For me, professionalism has a very simple definition. It means to not get caught up in the turmoil of the current situation (server on fire, customer yelling at me, being passed over for promotion, etc.), but instead to stay focused doing the job.
In the above examples with the server on fire, it would be unprofessional for me to say nothing/go home, leaving someone else to deal with it. The professional thing to do would be to hit the fire alarm and follow fire safety procedures. If a customer was yelling at me, the obvious unprofessional response is to yell back, to join in the tantrum. A professional might ignore the yelling and focus on solving their problem. Or if not possible, politely tell them to call back later. In being passed over, the unprofessional might retaliate in various ways. But the professional keeps doing their job well. (It is not unprofessional to discretely look for another job if this is a pattern. It is professional to give adequate notice rather than walk out.)
Professionalism does not mean to sacrifice all other aspects of life for your job, or to suppress all your emotions, or that you can't have friends at work, or that you should treat your co-workers coldly. It simply means that for the time you are at work the priority should be performing the profession. In our business, that can often mean a lot of collaboration and learning unfamiliar perspectives to solve a problem. Professionalism is not about me.
Now professionalism as I have defined here is not easy. I have missed the mark many times, especially when I first entered the work force. It takes practice.
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For me, professionalism has a very simple definition. It means to not get caught up in the turmoil of the current situation (server on fire, customer yelling at me, being passed over for promotion, etc.), but instead to stay focused doing the job.
In the above examples with the server on fire, it would be unprofessional for me to say nothing/go home, leaving someone else to deal with it. The professional thing to do would be to hit the fire alarm and follow fire safety procedures. If a customer was yelling at me, the obvious unprofessional response is to yell back, to join in the tantrum. A professional might ignore the yelling and focus on solving their problem. Or if not possible, politely tell them to call back later. In being passed over, the unprofessional might retaliate in various ways. But the professional keeps doing their job well. (It is not unprofessional to discretely look for another job if this is a pattern. It is professional to give adequate notice rather than walk out.)
Professionalism does not mean to sacrifice all other aspects of life for your job, or to suppress all your emotions, or that you can't have friends at work, or that you should treat your co-workers coldly. It simply means that for the time you are at work the priority should be performing the profession. In our business, that can often mean a lot of collaboration and learning unfamiliar perspectives to solve a problem. Professionalism is not about me.
Now professionalism as I have defined here is not easy. I have missed the mark many times, especially when I first entered the work force. It takes practice.