Polished Professional Image Blog

The Give Yourself a Boost workshops were created to give you, the woman professional, an edge in climbing the ladder of success. The first section of the series is the goal setting workshop. This was included to help you develop a focus on your career goals. What does this have to do with having a professional image? Well, the definition of professional image varies according to where you want to be in your career. But how will you know that you have a professional image for where you want to be if you don’t know where you want to be? That is why writng down you goals is so important. Your success depends on your ability to turn your dreams and visions into reality. Yet, less than 15 % of the population takes the time to write down their goals. Conversely, close to 100% of successful people do take that time.

Why write them down? The everyday influences of the world can take your focus off of your purpose. The media tells us that we need to focus on having blue-white teeth, platypus lips and eyebrows that don’t move (how many of those commercials feature men?) and that’s okay, if that’s for you. However, you also need to keep your focus on your career goals and the only way to keep that focus top-of-mind is to write them down. Writing them down gives them credibility to your brain and provides you with something physical to refer to.

If you need to jump-start your goal setting, email me and we will set up your half hour consultation. To go through the step-by-step plan, visit the Give Yourself a Boost site at www.giveyourselfaboost.com and sign up for the online workshop.

Okay, I feel compelled to address customer service. I know, I know, this is an image blog. I promise not to stray too far and tie it in to having a professional image (somehow). Let me first tell you what prompted this diatribe. I was in my favorite McDonald’s listening to a conversation between a couple of the employees. They were lamenting about another co-worker who refused to let a regular customer “slide” for two cents. I know that you’re thinking every penny counts, and you’re right, it does. But it is the policy (according to the employees) of this particular McDonalds to make this type of allowance. Even if it wasn’t the policy, what was said next is what is appalling from a customer service standpoint. The customer was told to look on the floor to try to find the two cents! Wow! 

An hour or so later, while I was sitting at my desk at work (I work temp as I build my empire), I heard a co-worker tell another co-worker that he wrote an email to one of their vendors, telling them that while they (the vendor) is one of their largest contracts, they (the vendor) is not the only one that he (the employee) has to deal with, and that he can’t just drop what he’s doing for them. Wow, again! 

It is one thing to feel this way – in fact, if you deal with the public often enough, you will from time to time feel this way – but, it is quite another to behave this way. Trust me, no customer wants to be told to scrounge around on the floor looking for two cents and no vendor cares that they are not your only vendor. They both want to be treated as though they are the most important person in your life at that moment.

The customer may not always be right, but part of behaving professionally is to always treat the customer right. The impact of doing anything less is, at best (and this isn’t good) your professional image is diminished; at worse your company loses a valuable customer or vendor; at worst your company decides the customer or vendor is more valuable to them than you and puts your name on the list for the next group of layoffs!        

A recent blog on the Wall Street Journal talks about women star analysts on Wall Street. It seems that, unlike their male counterparts, they are able to retain their star status even after they switch firms. Harvard Business School professor, “Boris Groysberg, whose work focuses on organizational behavior and management, spotted the performance gender gap while studying earlier research into the work of star stock analysts”, according to the blog. He attributes this disparity (in our favor, for a change!) on women’s tendency to build relationship outside of their companies. They are building relationships with their clients and with the companies that they analyze. Networking at its finest and most fruitful.

Networking is as important of a success tool as having a professional image and setting goals. Yet, most people would rather do public speaking than walk into a social setting with a room full of strangers (and most people would rather face death than do public speaking). But networking is about building relationships and these relationships can blossom into opportunities. If you are hesitant about getting out there and meeting potential clients, employers and colleagues, think about the benefits that those Wall Street analysts have gotten from networking and go out there and build your success. 

To read the full blog article, Why Wall Street’s Top Women Rarely Lose Their Star Power, click here.

In this week’s Crain’s Chicago Business, there is an article about stud earrings in the Business of Life section. The article is about the classiness of studs earrings for maintaining a professional image at work. As an accessory, they are neat and not distracting. Sarah Schulte from WLS/Channel 7 was quoted saying, “When you’re a TV reporter, you don’t want something to distract the viewer”.  The same holds true in the office. When you are climbing the ladder of success, you don’t want anything to distract away from your abilities. Large, dangling earrings, very bold necklaces, clanging, chiming bracelets and rings on every finger can do just that.
Jewelry is one of the topics addressed in the Give Yourself a Boost workshops. It also addresses displaying body piercings and how much jewelry is considered too much. When choosing jewelry for the office, just remember to KIS KIM - Keep It Simple, Keep It Minimal.

Recently I had lunch with a friend. We were celebrating a big promotion that she had earned and finally gotten. This promotion is going to give her great exposure to the top 10 key managers at her company. She is always dress nicely for work and this day was no exception.

Her work environment is business casual and she tends toward elegant business casual. So, I was thinking (as an image consultant I am always checking people’s professional image), ’she has the right look for this position. Good for her!’ Then we left and, still assessing her ensemble, I looked down at her shoes. SCREETCH!! “What have you got on your feet?”, I asked. “Oh, I just walk around the office in these”. They were dull, scuffed and the back looked liked her dogs had been fighting over them. “Okay, you are going to be playing with the big kids now! You are going to be scrutinized, put under the microscope until you prove that can handle this new position. You cannot walk around in those shoes”.

Having a polished professional image does not end at the outfit. All of the details are involved, including your shoes. We women sometimes forget about our shoes, but they should be cleaned and polished regularly. Don’t think that shoes aren’t that noticeable or that they are just a small detail. Just think, how often have you admired the shoes that you have seen on someone’s feet? How often have you checked out someone’s shoes and thought ’she should throw those away’? Well, your colleagues do the same thing. What will they think when they look down at your feet.

Don’t let old, scuffed up shoes derail your professional image.

Polished Professional Image’s theme for 2008 is Take Control of Your Success. That means planning every step of the way. But why should you take control? Surely, the company that you work for has your best interest at heart, right? Surely, management knows what a great job that you are doing and will do the right thing by promoting and compensating you, right? Not necessarily. 

I attended the retirement party of a colleague that had worked at the company fifty-two years – that’s 5 2. Fifty of those years were spent in one department. So, did the company rent out a big banquet hall for the party? No. Did the company take over a restaurant for lunch or dinner? No. The “party” (cake - that’s right, cake - was served. Not cake and hors d’oeuvres or cake and coffee or cake and water! Cake) was held in a conference room – the executive conference room, but a conference room nonetheless. One executive officer showed up (the two that came in after the presentation don’t count). One! 

Okay, this is starting sound like a rant – well, it is, kind of. But it is to make the point that you cannot expect your company to appreciate your loyalty and do the right thing by you. You have to Take Control of Your Success. Set your goals, meet the right people, carry yourself in a professional way, find an advocate and if you have to, make a move! It’s your career, take control of it. 

Over the holidays, I was speaking with an associate with whom I had not spoken in a while. She asked what I had been up to since we last spoke. Of course, I told her about Polished Professional Image and gave her a brief description of the services and mission.

Her response astounded me! She said that she doesn’t need to concern herself with her professional image because she does not want to “get into management”.  It wasn’t that she does not aspire to a managerial position that astounded me – management is not for everyone – it was that she thought that a professional image was needed only from those in management. She did not know that her image would have an impact on her raises and promotions.

According to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 75% of American workers say that clothing or personal appearances influence attitudes about professionalism. In fact, in the first 3 seconds of a person meeting you, they have made judgments about your profession, education, income, intelligence and personality! And they base these judgments on the way you dress, speak and carry yourself.  If your image gives the impression that you do not care about your job (and not caring about your image can result in that impression – right or wrong), your raises and promotions will suffer.

If you have been working your tushie off and your raises and promotions are not reflective of all of that hard work, check your professional image. If your co-workers get invited to sit in on key meetings with key management and you are asked to cover the phones, check your image. Don’t just tell yourself that business is slow or you “hate those meetings anyway”. Check your image. A professional image is not just for management.     

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous New Year!

We have some new and exciting ideas to help you create and maintain your professional image. Right now, though, enjoy the rest of the holiday season and let’s plan your success when the holidays end.

Bonnie

If your boss was to eaves drop on your conversations at work, what would she hear? What would she think of you professionally, based on what you talk about at work?  Your “conversations at work” is one more thing that can affect your professional image. If you continually berate your co-workers, management or your company, it reflects more negatively on you than on the object of your wrath.

If you simply must get a problem off of your chest, consider discussing the problem itself rather than the person(s) responsible for the problem. Then, only discuss solutions to the problem rather than nagging about it. For example, if you feel that the customer service department is not performing in the best interest of the customer or the company, rather than calling everyone lazy or (and I loathe this word) stupid, talk about customer service training options for the department. Then, if your boss happens to hear your conversation, your professional image is intact because instead of listening to you moaning about your co-workers, she hears you coming up with ideas that will improve the company.

Don’t jeopardize your professional image by nagging about problems at work.  Come up with solutions. Remember what Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”

This post has absolutely nothing to do with having a Polished Professional Image or Giving Yourself a Boost up the ladder of success or career or business. We will continue with that after Christmas.

This post is to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. May your holidays be filled with joy and laughter for you and your family!