Did you know that as businesses are being forced to cut jobs and run a leaner than a desired organization, people are becoming ruder?
Sarah Eckel from Forbes Magazine writes: “The accelerated pace of office life has made us lose touch with common courtesies once taken for granted, like saying, ”good morning.” In fact, in the same article, there is an example of a man who had a bad habit: He was moving his wrist and hand as if to say “hurry up” as people were talking to him. He wasn’t even aware he was doing it.
It’s no wonder workers are losing their patience and manners in an accelerated workplace that creates more pressure and stress. Add to that the push of technology in the form of increased emails, text messages, IM’s, cell phone calls, and social media, and you can see how easy it can lead to a complete breakdown in business etiquette or a “snap attack” (yelling at your colleagues).
These bad habits and trends are not just little things to note and move on, they actually have impacted the bottom line revenues of some companies. When employees ignore others, talk to people in a meeting, show up late to a meeting or worse yet fail to make it at all, it is bad for business. This lack of business etiquette can permeate the organization culture and end up at a client/customer or prospect meeting and lose a deal or the customer.
Training for business etiquette is no different than training for sales, management or any other core competency within an organization. More companies are asking for this kind of training and we are happy to offer them our Business Etiquette Workshop.
“The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid.” Author Unknown. This quote kind of reminds us that a simple word like “kindness” can help create a better meeting . . . and maybe even bring in a new customer or two.
Next Step has been helping companies avoid the “rude” factor and create efficiency and better business etiquette for years.
Check out our funny, but very relevant Meeting Faux Pas video