Y’all Be Sweet!

In another career, I had to suffer through annual diversity classes. And they were usually pretty lame. A good friend of mine from South Alabama always grumbled, “If they’d just give people a card when they were first hired that said ‘Y’all be sweet and act like you got some sense’ we could avoid all this.”

He was probably right. But they don’t give us “Be Sweet” cards and we aren’t always sweet. I have no crystal ball, but a few weeks ago in a LinkedIn post, I predicted that we’d need refresher training on how to be sweet when we returned to the workplace. Little did I know that my VERY FIRST post-COVID class would be on civility, diversity, and professional etiquette. I recently delivered a workshop to a great group of folks. They were polite, welcoming, and attentive. They were already actively demonstrating the course material.  

So, in addition to ditching sweatpants and t-shirts, many of us will need to leave the inconsiderate behavior behind as we return to the workplace. We may be a little rusty but manners, civility, and etiquette are always in style. So if you’d like to prepare your employees for success and give them an etiquette refresher, email me to start a conversation. We’ll be glad to help.