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Business Protocol:
Managing the Unwritten Rules

By: Robert F. Abbott

Article Summary: Make visitors to your workplace more welcome by guiding them through the business protocol, or unwritten rules, of your office. Provide information that helps them navigate an unfamiliar physical and cultural environment.

Imagine yourself - actually you've probably done this, so you don't need to imagine it - imagine yourself walking into a restaurant and wondering whether you should go directly to a table or if you should wait to be seated by a maitre d' or hostess.

Or, perhaps you did some Christmas shopping at a busy department store. You walked around, gathered up the products you wanted and went to a cash register with many people around it; then you wondered where the lineup started and ended.

You don't quite know the usual rules of behavior in these situations, and it's troubling. The people who study consumer psychology and behavior have a name for these rules: Protocols.

Protocols guide us in unfamiliar settings. For example, a restaurant helps create a protocol by posting a sign that says "Please Wait to be Seated." We help create the protocol, too, by obeying these rules. We give them legitimacy by not breaking them.

In office environments, it's generally agreed that you knock before entering a room with a closed door. If the door is wide open, you walk right in, and if it's partially open, you knock lightly, and step partway in.

As communicators, we can help the people we work with, our customers, and others by identifying situations where our business protocols might not be known. By posting information that helps them navigate unfamiliar areas, we reduce their stress and make them more disposed to work with us.

We can start with the signs we use. For example, I welcomed the introduction of those universal stick-figure signs that indicate washrooms for women and washrooms for men.

Why? Because I once stood outside two washrooms in a restaurant, one marked 'MA' and one marked 'PA.' It seemed obvious that 'MA' stood for 'MALE,' but I couldn't quite figure out 'PA.' Since I had to go in a hurry, though, I made a quick decision and went in the door marked 'MA.'

Afterward, as I left the washroom, I realized that 'MA' stood for mother and 'PA' stood for father ('Ma and Pa'), and felt a bit sheepish. Fortunately they were single-person washrooms so I didn't have a really embarrassing moment. But somebody had messed with a protocol (washrooms were normally marked 'Men' and 'Women', or 'Ladies' and 'Gentlemen') by being cute.

Business protocols and unwritten business rules are often more obvious to the uninitiated. Once we know the unwritten rules, we tend not to notice them. Which means the best way to uncover them is by asking an outsider.

Ask the salesperson who visits your office, for example, whether she knew what to do with her coat when she arrived. You can also ask very open-ended questions, such as "Did you have any trouble finding your way around here?" And then spell out the protocol in plain, simple terms.

You can also spot business protocols more easily while visiting someone else's workplace. When you were outside your own environment, you became acutely aware of the protocols, right? Take that sensitivity back to your workplace now, and walk through as if you were a visitor.

In summary, look for unwritten, and perhaps unspoken, rules that guide behavior in your workplace, and take steps that help visitors and others navigate them easily.

Next, go to the general business communication page, or visit our home page Communication Skills .

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Business Protocols: Managing the Unwritten Rules, Copyright Robert F. Abbott 2009