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About Alice Thomas-Roberts
Course Outline
This course, Business Etiquette for
Professionals has nine more
lessons covering nine weeks.
It is practical,
interactive, and impactful.
What you learn here will remain with
you for the rest of your lives.
Participants will get the opportunity
during lessons to consider scenarios
and to choose actions they would take.
Additionally, after each lesson, you'll
have assignments to do some
of what you have discussed
and to report the next week.
In our second lesson, which I have titled
Essential Business Communication, we'll
start off by talking about the
invaluable impact of first impressions.
I'm sure you've heard a lot about first
impressions,
but do you know that being conscious of
the impressions we make on people even
before we introduce ourselves to them
is a skill we need to keep in mind?
Yes, because people internally draw
conclusions of us even
before we speak to them.
That's why I say, begin to speak to people
first, once you have the opportunity.
Set out to make people
feel comfortable with you.
Being aware of others around you and their
needs is a business etiquette skill.
Now, there are times when we have to
introduce ourselves without
another person introducing us.
There is the proper way to introduce
ourselves, and there are principles by
which we are guided when we
introduce someone to another person.
In this course, Business Etiquette for
Professionals, we'll discuss those
principles and provide participants with
opportunities to practice introducing
themselves as well as others.
Business Etiquette is about how you behave
in real life situations, and this course
will have you involved in a lot of real
life activities so that when you face
similar situations, you know exactly what
you're supposed to do and
you'll do it with confidence.
In our third lesson, communication via
phone and the Internet, we will talk about
using the office phone as
well, as a professional.
We'll talk about ensuring you impress
the customer or client on the other end.
Many prospective clients to make decisions
based on how they're spoken to by the
first person who answers the phone, how
long they have to wait, how many times
they have been transferred and in
general, how the system works.
We'll also discuss some do's and don'ts of
using your own cell phone,
which we call cell phone etiquette.
We'll talk about appropriate tone and
intonation, both when speaking and writing
so that you won't give the wrong
impressions, and as a result, you
won't have to do "damage control".
Often we have to do damage control because
we forget how we should
be speaking to people.
We'll also discuss what we expected of the
professional in terms of sending and
receiving business emails and
using social media for business.
In our fourth lesson, Non-verbal
Communication Skills, we will consider
body language not just other people's own,
but in particular our own.
So often we're not aware of what our body
is saying, and sometimes we don't care.
But as professionals we
need to start caring.
We will also study acceptable and
unacceptable gestures and the body
language of different cultures, because
they may mean something different
to what they mean in our culture.
After this lesson, when you're interacting
with a customer or client from a different
culture, you will understand what
you should and should not do.
Our fifth lesson is titled Principles of
Good Time Management and
Business Meeting Etiquette.
Managing our time is one of the most
important skills of business etiquette.
You can't be a professional and be always
late, either at meetings or with your
duties, projects, and assigned work.
Anyone having issues with time management
will appreciate this lesson
and as I'll share with you, several
principles of good time management.
We'll also discuss issues with which we
struggle, which prevent us from meeting
our obligations and deadlines, and
we'll agree on ways to handle them.
Also in this lesson, we'll talk about
attending business meetings, because so
many of us struggle with
arriving for meetings on time.
We'll also discuss how to achieve a
successful meeting and what are the
obligations of the chairman and attendees.
In our sixth lesson, working with a Team,
one of my favorite subjects, we'll discuss
what makes a good team and
consider examples of good teams.
We'll look at scenarios and get involved
in exercises which help us to think of
team spirit, and putting our teams first.
And of course, our assignment will be
about building and working with
a team towards a specific goal.
How we manage our relationships are
important to professionalism and lesson
seven professional relationships and
boundaries will take us into
managing our relationships.
We will talk about the courtesies required
to keep relationships
at the professional level, about working
with different people and different
personalities, and about giving your
word and maintaining your honor.
In
this lesson, we'll also talk about
something that is difficult for many
people, keeping issues of
personal and work lives separate.
As with previous lessons, there will be an
assigned activity on which participants
will have to report at the next
class. Our eight lesson is titled
Working with Difficult People.
Now this is an important module of any
business etiquette course,
because this is where our challenge lies.
This is when people will
see who we really are.
We
can be most professional when we're
interacting with those who are pleasant
and easy to relate to.
But when the challenging ones show up, too
many professionals are unable
to rise above the situation.
In this lesson, we must study how to
manage our own emotions and look at
the concept of emotional intelligence.
Learning to listen and being tactful is
important when dealing with difficult
people, but we have to learn the skill of
listening and how to go
about tactful communication.
Lesson nine, Standards of Appearance and
Dress Codes will also
be an important lesson in this course
because how we present ourselves at work
related occasions and at social functions
is the first impression people will have
of us. Our
understanding of commonly used dress codes
is important
and so too is our understanding of body
markings and piercings, what they mean
and what they say about our presentation.
In this lesson, we'll also discuss
standards of grooming for men
and for women, in addition to jewelry,
accessories and shoes for business.
Our final lesson, Lesson ten, is
one that would be a favorite with many,
representing your office
at social functions.
This is where we'll talk about socializing
yet still being professional, still
applying your business etiquette skills,
representing your company
or your business image.
We'll talk about what is required of you
as a guest, and what is required
of you, if you are the host.
We'll go into detail on attending a
cocktail reception and the etiquette
expected; and we're also go into detail on
attending working luncheons and dinners,
from the time you arrive through
your dining etiquette skills to
your departure.
We'll also talk about dining in different
cultures and some dos and don'ts.
Lesson Topics
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