The other day I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office waiting to be called for my appointment.  Because mine was among the first appointments of the morning it allowed me the opportunity to watch the office come to life for the day. As staff members started their day they clustered around the front desk eagerly chattering away with the other staff members, excited to catch up with each other’s lives. 

What struck me about this was that not one of these employees greeted me or the few other customers present (yes, patients in the medical profession are customers) even though all of us were clearly seated within earshot of their conversation, not a ‘Good morning’, smile or even eye-contact from anyone in the bunch. It made me feel I was invisible or a part of the furniture, I had the impression I didn’t belong here at this time.  It was a rather uncomfortable sensation.

You could tell by observing that the mind-set or focus of the medical staff was to plug into the framework of the rest of the employees rather than engaging customers. Perhaps it was because they hadn’t started to bring patients back to the exam rooms that the clinic staff didn’t feel they were ‘on’ yet or more likely they just didn’t think about how what they were doing was affecting anyone else. But whatever the reason the resulting uneasy atmosphere was the same.

Let’s think of this another way, imagine you arrive a few minutes early for a party, you walk in and your hosts don’t acknowledge you, they just talk amongst themselves. They don’t welcome you, smile or talk to you at all even though you are standing right in the room. How would you feel? My guess is pretty awkward.  You would definitely think they were ungracious hosts with bad social skills.  It’s not any different in your business; if your staff is team-focused rather than customer-focused they are making your customers play the part of the uncomfortable guest.

Which brings us to the question – Is it your company’s job to teach social graces? The answer is maybe.  In years past how to conduct yourself in social situations was taught at home or even in the school system unfortunately this is not always the case in the modern world. Since correcting less than stellar manners isn’t directly under your authority it will take some finesse to turn things around.

• Teach business etiquette at staff meetings under the guise of good business practices to be used around customers.
• Set an example. Practice your best manners at all times, especially around those you would like to convert.
• Develop a manual for proper behavior at work. Get someone in HR to champion the project with you and perhaps add it into the employee handbook.
• Channel Miss (or Mr.) Manners and send out best practices via e-mail and encourage others to do the same.  Soon people will come to you for advice rather than waiting for an answer to come across their desk.