This chapter will explain the value of protocol in building network and relationships. This has to do with the symbolic value of protocol and its value in managing time.

The original word for protocol is protokollan which means glue, the glue that kept the sheets of paper in medieval books together. So protokollan was connecting all the different parts into a whole, the same as trust does between people as described in Chapter 1.12. Protocol is in other words a major vehicle to increase trust in relationships.

Nowadays, protocol is the term for the rules of diplomatic and social discourse between heads of state, heads of government, and authorities as laid out in the Treaties of Vienna (1814–15 and 1961–63). Protocol focuses on respect and the creation of a good and comfortable diplomatic climate as well as the minimization of conflict and disagreement. Respect and an acknowledgement of status and hierarchy play an important role.

Protocol is often confused with etiquette. Etiquette can be defined as the rules of politeness between people — social manners. Etiquette is different in every culture or subculture and changes as society changes. Examples of etiquette are opening doors for people, proper ways of greeting, pulling a chair out for a woman and so on, while protocol tends to focus much more on the status of a person or an organization rather than societal status.

This specific focus on status has to do with precedence. Precedence can generally be described as “the rules concerning priority, arrangement, or the creation of a concrete hierarchy of functionaries in public positions according to public interest.” The right of priority is based on the position that the functionaries occupy, whether in the judiciary, the military, or the civil service. The hierarchy of all public positions and official titles in a country is codified in an official order of precedence. Orders of precedence are installed and maintained by national governments and international organizations. Generally, the higher one's political mandate or the greater one's managerial responsibility, the higher one's position in the order of precedence.