IN THIS ISSUE:

Are Bad Habits Taking Over at Your Workplace?

Healthcare professionals face a stressful and hectic environment everyday. However, this isn’t an excuse to let ourselves slip into bad habits and bad manners.

A recent survey by recruitment consultancy Office Angels reveals that employees are regularly guilty of the following '”lapses in etiquette”:

• Lateness: 63 percent admit they show up late for work or meetings at least twice a week wasting other colleague's time.
• Swearing in the office: 76 percent say they regularly swear at work.
• Ignoring e-mails: 72 percent admit to sometimes ignoring time-consuming e-mails in the hope that the issue will go away.
• Answering a mobile or text messaging during a meeting: 54 percent are guilty of this, yet nearly all admit they find this extremely rude when colleagues do the same.
• Chewing gum in meetings: 33 percent say they chew gum in meetings out of habit.
• Forgetting to introduce people at a meeting: 28 percent are guilty of starting a meeting without introducing people.
• Not saying hello when passing in the corridor: 19 percent admit that they have at some time ignored a colleague in the corridor.

Despite the recent trend towards more casual and lax workplaces, manners still do matter. Bad manners make a lasting wrong impression and can hinder productivity. On the other end, good manners facilitate good working relationships and enhanced efficiency.

Break the Bad Manners Cycle

Avoiding bad manners at work is a simple thing to do and can have a dramatic impact on improving your working environment and your relationship with others. Brush up on your etiquette with the simple tips below. 

First, when you interact with someone, they deserve your complete attention. That means no glancing at your watch, no making grocery lists in your head, and no cell phone calls. You may think you can save time with this type of multi-tasking, but when you’re too scattered, everything takes longer to finish. And it makes the people around you feel unimportant.

Secondly, learn to speak kindly of others as well as around others. A foul and degrading conversation that is within ear shot of co-workers or patients is absolutely unacceptable. If you must “vent” in this way, save it for when you’re at home.

You can also inject more civility into the workplace by being genuine and compassionate. For example, if you have done something to offend a colleague, you must demonstrate that you are sincerely sorry. Mean it when you apologize. Saying “I’m sorry your feelings were hurt” is not an apology because you’re not taking any blame. It’s the same as saying, “I’m sorry you’re a big, fat cry-baby.” This is an apology: “I can see your feelings were hurt and I’m sorry for any part I played in that.”

Remember, manners are an essential part of the image you project at work. So think twice before taking that cell phone call, and always be conscious that you are a professional in a place of one of the most important businesses—the healthcare business. 

 

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”

—Aesop