Business Etiquette For Dummies

Business Communication Articles

Mingling Effectively at Company Gatherings

Believe it or not, mingling is a vitally important business skill. Mingling well demonstrates that you're a friendly, open, and engaged person who is interested in other people. Mingling poorly shows others that you're either unsure of yourself or so egotistical that you can't listen to others.

Nowhere is the art of mingling more important to your career than at a company party. Make the rounds at the party. Don't spend all your time talking to one person; you want to circulate. Other people will be anxious about mingling and will welcome your efforts to make conversation.

The following tips show you how to make the most out of an event and be a good representative for your company:

• Be prepared. Know what you want to accomplish at the event — to meet a number of people, find a particular resource, or get noticed.
• Remember to carry business cards and exchange them when appropriate.
• As you circulate, make sure you politely excuse yourself from the conversation. To say nothing as you exit is considered rude.
• Hold your drink in your left hand so that if you are introduced to someone, you don't extend a cold, wet hand to shake.
• Always avoid making negative comments. You don't have to lie, but never slander your employer or coworkers. Even if you think the company is mismanaged, keep it to yourself.
• Don't overindulge at work events. Your behavior is a reflection of your company, and staying sober can keep you from saying things you will regret later.
• Introduce yourself and others properly. If possible, learn the names of the attendees and the appropriate way of making an introduction beforehand. If name tags are available, wear one.

Make eye contact, give solid handshakes, and try to speak to people you haven't met before. You never know what doors may open for you simply because you made the effort to greet your colleagues in another department. Follow the preceding guidelines and you'll be set!

Mingle! Don't let fear stop you from approaching someone you've never met. With a bit of practice and planning before the event, you'll soon be conversing with confidence.

While making small talk with a new group of people, the worst thing you can do is keep glancing around for someone better to engage in conversation. You can't find a faster way to make someone feel unimportant. When you're speaking with someone, she should receive your full attention — no wandering eyes!

Cocktail parties and other mingling events usually are noisy and punctuated with interruptions. They're not ideal venues for serious business conversations, so people will appreciate your keeping the conversation light. If you see the potential for a fruitful business discussion, hand the other person your business card, and say you will call her to make an appointment to continue the conversation.

Business Communication Articles

E-Mail Etiquette on the Job

A couple years ago, e-mail surpassed postal mail as the highest-volume carrier of messages. Its popularity has been booming ever since and shows no signs of stopping. Though volumes have been written about e-mail etiquette, many of the worst offenders don't seem to be reading. What can you do to keep your business e-mails proper?

Communicate clearly

The best feature of e-mail is also the worst: Communication with one or many people, across the hall or across the world, can happen immediately. That immediacy can be a tremendous asset when you need that kind of power. It can also be a real problem when you use it as a substitute for thoughtful, meaningful communication.

One problem with overusing e-mail is that your tone can easily be misunderstood. In person or on the phone, listeners can get visual or verbal cues and pick up emotions and nuances, particularly sarcasm. Even in the age of irony, and even if you use the ubiquitous smiley, readers may miss your point. "I heard Thursday's staff meeting went really well!" has a completely different meaning when it's spoken in a sarcastic tone (the meeting didn't go well at all) than it does when it's spoken in a happy, direct tone. Chances are good that your readers will misunderstand this statement in an e-mail.

Always reread your e-mail message for clarity and tone before you send it, and follow up with a phone call if you don't get a prompt response.

Write with style

Here are a few stylistic mistakes that people make when using e-mail:

• Forgetting the rules of spelling and grammar: Perhaps because of the sheer volume of e-mails that people send, e-mail tends to be a very informal medium. Informal, however, should not mean sloppy. Watch for problems such as sentence fragments and spelling errors. If you're not sure about the rules of grammar, keep a style guide handy.
• Being unprofessional: Just because you're sending an e-mail instead of a memo or telephone call doesn't mean you can let your professional standards relax. Although a touch of humor in the tone of an e-mail can be fine, make sure you preserve your professionalism. Although smileys may be helpful in social e-mails, avoid using them in business.
• Omitting a greeting and/or closing: Even worse is using "Hey" as a greeting. Is it really that hard to type "Hi Jim" or "Best wishes, Bev"?
• Using ALL CAPITALS: Capitals are harder to read than regular text. In addition, many people view their use as the e-mail equivalent of yelling, so if you wouldn't scream something in the conference room, don't type it in all capitals.
• Using all lowercase letters: This is often a sign of laziness. Make sure you capitalize proper nouns, names, and the first letter of each sentence.
• Using offensive language: Though you should watch your language at work in general, spoken expletives float away into the air. Written ones sit there on the computer screen, maybe for longer than you want them to.

Business Communication Articles

Body Language and Business Etiquette

Body language can make or break a deal. How you carry yourself when engaged in conversation is often as important as what you say. Body language is nonverbal, but it communicates volumes about you nonetheless.

With almost infinite symbolic interpretations for body language, no wonder people are nervous about it! Your best bet is to know about some of the body-language pits you can fall into and how to avoid them.

Standing

When you stand, keep your back straight, middle section in alignment with your back, shoulders back, and head up. This posture connotes comfort with yourself and ease in the situation.

Slouching, sticking your belly out, stuffing your hands in your pockets, and folding your arms defensively all suggest aggressive unease.

Sitting

Take care in the way you sit, for no other position connotes so much on its own. Think of the diversity of sitting positions that you've seen in business meetings, from practically horizontal to alert and upright. Sit with a straight back and with your legs together in front of you or crossed, either at the knee or at the ankle. Normally, women don't cross their legs, but men are allowed. Avoid jiggling your knee, which is a sign of nervousness (and can be pretty annoying to people sitting near you).

Hands

Some people talk with their hands; others stand with their hands glued to their sides. Most people haven't the foggiest notion what their hands are doing when they talk.

Using your hands can be effective sometimes, aggressive sometimes, and irrelevant most of the time. Controlling your hands takes effort and willpower. Monitor your hand movements. Avoid making sweeping, cappuccino-clearing gestures during meetings. If you have to, sit on your hands.

Head movements

Head movements communicate important information. Nodding in agreement can be immensely helpful to others, but too much nodding makes you look like a bobble-head doll. Shaking your head can signal disagreement or disapproval, but avoid shaking your head too much.

Facial expressions

Facial expressions are crucial in your repertoire of body language. No other part of your body can convey the immense richness of nonverbal communication that your face does. For example:

• Smiles are important signals of generosity and nonaggression. But forced smiles signal that you can barely tolerate the other person.
• Likewise, frowns signal disagreement, disapproval, and sometimes anger. But they can also suggest hard thinking and focused concentration.

These facial expressions are the most obvious ones, but hundreds of others exist: an arched eyebrow, flared nostrils, a bitten lip, a grimace . . . and on and on. Every one of them has a culturally agreed-on set of meanings.

Take a day to monitor your most frequently used facial expressions and assess their appropriateness and their effectiveness. You'll probably be surprised by the types of messages your expressions transmit!

Eyes

Maintain eye contact when talking with others. Do not study your hands or clean your fingernails while others are talking. When talking in a group, make eye contact with everyone; don't focus on only one person.