Etiquette is everywhere.

It’s a set of invisible rules that unconsciously, and sometimes consciously, govern our social interactions.

From networking etiquette, to social etiquette, meal time etiquette and professional etiquette. With so many unwritten rules informing our daily social interactions, it can be almost impossible to know what the right thing to do is in any given situation.

When it comes to the freneticism and sheer volume of online interactions, most of us have been lulled into the false belief that email etiquette is not an essential career skill. Our capacity to complete tasks efficiently and achieve a result is often considered more important than how that result was achieved. This means that most emails are assigned little time and consideration before being sent to their unwitting recipient.

But an email reveals more about you than you might think. Often it is the first impression you make on another person. Structure, tone and content are all important elements in conveying your core message. If rushed and poorly constructed, a bad email can quickly elicit a lasting negative response.

Some Hard And Fast Rules For Good Email Etiquette

• Try to keep your sentences and language brief and to the point

Always remember to ask the person you are emailing how they are. It starts your dialogue off on the right foot.

• Wherever possible, always try to reply to emails within 24 hours

• Never sign off an email with a smiley face, a kiss, a wink or an emoji

If you cannot express something adequately with words then leave it out completely.

Don’t do this.

Using smiley faces and a seemingly harmless “X” at the end of a professional email can make you seem overly emotional, overfamiliar, lacking in emotional intelligence and weak. It can also come across as passive aggressive or that you are too lazy to say what you really mean.

• Avoid unnecessary punctuation such as CAPITALISATION, bolding and exclamation points!!!

Nobody enjoys feeling as though they are being yelled at over an email exchange. There are better ways to reinforce an urgent deadline.

• Never ignore an email from somebody more senior than you. This rule also applies to volunteer positions

If someone in a senior position has asked you to take on more work, to find information on a project, to chase down a lead or even what your stance is on a certain issue, always respond as quickly as possible. Even if your response is just a brief acknowledgement email along the lines of:

Try to respond like this.

Not responding at all sends a clear and unambiguous message that you do not care about your senior manager’s needs. It also tells the story that you do not value your role, that you have poor time-management skills and that you are not coping.

Remember, the person who supervises your work determines your salary increment and eligibility for promotion. They are also in a position to give you a glowing (or terrible) referee report one day.

Their opinion matters, so always try to go above and beyond in your interactions.

• Keep your commitments: If you commit to completing a task then stick with it

If you find that your circumstances change and you are no longer able to take on a task you committed to, have the confidence and courtesy to tell the person to whom you made that commitment. Being up front means that everyone knows where they stand.

Communicating your needs early also helps your manager do their job more effectively by being aware of which tasks need to be reassigned.

• Keep emotion out of it: Email communication should be professional and avoid unnecessary emotion

Sometimes the best professional communication technique involves knowing when to speak up and when to zip it.

Signing Off

Social regulations, particularly in a work context, are some of the most difficult to master. Everything depends on your office environment, company culture, past practices as well as who is supervising you.

If you work in an environment where the exchange of casual emails is commonplace, you may find yourself charmed by their informality, and tempted to respond in kind.

When this happens, and you are on the verge of stripping away a layer of professionalism from your digital correspondence, always remember before hitting SEND that you can never get yourself into trouble by being too professional.

Dressing for success is important, but developing a professional and authentic communication style is just as critical in shoring up a rock solid career trajectory.

What techniques do you use in email writing? Let us know in the comments!

1. Be nice
2. Practise respect
3. Be genuinely interested in the other person
4. Show gratitude

Generally, extending basic courtesies to others will result in those same decencies being mirrored back two fold. In other words, the type of energy you project in your interactions (positive or negative) tends to attract like energy to you.

Engaging in unethical business practices, being unkind to your competitors, disrespecting business partners, stakeholders, colleagues and staff or even failing to be considerate of the needs and interests of others is the fastest way to permanently damage your business relationships and compromise the success of your organisation.

Have you recently launched your startup, and find that you are scratching your head daily about why you cannot seem to make any headway with certain stakeholders? Maybe you are finding it difficult to form strong and lasting relationships with partners, colleagues or staff.

The answer could lie in taking a good hard look in the mirror and reflecting on your interpersonal skills.

Don’t Be That Guy  

What many business owners do not place enough emphasis on is the principle in life that kindness often gets you further than force.

Many CEOs, managing directors, founders, startup owners and leaders of industry spend years labouring under the misapprehension that their degree of brusqueness is directly correlated with their level of success. They are quick to temper, pace around the office frenetically, type franticly, voice views loudly and aggressively, express themselves at meetings with impatience and frustration, fail to respond to emails and do not set aside time to listen to colleagues or employee concerns.

The idea is that by cultivating a discourteous business culture, others will assume these leaders are wildly successful and avoid disturbing their workflow unless absolutely necessary. But this strategy exposes more about the personalities of individuals than anyone would like to think, as the root cause of bad behaviour always reveals its true nature:

Behavioural inflation in the form of rude or aggressive mannerisms, putting others down, having unrealistic expectations of business partners, staff or colleagues and being ‘too busy to be polite’ are all symptoms of poorly-developed interpersonal skills, low emotional intelligence and deep-seated insecurities. These traits are often the hallmarks of people who are not coping in their business or personal life. 

Unfortunately, many new entrepreneurs and startup owners believe that imitating the bad habits of successful leaders, through hostile behaviour, manipulation and tough business negotiation, will garner automatic respect among their peers and professional networks. In reality, this is an instant formula for failure.

Given their vastly different leadership and interpersonal styles, for example, would you rather collaborate with Richard Branson or Donald Trump?

Rather than solidifying your status as a negotiation ninja, your reputation for being abrasive and disingenuous will solidify the resolve of key stakeholders never to deal with you. Being quietly convincing,  genuinely respectful, polite and adding real value, on the other hand, wins lasting and mutually beneficial business relationships.

Some Hard & Fast Rules For Keeping Your Business Bridges Un-Burned 

Successful startups are built on the back of strong networks.

When it comes to establishing good business practice and genuine business relationships – it’s all in the detail. If you recognise any of the above leadership qualities in your current business interactions, the good news is that it is possible to instantly improve the way others respond to you, and your business, with some small behavioural tweaks.

1. Never inconvenience others by imposing a short deadline

Wherever possible, try not to impose tight deadlines.

Instead ask that the action to be completed “at a time that is convenient to” the person you are making the request of. It shows you respect their ability to prioritise your request, your awareness of their existing workload as well as your appreciation of their limited time and resources.

While this approach typically requires less from others, it demands more from you. The onus is on you to exercise leadership by closely managing business timeframes so that more buffer time is factored into project deadlines.

When a looming deadline is genuinely critical, and may require turnaround within the hour or COB, that person will be happy to help you by prioritising your task over their BAU work.

2. Never impose false deadlines

A false deadline occurs when you tell someone that a particular item is extremely urgent, and requires their immediate attention, but in reality that urgency does not exist.

Putting people under pressure to perform, particularly in instances where no real urgency exists, is a surefire way to build resentment and destroy productive working relationships. This is compounded in situations where you may have imposed the tight timeframe deliberately to allow yourself more time to look over the finished product before sending it off.

Always give someone (whether they are a business partner, peer or staff member) as much time as possible to complete a task. If you must impose a deadline, make sure it is a real one.

If priorities change during the day, you should let that person know that the urgency has dropped away from their task. This allows them to take a breath, ease their foot off the accelerator, and do a more thorough job.

3. Look with your eyes and not your mouth

When arranging a meeting, avoid wasting the time of invitees.

Everyone hates being required to exchange dozens of emails to set up a convenient time and date, especially if the date must be re-negotiated several times before being set. This approach is unnecessarily disorganised and frustrating for everyone involved. Importantly, it leaves people external to your organisation with the distinct impression that meeting you is more trouble than it is worth.

A better approach is to look at your calendar and determine when you are, and when you are not, available before sending out the invite. Let the other participant know your availability either via calendar invite, email or over the phone.

If they have all relevant information they are in a better position to fit in with you and, in one or two exchanges, the time and date can be locked in.

4. Never ask someone to repeat themselves

Never ask for information to be repeated, or an email to be re-sent, if you already have that information somewhere where you can readily access it. For example, requesting contact details or a phone number, if that person has already sent it to you in a prior exchange.

Everyone hates repeating themselves. It is an unequivocal waste of time, especially at high-levels. It sends a strong message that you are unreliable, disorganised and do not pay attention to detail – qualities that smart people in business shy away from.

Accept that your time is no more precious than anyone else’s.

If you need to spend 5-10 minutes looking through your emails, or sorting papers on your desk, rather than eating into someone else’s day by requesting that the information be re-sent, then do it! 

5. Hold up your end of the deal!

If you commit to something in a business transaction, stick to your side of the bargain.

Do not assume that the other person will forget what you have agreed. If they have fulfilled their obligations, fulfil yours without an attempt to underhandedly change the goal posts.

Doing anything less than what was agreed leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth and people will be reluctant to do business with you in the future.

6. Drop the attitude of expectation and be humble

If someone does you a favour, let them know you appreciate it.

For example, if they have introduced you to an important business contact, agreed to partner with your business, or even agreed to write a guest post for your business blog. Always ensure you recognise the time, effort and value that person has added to your business by showing your appreciation.

If someone’s actions have produced a particularly positive outcome for you, make sure you let them know! This generates feelings of goodwill and mutual support and they will be more likely to collaborate with you again. Failing to do so breeds bitterness and mistrust – they will wonder why you kept them in the dark by not passing on the good news they played an important role in achieving.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to make yourself a likeable person in business is to go above and beyond what people expect of you. It can be as simple as a short but meaningful email saying thank you and mentioning how much you value their input, time and support.

Positive emotions form strong foundations for lasting working relationships.

At The End Of The Day

There is no excuse for being discourteous to others.

A fledgling startup cannot afford to alienate potential business partners with a leader who does not value good business practices and basic professional etiquette. Experienced business owners and entrepreneurs associate these habits with unexperienced leaders who are masking inner vulnerabilities, a lack of subject-matter knowledge and an inability to cope in complex business or social situations.

Rather than moving you forward in your startup journey, poor professional behaviour always has a way of holding you, and your business, back.

So who do you want to be in business? A dealmaker of a dealbreaker?

What personal or professional qualities have you come across in your startup journey that you admire? Which ones do you dislike? Let us know in the comments section below!