Open concept offices, elaborate employee break rooms, and a more relaxed “start-up” vibe may be all the rage, but a strong company culture shouldn’t come at the cost of your office etiquette.
Different than stricter company policies and bylaws, work etiquette can refer to a general awareness of how you interact with your colleagues at the office. You likely won’t find a list documented in your company’s HR manual. Instead, these unwritten rules of the workplace are usually more common-sense guidelines.
But guidelines can be difficult to enforce. And just because something seems like common sense to you, doesn’t mean your colleagues will feel the same way.
So, when it comes to your company’s overall sense of professionalism, what’s the best way to share your expectations with your team and ensure employees abide by your office’s workplace etiquette?
We asked some of today’s business leaders to share their success stories of establishing and enforcing office etiquette within their companies. Of course, each person – whether a CEO or manager – had different philosophies and ideas of what’s most important. But there were three definite similarities when it came to the creation and sharing of these policies.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how you can establish and enforce the etiquette rules that are right for your office:
Great! Now you have actionable steps that you can take to create your own policies and put them into place. But what does that actually look like?
Read on to find out what business leaders from three very different companies had to say on the policies that help keep their offices aligned and in check.
Regardless of your role, you can learn from the leaders of these three companies to discover effective and practical ways to create a thriving and professional work environment.
First, we protect and respect our time. We do this by keeping a shared calendar. We schedule everything on our calendar, from our own events to collaborative events. This gives everyone the chance to check out each other’s schedule before scheduling things with them. We like to establish a workplace culture where everyone’s time is valuable. We don’t have pointless meetings, and we schedule everything while still being able to make time for each other. We do have meetings, and they are once a week at the same time each week. Consistency is key here because then people remember each week, and nothing is a surprise.
Second, we work on a capacity basis. We accomplish this by letting each other know our capacity each week so the team knows who is available to take on small tasks for each other. We lean on each other for things, which is something that doesn’t seem to happen in a lot of work environments. The reason we lean on each other for things is so that no one ever gets overwhelmed. Of course, everyone still has their own unique role in the company, but when someone needs help or is feeling like they are above capacity, they know they can always ask the team for help. This helps my team feel more relaxed so they can be as productive as possible and provide value to each other.
Lastly, we promote team building. We accomplish this in many different ways. For example, we have team lunch on Fridays. We might go out to eat or we might just get it delivered to the office. Either way, it’s a great time to reflect on the work week and commence a great weekend ahead! Another thing we do to encourage team building is taking walks a few times a week. This gives us a chance to clear our minds as well as get away from the computers to get some fresh air. We have even done office yoga before, which is nice as well! No matter what the activity, it’s good to spend time together as a team - even if it’s an outing once a month, like taking the afternoon to be out on the town together. Whatever the case, team building is one of the most important parts of having good office etiquette. Not only do we enjoy spending this time together, but we always come back to the office feeling more productive afterwards.”
“First, we protect and respect our time.”
Each team member is responsible for making sure the policies of our company are carried out. If you see another team member altering policy, it’s your responsibility to correct him or her or to let the employer or manager know so, he or she can correct the violator. If this doesn’t resolve the problem, submit a written report to the practice manager. This is not tattling. Tattling is a form of gossip that spreads news of no importance. On the other hand, reporting a policy violation is an employee’s duty. Policies that aren’t carried out or that are altered are detrimental to the team. Everyone must work for the good and progression of the team.
Constant communication and alignment in vision and mission are necessary for us to be respectful and not be the ‘mean girls’ who pull each other down. We empower others; it is a must that we ourselves are empowered within the company.”
“Everyone must work for the good and progression of the team.”
Well, if your workforce numbers five or more people, let me tell you right now that you're going to have at least one tuna-sandwich-for-lunch-every-day gal, a liberally-applies-Axe-body-spray-at-their-desk guy, or a I-think-your-politics-just-suck dude to contend with.
So, our basic rules for office etiquette are:
These are a few basics, and you also do have to trust employees to be professional enough to not need micromanaging in all respects, but having set rules to refer back to can be helpful for if and when that approach fails!”
“Trust employees to be professional enough to not need micromanaging in all respects.”
It’s possible that once you’ve defined your etiquette guidelines and shared them with your team, employees may start shying away from doing, well, almost anything at all!
To counteract this effect without taking away from your new set of office expectations, here are four fun ways you and your colleagues can continue to build and strengthen your working relationships.
For more information about how team building activities can benefit your group, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.