Professionalism: Where Has It Gone?

COMMENTARY | My first experience of talking with and getting information from executives of the St. Louis Blues organization were always positive. The executives were intelligent, articulate and excelled at customer service. With the changing of the guard, sort of speak; the newer executives that I have had the absolute pleasure to speak with are nothing like the courteous and mild mannered men and women of the past.

For the past three years I have been watching and dealing with certain people in executive roles during events and activities. The social graces and communication skills of most of the people I have encountered mirror those of a goat. When I do finally get someone on the phone, they start bleating out irrelevant information or pass me onto the next voice mail because they do not want to deal with me. Email communications, when they even bother to respond, could very easily have been typed by a chimpanzee, no salutation, one word or line body and no closing. The professionalism is absolutely astounding and something that they, the St. Louis Blues organization, should be so proud. Yes, that was intended as sarcasm.

There are of course exceptions – not every executive can be likened to a goat or chimpanzee. The Community Relations Coordinator, Hannah, has exhibited complete professionalism every time I have spoken with or emailed her. I am sure that there are others who also exhibit such professionalism.

It is the hope of the St. Louis Blues to have a world-class organization and be thought of in terms of greatness. Greatness begins on the inside and radiates outward. Right now, I’m not seeing an organization that can achieve greatness. I’m seeing an organization that needs to get back to the basics and learn a little social grace along with a lot of professionalism.

The actions of the employees directly reflect upon the organization that employs them. When you have people that achieved an executive level position who are not able to conduct themselves in a professional manner, you have internal problems that will eventually leak outward and affect the public’s perception of that organization.