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Teaching the importance of etiquette

May 18, 2012 Denise Romano

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Meet the Henry Higgins of Bay Ridge, Phillipa Morris, founder of Etiquette Training International, a finishing school program.

I came from a background in a South American country that did not emphasize social protocol. Life was pretty laid back, but life brought me to North America and I had to learn how to relate to others to be successful, said Morrish, who is a graduate of the Ophelia DeVore School of Charm in New York and Minding Manners, located in London.

Morrish has been teaching her program to seniors at Fontbonne Hall Academy for the past nine years. She also volunteers to teach women who are incarcerated in the Brooklyn Detention Facility and chronic truants enrolled in the District Attorneys Restart Program in Brownsville.

Not only are they at the two ends of Brooklyn, both literally and socially, but I realize at the middle, the core needs are the same, Morrish said. I teach professionals, as well as teens they both have some of the same modules in common because we all need to know how to meet and greet others whether you are 16 or 60.

Morrishs curriculum teaches basic social protocol, such as where the guest of honor should be seated at a table, proper place settings and some cultural customs. Etiquette focuses more on manners, poise and gracious behavior whereas social protocol goes into the art of the rules of the game knowing the correct thing to do at the correct time, she said.

Morrishs first module is always on handshakes and introductions. I realized the rules governing meeting and greeting others are the same as the rules governing gravity: the lesser graduates towards the greater, she explained. If someone has an introduction to make between and older and younger person, the older person will represent the greaterand will be introduced first.

She said that being familiar with social nuances is crucial in todays world. Traditionally a lot of emphasis has been made on maintaining an academic education, and social etiquette has been left at home to parents. However, with entry of women in the workforce, less time has been available for instilling a social education at home. The results have been apparent, Morrish said. We also need to learn rules of protocol if we are going to be successful in a corporate setting.

Morrish appears regularly on BCAT programs and has an etiquette book on the horizon.

Social protocol is important because we never know where life will take us. I believe that success is when opportunity meets preparation, she said. The world is really a global villagewith countries depending on one another, we need to be acquainted to do more successful business.