you remember how to resolve these problems when they occur.
When you're working with someone on a problem,
there should be no interruptions between you
and the other person.
Don't let any phone calls come in.
Don't check your phone for any Twitter updates.
Don't talk to other people who might be around you.
Instead focus on the problem at hand and the person
that you're working with.
If there are any delays for you arriving
or there are any distractions, make sure
you apologize to the other person to let
them know that you're really focused on solving their issue.
I like to create an environment where
people want to be able to talk.
I like to keep candy on my desk so people will stop by, tell me
about the situation they're running into.
Or if they're there to discuss something
they feel comfortable sitting there and having a little bite
to eat.
If you're talking on the phone, make
sure there's no noises in the background that
might disrupt the conversation.
You want everybody to be focused on solving the problem at hand.
Whenever a big technical problem occurs,
everybody's stress level goes up.
So you want to be sure to keep everything professional.
Don't be argumentative.
Don't be defensive.
Collect as much information as possible.
Don't ever dismiss or contradict what someone
may be saying at the time.
If you're able to listen and ask a lot of questions
it can often defuse a very tense situation.
This helps to build relationships and ultimately
help solve the problem faster.
When big problems like this occur,
it's common for everybody to check in at certain intervals.
That way everybody knows that everyone else
is on the same page and you know what the next steps are
going to be and what the frames might be to complete them.
One thing you should never do is take these difficult situations
to social media.
You may think it would feel better
to vent out to Facebook, or to Twitter,
but in reality that's one of the worst things that you can do.
When someone has a technical problem,
it could be very traumatic to them.
There might be a tight deadline.
There might be money on the line.
Or there might be some other type of issue that
can cost somebody their job.
Even the smallest little problems
can seem enormous when those situations occur.
And it's up to you to resolve these problems
as professionally as possible.
It turns out you're not only someone who
can solve a technical problem, but you're also
someone who can listen to someone's issues
and be able to resolve them at a personal level as well.
As IT professionals, we work in a lot
of different environments.
We're working with people's desktops and on their printers
and it's very common to come across sensitive information,
not only at a professional level,
but also at a personal level.
In fact, it's remarkable how much sensitive data
we have access to as part of our normal job responsibilities.
So it's up to us to maintain a level of professionalism
and be able to keep that sensitive information safe.
Ultimately we want to treat people in the same way
that we would want to be treated.
And that is going to create a level of professionalism
in the workplace and at a personal level.