Workplace Readiness and Professional Etiquette

Wow, you’re soaring like an eagle through this course, and just like that, you’re onto Chapter 3.

Today, you will learn about the cultural sensitivities you must consider when doing business with other cultures. There may have been moments in your life when you felt things were going well for you, whether you were working in a team or with a potential client, and all of a sudden, things went wrong. The relationship sours, or the deal falls off the table, and you just can’t figure out why. Often, people overlook culture as a reason for this since most of us aren’t even aware that cultural differences exist. You simply think, ‘We act the same, we do the same, therefore we must be the same’, when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Each and every person has their own culture that affects how they feel and relate to people and certain situations, essentially it is an invisible puppet master that can wreak havoc if we do not take the due time to research and understand the different cultural beliefs and behaviours of another person.

In the last lesson you learnt about correct behaviours in a meeting, in this chapter you will learn that some behaviours may need to change according to the culture of the person you are doing business with. Research is everything when doing business with other cultures.

This chapter will help you:

• Close a deal due to culturally appropriate behaviour.

• Ensure that your teams get along due to a better understanding of people’s motivators and what behaviours are perceived as unacceptable or rude.

• Prepare yourself for interacting with foreign clients and their preferred way of doing business.

• Understand how your past behaviour has affected your present deals.

This chapter teaches you that researching the cultures of the people you work with will have an extremely positive impact on your interactions.

Once you have finished this lesson, you may feel curious about different cultures, what motivates them and what differences there are between yours' and others' cultures. If you do feel this way, take some time to research behaviours related to the cultures you work with. You may be very surprised by what you find.

Let’s light this chapter up. Fly eagle fly!

You’re about to hit the halfway mark - happy dance!

We are moving on to your professional greetings and Introductions. It doesn't sound like rocket science, does it? Well, it might just surprise you.

So, here are a couple of things this chapter will help you with:

• Giving a firm and assertive handshake where people immediately take you and your opinions seriously.

• Introducing yourself in an exciting way where people think, ‘This person is super interesting!’ or ‘I need to work with this person.’

• Make introductions between people without tripping over yourself, your words or the people’s names.

• Allow you to look and feel in control during your business interactions. After all, when you feel good, you do well.

You will learn how to:

• Understand what people think about you from your handshake.

• Create a ‘punchy’ Elevator Pitch, which means Introducing what you do without the blank stare or bored expression appearing on the other person’s face.

• Introducing professionals correctly to show seniority and respect

Okay, maybe it’s not rocket science but it is the science behind professional interactions. Once you have finished this chapter, you will start to think more deeply about the impression you are creating through your handshake and how to introduce yourself in an exciting way where people are immediately more interested in you.

Go! Go! Go!

You have reached Chapter 5!

You are officially on the home stretch.

In the previous chapter, you learned about handshaking and introductions, physical aspects that affect how people perceive you. This next chapter will look at the online and electronic impressions you create through electronic channels of communication.

Keep an eye out for the mistakes you have been making over the phone and what aspects of emails seem small but make the biggest difference.

Why this lesson will help you:

• Ace your first impression, which often starts with an email or a telephone call

• Establish yourself as the go-to professional

• Make people take you seriously right from the start

• Convince people of your quality product through the way you handle yourself over electronic platforms

Now that you know what the benefit is of this chapter, let’s take a look at what you will learn:

• Answering and managing yourself professionally over the phone

• Email Writing, correct language use and layout

• Populating your LinkedIn Profile with important information

Does it seem a bit simple? Well, 85% of professional mistakes are made over one of these channels, so obviously, it can’t be that simple, right?

After this lesson, you should become more aware of your mistakes and feel confident that adjusting the way you manage yourself electronically will improve your overall impression.

Fly little bird, fly!

Hey, big bird, you’re close to your first flight. Can you feel the wind in your hair, the sunshine on your face and the fresh air in your nostrils? Not quite? Well, you’re almost there. Flap away, Flappy, flap away!

In the last lesson, we learnt how to manage ourselves over the telephone and email. This lesson will focus on how to improve how people see and perceive you on online platforms.

We are now looking at how you brand yourself over social media. Many people seem to forget that most employers are now surfing your social media platforms to find out what type of person you are and whether you will be a worthwhile hire. Be afraid, be very afraid if you haven’t closed your profile. We go so far as to say that when you are meeting with someone, try to go into their social media platforms and learn as much about them as possible to have contextual topics to discuss. The one profile that should be open is your Linkedin profile, this way you can populate it with all the information you want people to see about you. Remember that LinkedIn is essentially an opportunity to sell yourself, and many people are actually recruited off LinkedIn.

Once you have finished this chapter, you’ll be fired up, ready to improve your LinkedIn profile, and pumped for the next job offer that may come your way.

Why this chapter is going to help you:

• You will be more likely to get a salary increase due to a better job offer through your Linkedin profile. You can also leverage off that job offer with your present company by saying, ‘I’ve been offered this job with this salary amount and these benefits, can you match this or improve this?’

• Prevent yourself from being fired due to your social media posts

• Increase your chances of being hired due to the specific information you have been purposely put on show.

Let’s take a quick glimpse at what you are going to learn in this chapter:

• What type of information to censor on your social media platforms

• How to populate your LinkedIn profile and what type of information to include

• How to pose for Professional Photographs

• Which content to share on what platform

• Content to avoid posting

Right flappy, let’s start practising how to spread those wings.

Those wings have stretched, you’re standing on the edge, and you’re about to leave the nest. It’s just minor moments before the great leap of faith. Just one more step before the plunge… Deep breathes...

You are into your last and final lesson and perhaps one of the most exciting.

Today, we will examine how you work a room, perhaps one of human beings' most anxiety-ridden moments.

The last lesson looked at your behaviour on social media, now sticking with the ‘social’ topic, we are going to look at how to socialise around a business event.

You will learn the soon-to-be very easy art of networking. Why do we actually need to know how to network though? People are often confused by the point of networking. ‘Do we just stand around trying to make awkward conversations with people?’

No! It’s quite simply this, business success comes down to the law of numbers. The more people you speak to, the greater the chance of actually finding a great opportunity. The more people you talk to, the more people they can put you in contact with and the more business you can attract.

Once you have finished this chapter, you will feel excited to attend your next event and try out all these super cool skills. Not only that, but you’ll realise how easy it is to shine at any event.

Why is this lesson important for you?

• You will feel confident walking into a room of strangers and introducing yourself

• People will happily accept you into their group

• You will learn how to avoid awkward silences

• You will actually enjoy networking for the first time

• Make meaningful connections that lead to something successful

• You won’t just stand awkwardly in the corner checking people out, sweating profusely

• You won't use your cell phone as a social crutch to pretend you’re talking to someone really important when, in actual fact, you’re SMSing a friend telling them how lame the event is.

So here’s what you will learn:

• Choose the right group to join

• Join a group of strangers and what to say to them to put everyone at ease

• Introduce yourself with confidence

• Tips to make you feel more confident

• Tips to ensure you reach your desired networking targets

Here we go big bird, it’s almost the big moment.