UCS1363: Professional English

Personal
Skills
Lecture 5

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Personal Skills
• Skills that individual possess that is utilised or used in a professional
setting.
• For example:

○ A doctor is able to communicate clearly and calmly regarding

the issues a patient has been diagnosed.
• These skills are also known as Business Etiquette and there are
multiple aspects of etiquette that we will look into.

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What is Etiquette?

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Etiquette
• Etiquette can be simply understood as polite behaviours.
Behaviours refer to actions that we do either unto ourselves or to
others.
• Business Etiquette is a set of behaviours that is accepted or required
in a profession.

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Business Etiquette

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Business Etiquette
This etiquette will be broken down to;
1. Greeting Etiquette
2. Office Etiquette
3. Meeting Etiquette
4. Email Etiquette
5. Online Etiquette
6. Telephone Etiquette

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1. Greeting Etiquette
• Greetings and introductions are really important in the
professional setting.
Do
Stand up with proper posture
Make eye-contact
Web-to-web handshake
Say full name and something about
yourself
Introduce according to importance
or authority
Prioritise clients or customers
Don’t
Sit down or stand up with improper
posture
Avoid eye-contact
Make improper handshakes; bone-
crushing, ‘wet fish’, finger-grabbing.
Etc.
Use hypocorism; nicknames, pet
names, name calling
Introduce according to favouritism
Disrespect clients or customers
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 2. Office Etiquette
• Office etiquette covers everything that is observable in the
office like;
i. Attire
• Wearing formal attire or uniform is a normal
standard for any profession.
• Abiding by this standard is an etiquette.
ii. Punctuality
• Adhering to the schedule or timetable provided in
the prodession is a must.
• Being punctual to work, meetings, and so on.
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2. Office Etiquette (cont.)

iii. Language
• Spoken words must abide to the formality or
informality of the workplace situation.
• Adaptability in using both forms and ability of
choosing the best words to use is required.
iv. Body language
• Body language is alwas being communicated as it
can be observed almost at all times.
• Paying attention to body language is required in
order to maintain a good manners; good etiquette.
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 2. Office Etiquette (cont.)

v. Respect
• Showing respect is a must to ensure we are able to
work together and can understand different
perspectives of different people.
vi. Relativity
• Keeping things related to the workplace is essential. As
the workplace is a place to focus; striving to fulfil tasks
and adhere the organisation’s goals.
• Avoiding talking or working on matters outside of the
specific work shows good etiquette to co-workers and
employers.
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Cubicles or Locker Rooms
• Do not have loud phone conversations, especially
personal matters.
• Do not wear strong perfume or cologne.
• Do not eat smelly food.
• Do not have a conversation too close to someone’s
cubicle.
• Do not go into someone’s cubicle when they are on
the phone.

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Facilities
• Put things back where they belong.
• Indicate a re-order if you use the last of
anything.
• Refill the paper tray in the copier if you empty it.

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Socialising
• Learn everyone’s names and use them.
• Accept and initiate lunch invitation.
• Say ‘Thank you’ or ‘Sorry’ once or twice in a
conversation.
• Recognize other’s accomplishments.
• Have tidbits on your desk.
• Have notecards for certain occurrences.

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3. Meeting Etiquette
• Meetings are a common event in any profession. During this
event, most of the standard and common etiquettes can be
applied.
Do Don’t
Listen actively to what the speakers
Talk constantly during the meeting
have to say
Check or look at the phone
Take notes to concentrate and
regularly while someone is talking
process the information better
or presenting
Read the agenda beforehand Be late to the meeting
Write down questions that occur to
Interrupt the speaker as they are
you during meeting and make sure
talking or presenting
to ask them at the appropriate time

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 4. Email Etiquette
• Email is the main formal communication tool at any profession.
Understanding some of the etiquettes in sending or receiving
email is required as well.
• Five rules of email etiquette:
i. Take a closer look before sending the email
ii. Let people know their email has been received
iii. Use acroyms sparingly
iv. Be mindful when using all caps
v. Compress your attachements

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5. Online Etiquette
• Online interaction is becoming more and more of the
everyday norm for communication at work. Social media is
now an extension of each organization thus online etiquette
is much more needed.
• Some of the rules for online etiquette:
i. Be respectful and forgiving
ii. Be aware of strong language, all caps and punctuations
iii. Be careful with humor and sarcasm
iv. Cites your sources
v. Grammar and spelling matters
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 6. Telephone Etiquette
• Another daily mean of communication is the telephone. It
requires a deeper understanding of etiquettes in order to be
effective as compared to the rest.
• Some highlights are:
i. Sit up straight, breathe, and smile
ii. Have pen and paper ready
iii. Answer on the third ring
iv. Reach and respond to conversation
v. Use formal language
vi. Reflect and clarify
vii. End the call positively 17
Standard of Procedure
(SOP)

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Standard of Procedure (SOP)
• In any organisation, they have set in the place something known as
Standard of Procedure or SOP.
• This is a set of actions or behaviours that workers must follow in order to
ensure standard that reflects the company itself.
• Under etiquette, we have SOPs that must be followed as it involves
external assets (clients, customers, contractors, etc.)
• Essentially, these SOPs are the rules and regulations of the company ,
and abiding to these set of actions and behaviours, reflects the business
etiquette of the company. 19
Conclusion
Personal Skills

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Conclusion
1 2

Business Etiquettes are in general, In every professional situation, like in

behavior or manner that is polite a workplace, any action that you want
towards other people. to take, you have to think about your
surrounding and think about being
polite to them.

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Thank you!

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