Manners

It’s simple but so very effective. Manners.

Saying a please or thank you, demonstrating an awareness of others in our day-to-day interactions, or displaying consistent (positive) behaviour when we interact with others.

I like to think I’ve done a good job in showing my two boys good manners, and I do love to hear it when they are praised by someone outside of the family or friend group on this – we’ve had strangers on the train and people in restaurants saying how much they loved to hear them talk to each other, how polite they are when asking or ordering something, and how well behaved they are.

I mean, they are. They can also be little sh*ts when they want, but then they’re young and that’s kinda how it goes with kids. Importantly, for me, is how they behave when it counts. And I am so proud of them for it.

So why is it so difficult in a professional setting for some to display basic common courtesy? What about how a business treats its customers (insurance, utilities, online shopping, etc. We’ve all had these experiences, even at work.

• As an aside, I can’t help but see it everywhere … the current UK energy crisis, environmental damage from pumping raw sewage into the sea, UK politics. While they ‘may’ be doing everything in accordance with what they are allowed to .. it doesn’t mean they should do that. Arghhh.

But why? Is there some understanding somewhere that I missed that somehow this is a good thing, that people want to be treated badly? Was I at the dentist’s during that lesson?

Following on from my last post, about instructions, do we do enough in meetings, Zoom/Teams calls, emails, guidance documents, etc to display manners and a consistent ‘politeness’? Does how you sign your email, for example, portray politeness and manners (eg ‘kind regards’) or abrupt/short quick-end-this-email (eg ‘regards’)? Does it matter?

Is it enough to just get the work done and inform your colleagues it’s done, or do you go a little bit further and put some context or information to help them understand what it is, what issues you had in getting it done, or what you’d like to happen from here?

Does it matter? Do manners matter?

Photo by Scarbor Siu on Unsplash