Manners maketh better communications - but when did they go out of fashion?

When did good manners go out of fashion?

Some days it feels as though basic courtesy has quietly slipped off the agenda. Emails drift into the void. Calls go unanswered. “Thank you” seems to have become an optional extra.

Maybe I’m just getting old and (even more) grumpy.

But the idea I sometimes hear that everyone is simply “too busy” to be polite is not just a lazy excuse, it's a bad strategy .

Good manners cost nothing - but their absence is expensive

From a PR and strategic communications perspective, good manners aren’t a nice‑to‑have. They’re a necessity.

Good manners speak volumes. They signal respect, reliability and attention. All the very qualities organisations spend time and money trying to project.

When we ignore messages or fail to acknowledge people, we’re not saving time. We’re eroding trust.

And if we’re genuinely too busy to treat customers, clients and colleagues with basic decency, then we’re not high performers, we’re busy fools.

Because in every sector, from professional services to frontline delivery, relationships are the engine of reputation. And reputation is the engine of growth.

I'm not somebody who thinks good manners absolutely maketh the man or woman, but they cost nothing and their absence is expensive. They shape how people feel about working with us long before they judge the quality of our product or service.

In a world obsessed with speed and efficiency, courtesy remains one of the most powerful communications tools we have.

It’s far from old-fashioned. It’s a competitive advantage.