Most people have made it to the top through hard work, strategic moves, knowledge, learning from experience and a little bit of luck.

With all of this, the simple things sometimes are taken for granted and you can come across as being quite rude and unprofessional with behaviour unexpected of a senior manager, executive or role model for junior staff.

Talking during a speech/ presentation

This happens in two ways: at the head table as a guest speaker or in the audience. In either situation, you should be silent when anyone else is talking. When seated at a head table all eyes tend to be focused in your direction and thus your behaviour would and should be reflective of the kind of persona you wish to convey to your audience.

The signal you send is one of disinterest and this will only spread to the audience. For many of us, presentations are rehearsed and repeated so the information is never new but, on the actual day, you should act as if it is the first time you hear these great facts and always seem interested and support your fellow presenters.

We all know what it is like to be seated for a tediously long presentation but adults should act their age and not fidget and squirm like a teenager with an attention disorder. We should avoid looking at our watch, scratching, gazing at the ceiling or our fingernails. We cannot avoid the occasional smirk or exchange of view on a point made by presenters, but full-on conversation during someone’s speech is really completely discourteous. Most people hate presenting and to be faced with disinterested faces or outright rudeness does not help; it is also distracting to those who wish to hear the speaker to have someone in full view constantly murmuring.

Politely decline any small talk or banter during a speech or presentation. It is also wise when you are on a panel to listen carefully to the speakers preceding you; they may make points on which you wish to comment and which you certainly do not want to repeat. It is very embarrassing when you make your audience aware that you were less than attentive to previous presentations.

Reading e-mail while in a meeting or on the telephone

The ability to access e-mail readily via a Blackberry has created certain business monsters. People seem no longer able to choose appropriate times for reading e-mails as any time seems appropriate. When meeting with someone, give them your undivided attention; this means holding calls and avoiding reading of e-mails from your computer or phone. If you are unable to resist the temptation to take every call that comes through, that sends the message that your business is running you rather than the other way around.

Taking someone’s

time for granted

Do not assume that your time is more valuable than the other person’s even if your rank suggests this.

Whether you are going to meet someone or they are coming to meet you, be on time and ready. The most efficient manager is one who is able to schedule appointments appropriately and has the ability to keep them even if it means wrapping up a prior meeting and rescheduling another in order to keep the day running as it should. If you know you will be late, call as soon as possible.

You will never leave a good impression if you are a person who is constantly either forgetting your meetings, cancelling them at the very last minute, arriving very late without apology or forever rescheduling appointments.

Thank you malfunction

A “thank you” goes a long way. It seems that the more people you have working for you the more you take them and their work for granted. Is it that the numbers become too large to remember to be grateful? Try not to reach this point and make a note in your diary to do this especially after a large project completion or exercise.

A handwritten thank you will always be more valued than an e-mail but the latter is better than nothing at all.

Amanda Jardine is managing director

of Image Matters.

ajardine@imagemattersltd.com

or at 747-6528. www.imagemattersltd.com