Olonitola Olatokunbo
You can get through life with bad manners, but it’s easier with good manners. Lillian Gish
You must have come across this phrase, ‘first impression leaves a lasting impression’ or ‘dress as you would want to be addressed’ and yet another ‘treat others as you would like to be treated’… these expressions are to help build good etiquette.
Work etiquette are the acceptable social behavior in a workplace. Although, there is no universal agreement about a standard work etiquette, which varies from one environment to another, but work etiquette are really important because they create a happy and productive environment for people to be at their productive best. Everyone could use a good and nice colleague every now and then.
Bad manners bring tension into the atmosphere and have a negative impact on employee morale and productivity.
So here are few work etiquettes you may want to imbibe
-> If you are just resuming in the office, be observant. Be friendly but don’t jump too quickly to make friends, there are lots of different personalities in the organization. Take some time to study people before getting personal.
->There are different personalities at the work place; the complainers and those that make things work. Don’t join the complainers, they murmur about everything and don’t see anything good, so they miss out when opportunities beckons. If you don‘t like something, change it. If you can‘t change it, accept it or move on.
->Obey authorities, don’t be a rebel. Your boss or supervisor may be younger in age; you will do yourself a whole lot of good if you submit to authorities. If you are planning to climb the ladder of success, then you don’t want to sow bad seeds… whatever a man sows that he will reap.
->Be nice to everyone even those you don’t know, you don’t know when you will be nice to the boss’s friend or relative. Don’t be a hypocrite who addresses people based on their looks, only the ‘empty barrel’ makes the loudest nose; important people don’t look it. Use the magic words: ‘please, sorry, thank you’
->Be a good team player, if you work in a team, don’t take all the glory; share it…. Trust me; you don’t want disloyal team members and taking all the glory can quickly lead to that.
->Treat people well, they are but people and people’s relatives. Don’t be ruthless in your drive to the top. Work truly finishes but people remain. After all is said and done, we are but people too.
->Refrain from office gossips and don’t be the news carrier. Don’t feel important because everyone wants to hear the latest gist from you that simply means you are the office gossip if no one ever told you that.
->Be known for good things, build integrity. A good name is better than many riches. Let people know you stand for good things and they wouldn’t call you for shady businesses.
->Be loyal to your boss. Don’t scheme to take his/her seat, you are setting yourself up.
->Be excellent at what is good, be innocent of evil (Rom 16:19) … our God is an excellent God, let excellence be your watch word too. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well.
->Limit your personal phone calls, Whats App chats and Facebook during work hours. Don’t use the organization’s resources unnecessarily.
->Reply your emails on time and don’t be nasty with them. Emails tones are quite difficult to detect, hence use friendly words. Minimize the use of ‘reply all’.
->Be punctual to work and to meeting, and when unavoidably going to be late; make use of your phone.
->Pay attention to personal hygiene, be moderate in dressing, and keep your work space clean. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
->Lastly and most importantly, you were paid to do a job, don’t laze around, do it!
