Improving Your Business Etiquette and Protocol: How Michelle Tran’s Fleurite Can Help

A degree, a certain amount of experience and a willingness to learn are all essential elements to any woman’s path to a successful career. But, what’s equally important (and particularly challenging to Millennial women) is a skill that may be more nebulous: Observing appropriate business etiquette.

Etiquette, of course, is the set of unwritten rules about appropriate manners. It’s not just about the social niceties, like knowing the correct fork or spoon to use during a particular course during a formal dining experience. It’s about understanding social norms for business and professional situations — from how you dress for the office or networking event to your ease at observing the customs of clients from different cultures.

Acquiring the requisite understanding of etiquette for business situations gives you the kind of polish that makes you stand out. This is particularly important for Millennials, whose lacking in this area has been a focus at times for criticism.

A new book out this year by Rachel Isgar, PhD, “Next Generation Manners: Business Etiquette for Millennials,” is one that proposes to step in with a cure. One section, for example, emphasizes the necessity to leave devices behind to fully engage with others on a face-to-face basis. The book notes that “…raising the bar on your communications skills will cement a great personal impression.”

Those who prefer to take a more hands-on approach into the intricacies of business etiquette can seek the services of companies like Toronto’s Fleurite. Formed by executive, Michelle Tran, Fleurite helps business people at all levels acquire the knowledge, skills and behaviors that reflect a polished professional executive.

Michelle Tran launched her consultancy after taking intensive formal training, as well as earning certification from a London-based firm offering one of the leading training programs for international business etiquette and diplomatic and business protocols. Etiquette – and the ability to reflect good manners in any setting – is Tran’s passion, and she has infused that in services designed to help clients with every facet of what it takes to be a polished professional.

Her services start with a basic, hands-on grounding in accepted social behaviors for different cultures and situations, emphasizing key influences over business behaviors. Other soft skills that Tran’s program develops include networking, the art of the introduction and workplace behaviors that will improve one’s professional image, whatever the setting.

Fleurite also consults on style and wardrobe choices, focusing on the nuances of style and what is appropriate for different settings and occasions. This extends to executive style basics, from formal to business casual. Clients should then be able to plan a business wardrobe with an eye to successful style, something that depends on brand choice, color choice and proper fit.

Fleurite’s business etiquette services extend to the international stage, as well. Clients are coached on what it takes to communicate effectively across many cultures. This includes helping clients understand global business customs and terminology, along with strategies to help hone international conversational skills.