In the business world, you are often judged on the way you interact with others. Having good manners will help open more opportunities than you might imagine. Mistakes can be made when starting out a career, even if you have the best intentions. It’s what you do with the mistakes that help shape your future.
Employers want to see you in social situations to see how you conduct yourself, especially if the job requires a certain standard of behavior with clients and superiors. Your manners and conduct are critical in forming an impression and social meetings play an informal part of the process in growing your career.
A colleague once told a story of how they planned an important lunch meeting for weeks. The day finally arrived and when attempting to squeeze fresh lemon in their glass of iced tea, the juice shot directly into the face of their guest, with some landing in their hair. The guest just happened to be a hiring decision-maker and my colleague had hoped to make a good impression. With a sincere apology all was forgiven. However, the lesson in holding their hand over a lemon before squeezing has never left them to this day. The colleague no doubt made a strong impression, it just wasn’t the one they wanted to send.
Always remember that people around you pay attention to your actions even more so when you are seeking a promotion or wanting to change careers. Legend has it that Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and executives at IBM all have watched potential candidates when dining to observe if they used salt before tasting their food. Using salt before eating sent an underlying message that a candidate would make a hasty decision before getting the facts. Those who failed the salt test never made it to the offer stage.
When growing your career, small things matter especially when your actions mismatch the role you are targeting. Your boss and those around you who can influence your next promotion need to see that you can act in a manner equal to the level you aspire.
Manners can often be challenged in these six areas of your workplace: introducing others; showing good judgment in email and texting (where assumed informalities are pitfalls); showing good judgment in confidentiality (not everything needs to be posted on social sites); dining etiquette (slow down when eating and order foods that are less prone to splattering); being respectful of diverse cultures in a global workforce; and leaving voice messages.
What are your thoughts regarding manners in the workplace? How would they affect your decision in working with someone?
