A nice article on Corporate manners....just wanted to
share this with all of the users on the platform....
Sabira merchant is a busy woman. More than she would like
to be. India’s
first corporate trainer, Merchant has barely a free day left on her calendar.
She’s not a hotshot CEO but she can teach CEOs a thing or
two about conducting their business. With India Inc realising the importance of
corporate etiquettes in an increasingly global competitive environment, guru of
graces like Merchant are in big demand.
Merchant, who’s claim to fame is teaching social graces
and accent training to the Miss Indias, is fast finding corporate training
workshops as her mainstay. “We have just
woken up to the fact that soft skills are as important as hard skills to get an
edge in the current competitive environment,” she says.
Over half of India’s 3 mn graduates go to
finishing schools
Analysts estimate that more than half of India’s three
million graduates go to finishing schools, making it a growing, $60
million-a-year industry. And it’s not
just the corporates, there is demand even from the police force, excise
services and other government agencies.
“It’s becoming difficult to keep up,” she laments. Keeping
pace with growing demand is also Pria Warrick, executive director of the Pria
Warrick Finishing School. “We Indians have a predilection towards education ,
caring little for manners,” she points out.
“It’s always been a case of study hard, get good grades
and everything else will be taken care of.” Probably that, according to her,
explains the lack of social graces even among some of the highest-placed Indian
executives.
India has some of the world’s
best-educated engineers, business majors and technology wizards but often it’s
our lack of social polish and communication skills that puts us behind
competitors.
It goes beyond looks in corporate world
Finishing schools are trying to remedy that. That’s why
even companies like Infosys have woken up to it. They have built a Global
Education Center
in Mysore,
teaching more than 50,000 graduates leadership and corporate manners.
In her experience as an etiquette and grooming expert,
Warrick has seen a twenty-fold increase in the kind of soft skills companies
want. For her, it’s 15% technical skills and 85% business and social graces
that account for your professional growth. In fact, it goes beyond looks in the
corporate world.
“Companies need to address body language, posture,
handshake and the age-old Indian pitfall, body odour,” says Shiv Agrawal, CEO,
ABC Consultants. Finishing schools are
mushrooming today even in the bylanes of Bhopal
and the galis in Patiala,
addressing everything from voice and accents to dining etiquette to dressing up
basics.
Give yourself an extra edge
A primer on conversation wreckers such as asking a
person’s salary or weight is also in demand.
According to Warrick, the average Indian executive’s corporate wardrobe
is almost a cry of help.
“Pens in the pockets and shoes are the major disaster
areas,” she says. “So are colour combinations and decoding dress codes like
Friday dressing, power dressing, business casuals , etc.” Surprisingly, women are no better. From the
use of jewellery to wearing right saris, everything is a problem area.
In this global economy, we are not isolated anymore. In
short we are in the middle of the game and it’s best to play by the rules.
“It’s competitive. Why not give yourself an extra edge?”
she says.
What do you think about this article people and the whole
thing about corporate manners which is being neglected all the while.....
Sourse: Economic Times
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