What words did we hear most as a child? Our parents drilled it into us things like: “Greet the people”, “Shake hands!”, “Look the person in the eye” and say “PLEASE & THANK YOU”. These “magic words” got us almost everything that we wanted, and now we find ourselves instilling these words and actions into our children.
Everyone can relate to knowing an ill-mannered child, not to mention an ill-mannered adult. Our general reaction is to avoid ill-mannered people, whether they are children or whether they act like children. We don’t want to surround ourselves with people without manners. My question is then; why do we sometimes forget our manners in business?
It seems simple enough, and for the most part we have good manners when we meet people face to face, but when it comes to any other form of communication we tend to forget our manners. I have personally had the privilege of running into some bad manners lately while accessing the market for a new venture we are exploring in our business. The lack of etiquette, or just plain manners, was shocking. Deleting emails without even reading them? I know that we are constantly swamped with so many different ”voices”; spam, adverts, mails with huge attachments, winning lotto tickets from some international country, money from an estate of an uncle that you never knew you had, and don’t forget the invitations to chat to Jasmine or Tatyana from Russia because she loves your photo. I relate to using my delete button on 90% of my emails and this, in my opinion, is the reason why we have lost our manners. There are just too many voices that don’t matter that we miss those that do. Here is an article that will help survive all the “voices” and create some order:- http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-survive-articles-will-green?trk=prof-post
I believe that good manners, and that personal touch, should be more present in all business activities. Going that extra mile takes us only a few seconds but can change another person’s day! To get a reply, even a “No thank you” makes you feel that your effort was noted and valued. To speak to somebody on the phone versus speaking to them via an email is not all that different, both require good manners. Dismissing a phone call, or message, or deleting an email before even opening it is simply just bad manners and generally bad manners have negative consequences (well, it did when I was a child). I believe it still does today and yes, even in business! A potential caller or mailer could have added value to your company, increased your sales or saved you money and now your bad manners had consequences. Understanding that everyone is busy, and under pressure in their workplace, civility goes a long way. It should be rooted in our values and principals of respect, consideration and kindness. Let people know that they matter, because they do.
Whether it is your first time in a professional work environment or whether you have been at it for many years, response time is important. The unspoken rule is to answer within 24 hours, may it be an email or to return a phone call. Even if you are not able to assist at that time, it is better to let that person know, or to tell them that you will get back to them once you are able to help. If you have promised to get back to someone within a certain time period, then make sure that you do so. If you are not interested at all, then at least send a short reply saying that you are not interested. By Ignoring or deleting a message or email, basically says “you are not worth my time and effort” and it also says “I don’t have manners”.
My challenge to everyone is this: take a moment to create order in your inbox, care enough to be kind and remember to MIND YOUR MANNERS!
Written By: Vicki Fourie, Business Development Coordinator at CoreXalance