Understanding workplace etiquette can significantly enhance your professional life. Good professional etiquette can boost your career growth and improve overall job satisfaction by reducing stress, cultivating positive relationships, and helping you navigate workplace dynamics with ease.

This blog is meant to help you develop self-awareness so that you can use the principles of workplace etiquette to understand and refine your professional demeanor and successfully navigate communication challenges, leading to strong, productive professional relationships.

Workplace Etiquette: Beyond Basic Manners

Workplace etiquette is more than just manners; it’s about mindfulness, accountability, and fostering a healthy and productive work environment for everyone. 

While basic manners provide a foundation for politeness, workplace etiquette goes further by considering the specific context of the professional environment. Basic manners are about being polite in general social situations. Workplace etiquette builds on this foundation by incorporating professional considerations, such as respecting colleagues and your shared spaces and understanding the nuances of effective workplace communication.

The Cost of Poor Workplace Etiquette 

Impact on Workers: 

Without workplace etiquette, workers may experience increased stress and anxiety from worrying about teamwork, collaboration, and social dynamics. This can lead to decreased productivity and job satisfaction, and in some cases, mental health issues, and in the long run, burnout. 

Impact on the Workplace or Organization:

Employees can get stressed out about ambiguous or tense workplace interactions when workplace etiquette is lacking. When workers are chronically stressed about communicating with one another, it is natural to see impaired productivity due to low morale and social and emotional distractions. 

When company morale is low, increased absenteeism and employee turnover can become a problem. In the most challenging cases, interpersonal issues can lead to impaired functioning for the company, a damaged reputation, and legal and ethical issues.

Thankfully, creating a positive working environment through establishing and fostering effective workplace etiquette can help to alleviate many of these issues.

Boost Your Career with Professional Etiquette

Individuals with good workplace etiquette project confidence, professionalism, and respect for others in their interactions. Together, these qualities help create a person’s professional presence. A strong professional presence can help you make connections, build strong workplace relationships, and open new doors of opportunity. 

Tips to Improve Your Professional Etiquette: 

Here are some tips to help improve your professional etiquette so that you can enhance your career and strengthen your professional relationships: 

Show Respect:

• Be on time and respect the schedules of your coworkers. This can mean sticking to the agenda and honoring deadlines.
• Maintain open body language and communication.
• Be mindful of others’ space and belongings and share common spaces politely by cleaning up after yourself.
• Practice mindfulness about your surroundings, noise levels, and your impact on those around you. 
• Respect personal boundaries and avoid overly personal or intrusive conversations.
• Maintain your professional demeanor. Avoid gossip, negativity, and unprofessional or disrespectful behaviors. 

Communication is Key: 

• Learn to identify and address communication challenges earlier than later. Don’t let miscommunications deepen by leaving them unattended for too long. 
• Use clear and concise communication. Be direct while maintaining politeness and professionalism.
• Practice active listening. Pay attention to what the other person is saying and focus on gaining an understanding of their perspective. Refrain from interrupting and avoid formulating a response while the other person is speaking.
• Maintain respectful language and appropriate email etiquette even if you’re frustrated. 

Be Mindful of Cultural Differences:

• Be aware of differences in customs and communication styles. 
• Research and learn about other cultures. If you are working with people from different backgrounds, take the time to learn about their customs and etiquette.
• Read books, articles, and websites, or take a cross-cultural communication course. Being culturally aware is essential in today’s globalized workplace.

Be Consistent and Reliable: 

• Uphold professional behaviors in all of your interactions. Keep in mind that professionalism is a consistent way of thinking, being, and interacting with others. 
• Be ethical, respectful, and accountable in your actions.
• Follow through on your commitments. Effective teamwork means that the team members can rely on one another. 

Read more about creating effective online team environments in this blog; 7 Tips for Creating Effective Team Environments that Support Remote Workers’ Mental Wellbeing. 

Practice Emotional Regulation and Stress Management: 

• Focus on remaining calm and collected during stressful interactions. 
• Create and maintain a standard stress management practice that works for you. This could include walking in nature, reading, deep breathing, journaling, or any other self-care practice that helps you regulate stress. Different approaches work for different people, so experiment and find what works best for you.
• Seek support and healthy outlets for stress and frustrations by talking to loved ones, a friend, or a mental health professional.

Seek Feedback and Be Open to Improvement: 

• Practice giving and receiving feedback in a polite, calm, and constructive way. 
• Be mindful of your natural responses and avoid becoming irritable or dysregulated when receiving feedback. 
• Consider feedback as an opportunity to learn from others about how you can improve.
• Remind yourself that some feedback will be helpful or required to be followed, and some will not. Don’t dwell on criticism that is not constructive. 
• Be honest and take accountability when you receive accurate or helpful feedback. Use mindfulness to consider how you can implement the feedback.
• Special tip: Try to remember that you are not “in trouble” and no one “is mad at you” when you receive constructive criticism at work. Some adults can struggle because feedback makes them feel very bad or nervous. Improving your anxiety management skills and seeking therapy can help. 

Practice Exercise:

Using self-awareness, think about how you feel when receiving feedback or constructive criticism at work. What does it make you think when someone gives you feedback? Do you feel stress or tension in your thoughts or your body? Are you hard on yourself when you get feedback? 

Consider taking a few deep breaths as you explore these thoughts and behaviors. 

Taking time to understand your natural responses can help you become more mindful and poised in the moment. 

Helpful Resources: 

If you find that you lose your temper or become agitated during challenging workplace situations, this blog may help, Emotional Regulation: The Key to Surviving Life’s Emotional Storms. 

For more thoughts on practicing stress management in the workplace, read Dealing with Stress at Work here.

Therapy is a great tool that can help you learn to enhance your stress management and emotional regulation skills. 

Remember that refining your professional etiquette skills will be an ongoing learning process. Take these tips and suggestions and explore for yourself what makes the most sense for your unique workplace and personality. 

Of course, every workplace is different, so practicing mindfulness may help you find nuance as you refine your professional image. Hopefully, with these tips, you can enjoy a harmonious workplace, strong working relationships, and an overall enhanced professional well-being.

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