 In this lesson, we are going to explore professional behaviors and communication. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to define professionalism, evaluate the use of professional behaviors in a work setting, discuss professional communication, and utilize professional communication skills in an interaction. We are going to start our lesson by discussing what is professionalism. Professionalism simply is the conduct, aims, or qualities that characterize or mark a profession or a professional person. Why is professionalism so important? Well, the primary rationale for professionalism is to promote patient safety. It also allows for effective collaboration among the healthcare team. Healthcare is delivered by teams of professionals who need to communicate well, who need to respect the principles of honesty, respect for others, confidentiality, and responsibility for their actions. Further, it is through professional standards that a respectful workplace is fostered. It allows for critical self-reflection that healthcare professionals can use to ensure a welcoming environment. These qualities allow for an environment that is conducive to the best clinical care education and research. Professionalism is a powerful quality. It allows you to fulfill your role to the best of your ability. It helps you to impress and inspire others, and it gives you a deep sense of satisfaction and self-worth. So let's review some professional behaviors. Competence, as a professional, you get the job done and you get it done well. Your abilities match the requirements of your role, and you often produce results that exceed expectations. But you never plow on simply for the sake of appearances. Instead, your professionalism allows you to manage your own and others' expectations, and you know when to ask for support when necessary. Knowledge, professionalism involves developing detailed up-to-date knowledge, and this is often highly specialized. So at every stage of your career, strive to master your role and keep adding to what you know. Conscientiousness, professionalism involves being reliable, setting your own high standards and showing that you care about every aspect of your role. It's about being industrious and organized and holding yourself accountable for your thoughts, words and actions. Integrity, integrity is what keeps professional people true to their word. It also stops them compromising their values even if it means taking a harder road. Integrity is bound up with being honest to yourself and to the people you meet. Your beliefs and your behaviors are aligned and everyone can see that you're genuine. Respect, professionalism means being a role model for politeness and good manners to everyone, not just those you need to impress. What's more, you show that you truly respect other people by taking their needs into account and by helping to uphold their rights. Emotional intelligence, to be a true professional, you need to stay professional even under pressure. This takes strategies for managing your emotions plus a clear awareness of other people's feelings. In short, emotional intelligence is essential. Now, we'll discuss emotional intelligence further in another lesson. Confidence, well-founded confidence reassures and motivates other people, boosting your ability to influence and lead. It also pushes you to take on new challenges because you don't fear damaging your professional reputation if things go wrong. Professionalism makes you confident about what you're doing now but is always eager to do it better and to achieve more. As we mentioned before, professionalism is a powerful quality. So take some time and review an overview of professional behaviors in this video, professionalism. A significant part of professionalism is communication. Effective communication happens when health professionals communicate with each other, with patients and their families and with the broader community in a transparent, collaborative and responsible way. This type of communication promotes trusting, respectful relationships among patients, their families and healthcare providers. Mutual respect is essential for interprofessional communication. Respects helps foster a positive environment in which to set shared goals, create collaborative plans, make decisions and share responsibilities. Whether in a corporate environment or a healthcare facility, using professional communication skills is the key to success. At times, we are all faced with issues that need to be addressed and approaching the situation using professional communication is the key to a successful outcome. Professional communication encompasses written, oral, visual and digital communication within a workplace context. So let's explore some communication tips. The first one is cohesion and clarity. Good communication is much more than saying the right thing. It is about communicating messages clearly and concisely. Friendliness, a friendly tone will send a message that you are open to communication. Confidence, demonstrating confidence builds trust that you will follow through with any proposed actions. Empathy, providing empathy indicates respect for the other person's views and message. Respect, be respectful of others' thoughts and opinions. As we mentioned before, professional communication is the key to a successful outcome. So let's review a few more tips. Listening, do not listen to respond. Listen to understand the message that someone is sending. Consider open-mindedness. Enter the conversation without preconceived thoughts or an agenda. Try to reach a compromise when necessary. Consider your tone of voice. Keep your tone of voice neutral. When you start a conversation off with an aggressive stance or message, it may lead to a similar response from the person you are communicating with. Ask questions. Use open-ended questions and don't rush. Give the person you are talking with an opportunity to process what you have said and to formulate their answer. So try not to rush to respond. There are times when you encounter conflict in the workplace. Avoid responding in an unprofessional manner and try these techniques instead. Ask to move to a private area away from staff and patients so that you can continue the conversation. Now you can start the conversation by stating you would appreciate a professional discussion so you can talk about the issue. Know your audience before entering into a discussion. Speak in a professional and respectful manner. Know your goal. What is it you want to achieve from this conversation and stay focused on the immediate issue? Listen. Listen to understand the message, not to formulate a response. Leave emotions out of the conversation so remain objective and practice emotional intelligence. Be truthful and sincere. Stick to the facts of the issue. Be honest with yourself and the person that you're communicating with. Creating a bigger story to benefit yourself contributes to the drama that the issue could be causing. So don't make it worse. Speak softly and slowly and make eye contact. When you encounter a conflict, do not hold grudges. You are there to care for the patients and being part of the team will make this a more pleasant experience for all. If the conversation continues down the wrong path, you can ask to speak to a supervisor or a manager. Before this meeting, though, keep these communication tips in mind. Let's try a skills practice. Practice three communication skills on a friend or a colleague. Write a discussion post on what skills did you use? What was the person's response? How did the experience make you feel and what is your takeaway from this lesson? Don't forget to respond to one of your peers. You can locate the references and additional resources on this slide.