🧱 Foundation: Professionalism and Communication

Professionalism

Although professionalism seems obvious, its importance should not be taken lightly. It can significantly influence your career in a positive or negative direction. 

Professionalism is a complex, all-encompassing, transferable skill—a combination of interpersonal skills, qualities, and behaviours created through your in-person, digital, and virtual representation of yourself. 

From a Canadian anglophone perspective, professionalism can encompass:

• Knowledge and competence in your field, 
• nonverbal communication (body language) and paraverbal communication (voice language),
  
• transferable skills, like communication, active listening, reflection, and Emotional Intelligence (EQ), 
• qualities, such as integrity and ethics, and
• behaviours or conduct, such as taking responsibility for an error, or consistently following through on promises.

The challenge with defining professionalism is that it can vary by occupation or industry, and definitely from country to country. What is deemed professional conduct in one country or culture might be inappropriate in another. Simple things, such as exchanging business cards or punctuality (Uzialko, 2018), can have irreversible consequences if not demonstrated in a respectful and informed manner.

What defines professionalism changes. Consider how pandemics have altered social standards and personal preferences regarding body language, physical distancing, handshakes, and virtual meetings.  

Being self-aware of how you portray your professionalism, including competence, online profiles, transferable skills, qualities, and conduct, will impact your career.

Communication

Communication is a fundamental yet often overlooked skill—central to all human interaction.

It underpins every module in this Resource and has far-reaching impacts, from building trust and resolving conflict to job fulfillment and career growth. Poor professional communication can lead to job dissatisfaction and career dissonance or limitations.

What three key elements significantly shape communication other than the actual content of your message?

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal cues—such as facial expressions, posture, gestures, eye contact, and personal space—play a powerful role in how messages are received.

While estimates vary, nonverbal communication is widely recognized as a significant component in how we interpret messages. 

Paraverbal Communication

How something is said matters as much as what is said. Tone, pitch, speed, and volume all shape the interpretation and impact of messages in professional interactions.

Human Elements

Communication becomes more complex when factoring in:

• Cultural norms, beliefs, values, and slang
• Neurodivergent approaches
• Personal values and upbringing
• Gender, emotions, perceptions, and personality
• Context (e.g., crisis vs. casual, manager vs. employee)
• Generational differences (e.g., Boomers to Gen Z)
• Distractions like noise or information overload

The following video summarizes what can negatively affect communication and some ways to prevent this from happening.

How miscommunication happens (and how to avoid it) - Katherine Hampsten (TED-Ed, 2016) (4:32)

Communication Essentials

Professional relationships are built through trust and respect. To strengthen your communication approaches:

• Avoid assumptions. Stay present, curious, respectful, and ask open-ended questions.
  
• Be consistent. Align your words, paraverbal cues, and nonverbal expressions to convey a consistent message, essential for collaboration and career growth.
  
• Practice radical listening (Heneghan, 2015). Listen with empathy and engage with open questions.

Zenger & Folkman  (2016, P. 4) identify six levels of effective listening:

• Create a safe space for open, emotional, or complex dialogue.
  
• Eliminate distractions and give full attention—this influences both perception and presence.
  
• Understand content by asking clarifying questions and paraphrasing.
  
• Read nonverbal cues—80% of communication is visual 
  
• Recognize emotions and respond with empathy and non-judgment.
  
• Challenge assumptions and offer perspective, without dominating the conversation.

Scenario Analysis and Reflective Scenes

The following pages contain a scenario and two video scenes to watch, followed by prompting questions to reflect on. There are no right or wrong answers. Write your reflections in the downloadable worksheet.

Download the Foundations of Professionalism and Communication Worksheet (PDF)

Scenario 1

A new supervisor was hired for the division and immediately implemented changes to the daily workings and procedures. No consultation meetings were held regarding current practices. One of the staff members asked the supervisor in the staff meeting about one of the changes, and the response was “it's the best approach.”

• What is your perception in terms of the supervisor’s professionalism in terms of communication, level of competence in leadership, personality characteristics, and conduct in this scenario?
• What are the human elements that influence this dynamic?
• How would you respond if you were the receiver of that message?
• How would you respond if you were a staff member witnessing this interchange?

Scene 1 (video)

Asian Jim - The Office (1:42)

Let's change the tone a bit for this scene. You may know of or have watched the TV show, The Office. The scene is about a prank being played on the character, Dwight Schrute. (The Office, NBC, September 10, 2019)

• What did you observe about the nonverbal communication and proxemics (the physical distance) between each of the characters?
• What did you notice with each character’s paraverbal communication (voice language - tone, speed, and volume) during the scene?
• The portrayal of mistrust emerged for both male characters during this scene: how did their nonverbal and paraverbal communication demonstrate this? 
• What are the human elements that came into play during this scene?

Scene 2 (video)

A Conference Call in Real Life (3:28)

This is a satirical scene of a mock conference call. (Tripp and Tyler, January 22, 2014)

• How was miscommunication portrayed?
• What were the nonverbal messages that were conveyed with reference to the older gentleman’s character?
• How do you react when there is a lot of noise and you cannot understand the person’s message that they are trying to convey?
• What do you notice when you are interrupted?
• What do you do to reduce miscommunication in your interactions with people?

Conclusion

We are continuously communicating—from the movement of our eyebrows, our posture, to the look in our eyes, and even to how we breathe. Consequently, there is no shortage of ways for the communication process to break down.

Communication and professionalism are complex, and every workplace has its unique characteristics. The meaning behind the nonverbal and paraverbal communication, the content of the messages, and professional conduct all have subtle and far-reaching distinctions. Each person, culture, and circumstance creates unique dynamics.

Demonstrating a combination of effective written, verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal communication skills, professionalism, and emotional intelligence can positively influence job offers or promotions, inspire positive working relationships, and/or resolve conflicts.

Take the next step by proceeding to the next module: Emotional Intelligence