The “Invisible” Etiquette Mistakes

In most companies, especially those with an international structure, training is focused on technical skills, performance goals, and hard skills.However, there is an equally crucial area for a team’s reputation and efficiency that often remains in the background: the soft skills linked to Social Etiquette, Business Etiquette, and Cross-Cultural Etiquette.

The problem is that mistakes in these areas are almost never detected by traditional evaluation systems, including Human Resources. They are perceived as “small details” or mere personality traits, but in reality, they have concrete consequences on how the company is perceived both internally and externally.They usually come to light only when it’s too late: a lost client, a missed collaboration, a demotivated team, or a dissatisfied supplier.

A real and frequent example: your company decides to attend an event that combines a technical presentation with a formal dinner, in a prestigious setting. The invitation is given to a collaborator who handles that specific area of expertise.

Questions:

• How well does the company know his/her relational skills?

• Does he/she have a solid general culture that allows them to socialise with ease?

• Have you ever observed how he/she behaves in a formal context?

  
  

The truth is that many companies are not fully aware of their employees’ social and behavioural skills, especially when they are called upon to represent the organisation on their own in high-level contexts.

It is no surprise, then, that one of the questions I am most often asked by professionals in all sectors is: “Madam, what should we talk about during a cocktail or dinner when representing our company?”

The reality is that without a solid general culture and specific training, even the most technically brilliant professionals risk feeling out of place in these contexts. Conversation cannot be limited to the “technical” or work-related topic. It must flow naturally across current events, culture, travel curiosities, shared interests. And this is where the difficulties arise.

As an Etiquette trainer, I can provide a set of practical tools and suggest universal topics to discuss (and others to avoid). Yet without a minimum of preparation – that is, a knowledge of the rules of Social and Business Etiquette – it becomes difficult to ensure a confident and truly representative presence at a formal event.

This is why the real question should not just be “What should we talk about?”, but rather:“Have we equipped our people with the tools to represent the company at its best outside the office as well?”

Etiquette is not a detail. It is the invisible foundation on which trust, credibility, and success are built.

EDDA