 Let's talk about good etiquette at the workplace. So good etiquette at the workplace is something they never teach you in school and I wish I would have learnt it in school so it made it so much easier to transition and working in developed markets and countries for so long it might not seem that obvious or it might be hard to distinguish what good work etiquettes are of course good etiquettes at the workplace are dependent on the job role the industry but I'm gonna specifically focus on tech and office work okay let's start the day let's talk about following up you need to follow up to make sure something is done you need to chase others and let others chase you it's always important to close the loop of what you're working on so following up in either direction works hey I owe you this hey you owe me this there's many times in the workplace when everybody is just too busy so how do you know what you've asked will get done we can't be expected to have everything in memory everything is moving at 100 miles per hour or there's so many moving parts use reminders for certain tasks set some time on your calendar and make sure you close that loop following up also means asking questions about the subject if you don't understand something it's your duty to follow up and say hey I don't quite get this can you help me with this I know I owe you some work but let me clarify the understanding following up also gives a really good impression for the people you work with it means oh this person has their shit together you know they care about what I'm working on this should be done to colleagues customers and everybody you interact with that work for example when you follow up with customers they really appreciate it it makes people feel special and that you really care about the job at hand when you promise someone that you're going to do something for God's sake follow up I need some coffee much better the next one is be personable first and foremost you need to remember names remembering names is a sign of respect and that you actually care who they are it's a bit more difficult in Southeast Asia where names are pretty difficult to pronounce but usually people have a nickname I think the simplest form is just to say how do I pronounce your name don't forget to introduce yourself if it's the first time you've met someone it's important establishing that rapport from the get-go with a handshake come in with the firm handshake my name is Chris it's not that common in Southeast Asia to shake hands for some reason don't underestimate the need for small talk this is really important small talk is everything it helps you establish rapport help you establish trust it helps you find out about a person and really builds relationships typical small talk for example you can talk about the weather you can talk about the weekend you can talk about your pets you can talk about sports you can talk about covid easy you can talk about anything you just need to small talk you have to of course be personable with your small talk refer to something they might have said before it's incredible what some small talking does hello oh oh delivery yeah five minutes thank you always set a date people like working towards deadlines and we all know that time is money time is money money it's important that we all set a date and time to review the piece of work or at least give someone an estimated time to say hey I think I might finish this by this time etc etc however don't be afraid to ask when do you think we could have a look at that again having agreed upon date where we're working towards will hold each other accountable for one following up but also for delivering the work set a date learn to ask questions let's talk about questions not asking questions can be super damaging and can waste a lot of time imagine if it takes a week for you to find the answer when you could have just asked a simple question and it would have solved everything I've experienced so much of people not asking questions and then regretting it later saying that they understand but they really don't and it's just wasted so much time of back and forth but also understand that there's no such thing as a stupid question for example if there's an acronym that comes up in a meeting it's okay to not know it lots of different industries have different acronyms don't be afraid of just looking a little bit naive it's okay to play the naive card ask first clarify first and then act later when we're talking about questions answer questions don't just babble I used to work with a few people with that when you ask them a question a very direct one at that they just never answered it they will just be around the bush and I never got a firm yes no or clarification you need to learn to ask better questions keep your questions very direct short and concise so you get the best possible answer so then you can work on okay back to it dry the five wise wait before I show down let's talk about meetings these are the main points of how to run a productive meeting learn to facilitate a meeting don't invite too many people invite the people that are necessary to get productive discussions going get the decision-makers in the room so there's absolutely no confusion on what the next steps are ask for everybody's opinion do a round table don't interrupt come on time nobody wants to have their time wasted when you called the meeting and you're late you need to respect each other's time not only do you need to be on time but you also need to finish on time time box your conversations you don't want to run over likely some of us will have back-to-back meetings make sure there's a agenda for your meeting so things that need to be discussed are discussed a lot of times we ramble on and on about some other priorities we have which is nothing to do with this meeting keep it focused have a agenda I can't stress how important taking notes are you want to make sure your meeting is productive and useful but who's going to record what's been said and discussed and agreed on well you you have to have the habit of taking notes all the time in any situation any conversation you should be taking notes if things are written down it doesn't exist and it wasn't discussed please take notes please please take wait no not not here let's get out of the house something we don't really talk about too often is the importance of recognition when we're talking about good workplace etiquette it's a very good habit to build it's important to praise work and to recognize the people who have helped you and not take credit for the work that they've done call out good work in an email in a meeting and just say thank you I don't think we do that enough calling people out on the individual level to the team level to the company level one of my favorites is asking for feedback we don't really adopt a feedback first sort of model when it comes to workplace etiquette and I believe we should they can a feedback model to how you approach work could help you improve rapidly over time whether you're a designer or engineer or project manager or any sort of office worker asking for feedback can give you valuable insight on your performance and how you are and what's required of you so then you can be better there's always been times where we've walked out of a meeting and been a bit insecure of how we perform why don't we ask for feedback so then we can improve it's also important to understand that feedback doesn't just go one way it's both ways if your manager is not doing something that's really helping you to grow or listening correctly let them know that you would like to be coach in a certain way don't forget feedback is both ways not only do you want to ask for feedback but you also want to provide feedback feedback is so important to continuous learning to motivate and to improve how teams work together