1. Key Personal Skills Flashcards
What are the 12 golden rules to professional etiquette?
- Dress appropriately
- Take pride in your appearance
- Be punctual
- Don’t gossip, either in person or on social network sites
- Ask before you borrow
- Always say Please, Thank You, You’re Welcome and I’m Sorry
- Don’t Co distantly interrupt people
- Refrain from being too loud
- If you are unwell, stay at home and follow notification procedures
- Be aware of others need for privacy
- Use appropriate language
- Remember the 4 Bs - Be Kind, Be Considerate, Be Courteous and Be Respectful
What can negativity lead to?
- Overusing negative phrases, such as “I cannot” and “I will not”
- Negative body language
- A negative tone of voice
- Showing a visible lack of respect for others
- Being late
- Avoiding responsibility
What things can impact attention to detail?
- Tiredness (take breaks and schedule activities for times of the day more productive)
- Messy or disorganised surroundings (tidy workspace)
- Distractions: technology (switch off phone, close emails, etc)
- Distractions: other people (closing door, etc)
- Emotional state
Why is it important to own up and acknowledge mistakes?
- It will enable the mistake to be corrected
- You will earn the respect of your colleagues, as someone who is not afraid to take ownership
- You will not spend time worrying that someone will uncover your mistake
How can you show that you are reliable colleague?
- Attend and be punctual at meetings or other events
- Complete work by the required deadline, or if there are barriers to achieving this, communicate with others about delays or help required.
- Complete work to the required standard
What are the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010?
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race
- Religion and belief
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
Why is diversity within the legal profession important?
- A broader understanding of differences will improve the quality of the service we offer to clients
- Diverse skills, experience and approaches of team members can make a creative and inclusive environment
- Raise awareness around cultural customs or preferences which might otherwise be missed
What is a stereotype and preconceived idea?
Stereotype is a fixed and over-generalised way of viewing a specific group of type of person.
A preconceived idea - or prejudice - is when an opinion is formed without any substantial truth or evidence.
Prejudice which causes unfair treatment is called discrimination, which, if related to a protected characteristic, is unlawful.
What is the Eisenhower Matrix?
Important activity: have an outcome that leads to the achievement of your goals, whether these are professional or personal.
Urgent activity: immediate attention, and are often associated with the achievement of someone else’s goal.
- Not urgent and not important - activities are just a distraction and should be avoided.
- Urgent but not important - ask yourself whether these tasks can be rescheduled, or whether you can delegate
- Important but not urgent - make sure you have plenty of time to do these tasks properly whilst they are not urgent
- Important and urgent - either not foreseen or left to the last minute.
What are five tips to manage time better?
- Avoid person distractions - personal emails or calls that are disrupting your day.
- Create clear goals - clear, realistic goals and break these into smaller, more manageable targets.
- Be ruthless and do not always say yes - prioritise tasks by urgency and importance. Do not agree to jobs that will stretch beyond capacity
- Delegate
- Waiting time can be doing time
What are the key characteristics about healthy working relationships?
Trust: creates a powerful bond which will enable you to work and communicate more effectively
Respect: valuing others’ ideas and input and being valued in return
Awareness: being accountable for your words and actions, includes seeing impact of behaviour and having ability to change your style
Welcoming diversity: being able to working confidently and comfortably with people who have different working styles, personalities, opinions and diversity
Openness: ability to be honest with others and well as having ability to manage openness from other people.
What does building a rapport mean?
Rapport requires you to build a connection with another person.
It is a two-way connection, so you cannot force it by yourself.
- Find common ground - asking polite questions about a person’s interest or situation can help you find common ground
- Be empathic - understanding how others see things
- Mirroring - imitate the speech patterns and non-verbal behaviours of others
- Reciprocity - you might share information with another, and in response, they share their own.
What are the four basic goals to networking?
- To improve your own visibility
- To develop greater knowledge, insight and awareness
- To develop contacts who may be helpful now, or in the future
- To become a contact for some no day else who may find your knowledge, expertise and skills useful.
