Dear Colleagues! This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #442. Pharma Veterans welcomes sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi onWordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.
Continued from Previous……
In this last part, we look at the last topic: Grooming.
Grooming is a multifaceted activity. Grooming is done across several parameters which may be broadly divided into personal grooming and professional grooming.
Professional grooming has some common elements which run across all professions, while some may be profession specific. Grooming is desired to make every member of the team useful, productive and pleasant to be with.
Another important point is that personal and professional grooming are not entirely isolated; these are closely interrelated.
Professional Grooming
Learning the job-related skills is an important part. The more a person is skilled in his/her work, the more he/she will be able to become a useful member of the team.
Learning the office decorum is professional grooming. There are clear do’s and don’ts of office decorum which must be observed. Offensive behavior and indecent language disturb the entire office environment.
Learning to respect the hierarchy is part of professional grooming. It is important to understand that seniors of one department are senior for the entire office and should be deferred to.
Learning the business writing is part of professional grooming. Writing for business is quite different from writing personally. It has become even more important considering that the English writing has taken a severe hit due to text messaging on various apps. Good has become ‘gud’ and ‘How do you do’ has become ‘Howdy’, and so on. Business writing does not allow such transgressions.
Communicating clearly is part of professional grooming. Communication is a vast subject which is a topic of many books, presentations and trainings. Communicating clearly and effectively is not desired for artistic reasons, it is needed to keep the organization working smoothly. It is on record that most of the problems occurring in organization are due to poor communication.
Interpersonal relations are part of professional grooming. Congenial environment cannot be created and sustained without good interpersonal relations. Many offices see fights between staff which erupt just like that and keep escalating. These toxic episodes disturb the entire office working.
Learning to compete in a healthy manner is part of professional grooming. All trades are competitive. The competition is not just in the market, but also among peers and colleagues. One has to learn to win and lose gracefully.
Personal Grooming
People come from diverse social backgrounds and may have different sense about personal grooming. It is part of managers’ job to impart personal grooming alongside professional development.
Dressing properly is part of personal grooming. Dress should be adequate for the occasion. It is not about latest fashion, it is not about cost, it is about its being proper. Office is a formal place and wearing a clean, formal dress in the office looks good. Choice of colors needs attention too. Men and women both need to observe decency in dressing. These are the basics; there is a lot more detail about dressing for attitude, for occasions, for showmanship and so on.
Body odor is a common issue. Apparently, the person who is the source of strong, offensive body odor does not appear to be even aware of it. The office spaces are usually limited and calculated. Having a person of this kind nearby can be a constant irritant. It is not uncommon, and it is not easy to make the concerned person realize. Plenty of deodorants are available on the market which can be used to avoid causing this problem.
Hair and nails are a visible part of grooming. While hair may be made in a number of ways and still look good, nails can be done in one way only, i.e. cut properly. Hair, nails, dress, shoes are the most visible things the other person observes in first glance. They are part of the first impression we make.
Habits are another aspect of personal grooming. People may have sitting, eating, drinking habits which are a source of inconvenience for others. These should be identified and corrected.
Language is not an area of pride for most people. The choice of words, the content, the angle and orientation leaves much to be desired. Language also needs to be worked on for professional reasons.
The above are major areas for professional and personal grooming. The ultimate goal should be to develop a well-rounded personality.
Concluded.Disclaimer. Most pictures in this blog are taken from Google Images which does not show anyone’s copyright claim. However, if any such claim is presented, we shall remove the image with suitable regrets.
