We’ve been talking about technical and professional writing all semester, but this week, I’d like us to step back and take a long, hard, critical look at how American workplace cultures make sense of that slippery concept called “professionalism.”
Standards of professionalism (such as appearance standards and language standards) are culturally determined–they are legislated in organizations and embodied on, well, our bodies. My body. Your bodies. Unfortunately for many folx, standards of professionalism (i.e. what it means to act like, look like, sound like, and write like a professional) are manifestations of systemic bias in organizations (Okun & Jones). That accusation of systemic bias doesn’t mean we burn it all down, but it does mean we should take a long, hard, critical look at what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and who it affects, and then we need to do the work to make changes and advocate for better futures.
Think about the word professionalism. What does that mean? What images does your mind’s eye conjure up? What does it mean to “look professional” and “sound professional” and “act professionally”? If you do a Google image search of “professional” whose picture are you most likely to see?
Read and reflect on any four of these articles about race, culture, authenticity, and how we perform professionalism:
A few years ago in one of my tech writing classes, we were talking about email when a student (who was already working as a paralegal for a law firm in town) told a story about when she was told not to use pink fonts in her work emails because “it wasn’t professional.” She commented” “I think I should be able to use a pink font in my emails if I want to.” “Damn right,” I replied. Why, exactly, isn’t pink professional? Look, there are legitimate concerns about accessibility and color contrast. Using pink on white is physiologically difficult to read because the contrast ratio is so low, and that’s a legitimate reason to not use pink fonts in your email. But the larger cultural issue this points to is real–how much latitude can and should we have to massage genre conventions, especially because many of our ideas about appropriate style and professionalism are deeply gendered and racial? Should we–and how can we–convey something about ourselves in genres like resumes, emails, and cover letters? How much of ourselves do we put on our LinkedIn profile? What are the distinctions between our personal and professional identities? Which people in the same working environment have to dress up, how far, and why? Which races and genders get to be outspoken, and what happens when someone from a group speaks up? And why is it okay for all the old white dudes on the faculty to wear Hawaiian shirts?
How does all that translate over to professional writing? How do you want people to see you? What do you want them to know about you? How might you represent that in your writing and document design?
After reading and reflecting on these articles, write a post in your “Communicating Profesh” group discussion thread responding to the following questions:
Complete a progress report for your second project and upload it to the “Progress Report” thread in your group discussion forum by the end of the day on Thursday.
Progress reports are a common workplace genre–especially for people who work on longer-term projects. These types of reports have several important functions—they reassure recipients that you are making progress, that the project is going smoothly, and that it will be complete by the expected date. They provide recipients with a brief look at some of the findings or work of the project. They also give recipients a chance to evaluate your work on the project and to request changes. They can force you to establish a work schedule so that you will complete the project on time, and project a sense of professionalism to your work and your organization. As well, if the project is not going smoothly, the progress has halted, or the project is not likely to be completed on deadline, the progress report can give you a chance to discuss problems in the project and thus to forewarn recipients. They can be an opportunity to establish the need to reassess or reevaluate the scope, methods, or timeline with someone who has the authority to intervene, revise group hierarchies/roles, and extend deadlines.
Write a clear opening paragraph reminding your recipient of the project you are working on and that you are providing progress on that project. Use headings to mark off the different parts of your progress report, particularly the different parts of your summary of work done on the project. Do not be afraid to use lists as appropriate –in fact, they are helpful so the reader can easily hit the highlights of your current progress. Provide specifics—avoid relying on vague, overly general statements about the work done on the final report project.
Download this progress report template, and use it to update me and the rest of your group about your progress thus far. Further instructions are provided on the template.
A collection of resources as you’re developing your projects:
During Week 13 we will have a rough (rough) draft review session and return to the 7Cs again. Mostly, just work on your research and analysis projects.