 Assalamu alaikum. My name is Engineer Dr. Aksar Shabbir. I am an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Lahore College for Women University. Earlier, I was heading the Research, Innovation and Commercialization Department at Lahore College for Women University and I had led the establishment of Khatija Tulkubra Business Incubation Centre. Prior to that, I earned my PhD on an Erasmus Mundus Fellowship jointly from Germany and Belgium. My work as well as my personal life, my personal travels and my professional activities have taken me to 30 plus countries of the world. Where I was fortunate enough that during various conferences, professional activities, in my academic and research work, I was able to observe the office decorum, the professional decorum and professional etiquette almost what I may say throughout the world. Therefore, I realized that a certain propriety, a certain etiquette, can take us very far, not only individually, but it is also necessary for the proper working, for the efficient working of the organization. So now today, we are going to look at the do's and do not's of proper office etiquette, which is not only crucial for us, but also crucial for the organization where we work. First and foremost, don't be late. Being late is simply disrespectful. It gives a message that we do not care and we do not respect the time, the work and the energies of others. I realize that culturally, we tend to be late for weddings. We tend to be late for parties. If somebody tells us to arrive at their place at 8, we automatically somehow culturally think that the time must be 9 and we have just been told 8. Firstly, I advise very humbly that you know, try to be punctual, try to fulfill your commitments at a personal level. However, when it comes to your office or when it comes to professional commitments, treat the time religiously. Be on time and just don't be on time when you're reporting to a superior. In fact, be on time for meetings, for commitments, for classes where your superiors are not involved or perhaps when you are the leader, being on time at such an occasion will set across the right tone and it will add to your own image as well as, as I said earlier, the environment and working of the entire organization. Secondly, dress appropriately. Dress for success. As humans, we tend to be, we tend to be, you know, impressionists. We judge people or, you know, more than judging people, our first impression of somebody is how they have dressed up, how they look. Therefore, dress appropriately for the occasion. As we say, do in Rome as the Roman does. Therefore, given the culture of your organization, the requirement of your, of your institution, dress accordingly. By this, I mean that there may not be a generic rule for dressing. Dressing for success actually means that you're appropriately dressed for the occasion. If your organization requires you to dress casually, please dress casually. Do not be overdressed. However, if there is a meeting, if there is a conference presentation or if your organization requires you in general to be dressed very properly or be dressed very formally, do follow the tone of your organization. And similarly, dressing for success in a professional environment as well as in a personal environment, do it according to the occasion. If you dress, you need to know the difference between dressing for a party or dressing for a meeting or dressing for classroom teaching. Recognize that difference and dress in a way that it adds to your personality. It adds to your goals and ambition rather than bringing you down. Sometimes, I see and observe that scientists or those, you know, those who are very good researchers or academics tend to play down the importance of dressing right. While I fully understand that your work is in, is in your intellect or is in the scientific work that you're doing, however, it is also essential to spend time to dress appropriately for the occasion or for the activity that you're undertaking. Let's look at a few general tips or recommendations for dressing for success. Firstly, just wear professional and conservative clothing. This is a rule of thumb across the word. In a professional setup, in an office setup, dress conservatively. As I said earlier, recognize the difference between dressing for a party, between dressing for a wedding, dressing for a beach, dressing for a mountain, and dressing for an office. And when it comes to your office, dress conservatively. Secondly, this goes for both men as well as for women. Keep fragrances minimal. You do not want to enter a meeting or you do not want to enter a conference and want your scent to reach each and every corner of the room. You shouldn't be smelly or you shouldn't be, let's say, on a very hot day which we usually experience here in Pakistan. You similarly do not want to enter a room smelling foul. However, keep the good fragrances minimal as well. Secondly, keep the jewellery in a professional network very minimal as well. You cannot be wearing what let's say you wore on your wedding day or you cannot be wearing what you would wear to a social gathering at a friend's place to a meeting or to your classroom. Do wear jewellery as it tends to add to your personality and to your poise. But keep it very minimal. Keep it very professional. Thirdly and most importantly, dressing well or dressing for success does not mean that it has to be expensive dressing. What it means and what is most important is that your dress is clean. It is pressed. It is well-fitted. Do not wear ill-fitted clothes. This is very, very important because what happens in your middle age is that at times you know you're carrying clothes which are let's say a decade old which is perfectly fine. But if they're not I mean to say that there's nothing wrong in wearing clothes which are which have been with you for over a decade but as long as they're fitting you properly. Do not wear clothes which are ill-fitted. Now this goes on both sides. Nothing something which is oversized and also nothing something which is undersized. Clean clothes, pressed clothes, iron clothes and well-fitted clothes. They can make your personality, they can add a lot to your personality and contribute immensely to your success. Thirdly, it's your personal hygiene. Bade regularly. Stay clean and you know and if you're clean naturally your hair are clean. You know keep your hair clean, keep them in keep them conservative in color as well as in style. By that I mean going into the specifics that if you're a professional especially a middle-aged professional and if you're working in a university environment and you may be very tempted let's say to have a very funky hair color but it is recommended that do not do so. Keep your hair color conservative, keep your keep your hair styling conservative in your day-to-day professional life. Further choose accessories that complement you know given your own body shape, given your own body size, given your complexion by this I am not you know judging or saying that a certain body shape size or complexion is in any way superior to another. Each one of us is unique. Each body, each face, each skin color is unique and special and therefore you have to recognize that which accessories suit you the most and they add to your looks, to your body image, to your facial beauty you know choose those accessories wisely. Choose the colors which add to you the most. As they say in general I may not be a fashion expert given that I'm an academic and a researcher but it's say that the most fashionable thing is the one which looks good on you. So instead of following the fashion which exists blindly, pick up accessories, pick up the fashion which adds to you the most which makes you look even better even a better version of your own self. Lastly and most importantly remember that less is more you know you do in order to impress someone or in order to make an impression whether that is in a classroom or it is in a meeting or it is in a conference or it is when appearing for a new job or a job interview you know the less it is the more is your personality speaking for itself. So less is always more do not over dress, do not over accessorize, do not over overtly make your hair or do your makeup in order to make an impression. Make it lean, make it simple, make it clean, make it slick and there you know you there's nothing stopping you. You're dressed for success. Further, respect other people's personal space. Now this is this implies to everybody in your professional life. Your superiors, your co-workers as well as your as well as your subordinates and possibly students realize that if there is a table next to your table and and there are things lying on it or their files being placed on it they're not inviting you to come and have a look at them you know respect people's privacy. Do not touch things of your co-workers or subordinates or students without their permission without their consent. It may be very tempting but do not go and have a peep at their files, their books, their notes without their consent without their permission. As we say that treat others the way you want them to treat you you know and therefore the way I think me or you would not prefer that our colleagues are coming and looking into our let's say our our academic work, our research work, our files, our our little notes similarly do not do this to others. Now respecting people's personal space goes a step further than this. This is this is basic rule number one that physically do not go and intrude into other people's drawers, tables, lockers also when you're respecting other people's personal space do not ask them personal questions. I'll be very explicit here with a few examples with a few specifics with my sole intention being you know to you know to let's say to to guide those who may have a confusion with regards to what qualifies as a personal question, what qualifies as personal space and what is okay. For instance until and unless someone you know is is really in your in your in your close knit of friends or close knit of people do not ask questions like have you been married if not why not if yes how long do you have children if yes how many if somebody responds let's say they have two children why do if somebody does not have children well why not what was wrong why didn't you why didn't you plan so all these questions as to you know where somebody's parents live what they do what their siblings do what their spouse let's say does how their personal relationship with their personal family are how much their family earning is for instance you know what their children are doing their life choices as to you know whether they're married or they're not married or they're or they have children or they do not have children these are all personal questions do not ask them respect people's privacy respect their space this this you know there's a long plethora of examples that I can give here but these are just some of these specifics which can give you an idea as to what people's personal space is where we which we shouldn't infringe this brings me to another step which is that also do not offer free advice on people's personal lives or personal space when it is not asked or when it is not seeked just going into let's say one one one specific example and I think being a you know for instance if a certain colleague upon your inquiry responded that they're not married do not you know feel obliged to you know give marriage counseling or or what you think is the right thing to do in life do not offer that free advice until and unless someone has asked you or seeked your guidance and advice so when we say that as part of office decorum as part of office etiquette you know respect other people's personal space it is both physical by that it is mean as I said earlier do not touch or check into their things and it is both you know non-physical which means that do not intrude into their lives into their even into their professional decisions I must add because I may have given an impression that that you know respecting personal space means that you know you're not asking personal questions it also includes somehow professional questions if they're not pertaining to you for instance which conference are you planning to go why are you planning to go what stage are you in what exactly at what specific stage your research is you know of course you can ask these questions it in in in a in a professional networking setup or where you know you're collaborating with someone but where you aren't and you can you know sense that the other person is not comfortable even with these professional questions kindly do not do so moving on this is the day and time of social media therefore it is very important that you use social media in a correct and right way an example of this could be that there are days each one of us have them when work life can be very frustrating when you can have difficult and hard days at work social media however is not the forum where you go and went out do not gossip do not complain do not write negative things about your co-workers about your superiors about your organization and even even your subordinates your students your collaborators on social media social media is not the place to do so in fact under certain conditions venting out on social media or saying negative things on social media could you know be a sort of bullying or harassment which you may be extending to your co-workers therefore use social media in a right way secondly of course it is your right and you're allowed to use social media for sharing your personal life as well as you know what with your friends with your family however the social media which is accessible to your professional network to your office colleagues you know use it to increase your portfolio use it to share your expertise use it to share your research use it to share your achievements however always remember that when doing so do it in a positive note do it in a positive light in order to share a positive news or share or share an achievement it does not have to come at the cost of belittling someone do not disparage or belittle anyone while while using your social media secondly as you know as I said that do not attack or comment or you know went out on social media be very mindful that you use appropriate language when using social media you know do not use any foul language do not use you know slurs or slangs which can be inappropriate in any sense while using your social media lastly and very importantly it is a trend that I've seen and and it is happening that people tend to photograph professional commitments or you know make selfies of their professional activities a lot it is okay you may do so there also you know when you're clicking a photo with a certain group of people always ask permission and then if you want to post photos or details about any co-worker about any collaborator about your superior about your subordinates on your social media it is important that you seek consent not everybody wants their face on a social media platform and that also off or that also on somebody else's platform therefore if you're posting a photograph or a video which involves those other than you do seek consent before doing so in your while it is also very crucial in your personal life nevertheless in your professional life when you meet and greet your co-workers your subordinates your superiors offer warm and polite greetings greet people smile when you're talking to people make eye contact avoiding an eye contact when talking to someone gives a bad reflection of your personality you know so when you're making a conversation with someone I understand all of us have a lot going on we're very busy we're very occupied but when you're meeting and greeting someone you know make an eye contact extend a warm handshake and and and make it seem that even when greeting even when just asking how they're doing show that you're genuinely interested that that 30 seconds or that one minute or maybe that five minutes which you're giving to the other person you're genuinely giving that attention to that other person do not be distracted when extending your greeting over here it is also important that I may add that sometimes of course we're humans you know there's sometimes we may be irked or we may be irritated by a certain colleague by a certain subordinate by even our superior at times and and you know we may have this this urge of avoiding them and not greeting them you have to remember that in a professional network irrespective of how of you know of the fact that you may be may have ill feelings at that point in time do not let that you know affect your basic courtesy of greeting them and of offering a smile no matter whatever your work conditions are always greet be the first one to offer those greetings and smile good etiquette can go a very long way so let's just look at some of some of the the you know the important things which can which can again as I said firstly add to you and if you are you know well poised well groomed it can you know contribute to your organization it can contribute to those who are around you in your personal life firstly keep your workspace clean if I go in specific examples you know let's say if you're somehow eating a snack on your table you know pick up the wrapper throw it in the bin you know if you're leaving a room close the lights this is even a national priority you know let's or you know or I would say a global priority where we're battling with time it change so we want to conserve energy when you're leaving a room when you're leaving a meeting close the lights even if you are a superior in in in your institution even if you're a high-level executive switching off lights keeping your workspace clean keeping it organized not throwing any litter here and there in fact at a time you know if there is some litter here and there and if you can contribute towards picking that and putting it where it belongs you the higher you are in a hierarchy the better example you will be setting forth so keep your desks keep your workplace organized keep them clean remove clutter remove garbage keep them neat and clean secondly when replying generic emails in an organization just do not hit reply all until and unless it is not necessary for your message to be shared with everybody in the organization or your reply to be shared with a certain set of number of people do not hit reply all people these days receive a large number of emails at times people are struggling with with reading all those emails and responding to all those emails so do not contribute towards superfluous emails if a certain message is meant for a certain individual a certain groups of individual make sure that you're only sending it to them do not as a habit press the button reply all and send superfluous emails to people in your organization further during your meetings during classroom sessions mute your cell phones mute your laptops i realize that we all you know at times accidentally you know we can be in a situation where in a meeting we have music coming out as a ringtone or we can have music or or or you know those message prompts coming out of a laptop if it happens accidentally of course it's understandable but try to you know develop this as a rule of thumb that in meetings in classroom sessions even in shared office space because at times not all of us have our own individual private offices we are sharing office space so in shared office space make sure that your cell phones and your laptops and your computers are mute you do not want to disturb the decorum you do not want to distract your coworkers by by the message prompts or by by let's say random music or random noise coming out of your gadgets further you know though it may seem very obvious reply emails i realize that we're very very busy but as a rule of thumb try to reply the emails that you receive on a certain calendar date by the end of that day and and this keeps a lot of working smooth it prevents a lot of frustration building within organization it also keeps your organization simple because if you couldn't get the job which was meant to be completed finished in a day well guess what next day you just you're just doubling your work so reply emails and and just as a rule of thumb and as a recommendation try to reply the emails that you have received in a calendar date on that particular day on that particular day some people also have this habit that they tend to spend you know the first half an hour or first 45 minutes of the workday in just replying various emails i at times do not recommend this because usually when we start a day that is when our energy is the highest and that's the time which should be spent doing the most productive things that you have planned and if you spend that just replying emails out of which it is possible that 50 percent of them are just very superfluous or very routine emails so you know i think you somewhere lose the best part of your day over there a time that i recommend which is a good time for replying all emails is the time immediately after lunch because after lunch for an hour or so your energy is not the maximum and that's where you know you can do a routine thing which should be done every day such as replying the emails or emails could be you know i recommend that you reply them towards the later half of the day but you know it is advisable that you reply them on the same calendar date on which you have received them further as i started by saying that be on time for meetings for commitments for assignments it is also very very important that you end those meetings on time now this somehow applies to to the seniors and to the executives more than it applies to those who are usually the attendees of a meeting than being the conveners of the meeting uh that you know when you say that a certain meeting is likely to last for 40 minutes and let us say it is going to start at 10 a.m okay it is understandable given the contingency that it should end by 1045 or worse come worse maximum let's say by 11 a.m you know because people have scheduled other commitments according to your closing or according to your finish time do not use your power or your position as the lead of an organization or as a senior executive to make people sit through a meeting and you know and then forcefully in a way you know make them push their uh their you know next commitments further do not do that whatever you have planned for a meeting uh put your you know go through your agendas smartly in a way that you end those meetings on time because then that is very important for all those individuals involved in a meeting you know to to timely report to their next commitments and for other things in the organization to work smoothly further take your phone conversations in private now as I said earlier not all of us have our own individual offices or our own individual private space at a workplace so in such a case if you get a phone call whether professional whether personal move to a private corner or move to a private space where you can take that phone call do not disturb your co-workers or those around you with that phone call um further moving on very simple basic rule of the thumb if the doors or office room doors are closed knock before you enter you know we we think that we know this rule of course we always we do not barge into people we do knock but at times just in a hurry or just when we think that we have a very frank or very comfortable or cordial with somebody we can you know let go of this rule please do not under no circumstances do not let go of this rule if you find a closed door or even if it's an open door knock before you can enter by doing this you will prevent yourself and your colleague or a superior or a subordinate from possibly any embarrassing situation lastly give meetings all your attention not just meetings as I said earlier give your greetings give your conversations give your interactions all of your attention it is understandable these days you know a lot of things are just being run on our mobile device a lot of work related things work related messaging are is being run on our mobile devices however try to the best of your abilities that while you're in a meeting while you're in a classroom while you are in any interaction whether at a conference or or at any any other networking event make sure that you know you're at your if you're physically there you're also mentally there you're attentive you're not on your phone sending random texts or even if they're useful texts you have to schedule a time for them if you're if you're physically present in a meeting or in a conference be there mentally also make eye contact listen attentively respond attentively do not be distracted by your gadgets I will end by again saying that treat others the way you want to be treated now this is you know a thing which is accepted all over the world that you know treat others the way you would like them to treat you and over there it is important that you appreciate offer genuine praise to your students to your subordinates to your co-workers to your seniors just because you want to appreciate do not sound funny or sycophantic you know by by that I mean that you may be telling your superior that what they have dressed on a certain day they probably look better than any celebrity around the globe or or you know it's just the way they said something has never been said or heard before do not make a praise just for the sake of offering it appreciate offer praise but make sure that it is genuine and do not limit it only to those who are superior to you offer genuine praise and appreciation to your colleagues to your co-workers to your subordinates to your students and especially to those colleagues who somewhere subconsciously you may be considering as your competitors if they have done something worth appreciate appreciation offer genuine appreciation secondly acknowledge if somebody extends out a kindness to you or if somebody contributes to you acknowledge their effort appreciate it acknowledge it be grateful offer gratitude thirdly do not you know give negative criticism or do not give feedback which is unnecessary or which can which can be disparaging or belittling if asked or if required or if you feel you know it is essential give constructive and honest feedback do not give feedback in order to bring down somebody or in order to you know to belittle someone do not do that it is of course in an institution in order to improve things one has to at times be critical one has to criticize we cannot always be all appreciative or all you know full of all praise or full of all gratitude at times we need to be honest we need to give feedback we need to criticize but do not do it in a negative way do not do it in a way that you're actually hurting or affecting somebody's self-respect make your feedback and make your criticism very constructive honest constructive lastly in a professional setup if i even suggest this in in your personal lives and personal setup also but especially in your professional setup do not gossip it can ruin your image in a way that nothing else can then one tends to think oh okay i've gossiped with these three people the next four wouldn't know well you know guess what it doesn't work that way if you as a habit gossip if you gossip about two people here gossip out another two people here very soon that that is your image that is what becomes of you and and let alone that it adds to this negativity or it leads to a toxic work environment anyway that of course is also a very you know huge downside of just gossiping but the worst thing that it does is that it it it you know fails your personality it puts you in a light that very soon people stop at times you know they stop believing what you say or they start looking at you as somebody who's just you know who's just gossiping or saying saying negative dirty things about others or about the system so in especially especially in a professional setup or in a professional you know atmosphere do not gossip i understand that at times you know you're frustrated and you know you have been wronged and you want to went out or at times you just critical about something which you needed to be critical about it is okay do do that but do it in a professional way not with an undertone of gossip do not gossip that's just more than you know a requirement of and a good office decorum and good office etiquette it is i think my suggestion to you that for your own sake do not gossip lastly i would you know suggest and recommend that in order to grow because when we grow as individuals naturally as a result of it our organizations grow our families grow our personal lives grow so in order for you to grow and for your organization to grow try to focus on the positives try to focus on development and growth related agendas try to keep the negatives and the distractions to the bare minimum the time we spend in our professional lives the time that we spend in our offices at times is larger or bigger than the times that we're even spending in our personal lives because as we know that life can very broadly be divided into two three three parts let's say one is what we give just to the essentials the time that we spend sleeping eating and so on you know the personal quadrant the time that we're spending with our families our our our spouse or our children and then thirdly the professional quadrant the time that we're actually spending in our offices or in our professional environment and if you ever calculate a large chunk of our life is spent in our professional life so in order to you know be successful in that professional life or in order to be respected and be well-liked because as humans it is innate we want to be well-liked we want to be respected respected even the worst kind of people want to be liked by others so if you want to be liked if you want to be respected if you want to be successful observe you know these basic rules basic guidelines of office decorum and etiquette thank you