It's About Time We Discussed This
Being on time to meetings isn't a "nice to have." It's table stakes. Any company that embraces the culture of showing up late is risking a LOT of wasted productivity.
Yes. I'm going to complain.
What Being Late Does
To the people waiting, being late sends a message: "you're not as important as this other thing I'm doing. Also, I don't value your time."
Being late means that you now likely cascade that experience through to other meetings, thus adding to the inefficiencies felt throughout even more people (presuming you work in a company, in this example).
It also takes at least one resource (times however many more people you're making wait for you) out of active work mode so they can passively sit and wait for you to show up.
It Says A Lot About Your Organization Skills
Late people tend to be late because they can't watch a clock and have a discussion at the same time. It's also because they can't control the flow of a conversation/meeting such that they can guide people to end on time.
For instance, when I'm meeting with people, I watch the clock the whole time. As we get closer to the end, I'll add phrases before my primary conversation, such as, "I know we're coming to the end of the meeting time, so I'll ask this question briefly."
The Easier Way to Deal With This
Here we go: don't schedule meetings back to back.
Whoa. Did your head just explode? It's amazing how many people think a calendar is purely a matter of open spaces. When I go to schedule someone for a meeting and I see their calendar full to the guts, I'm floored. How can you even work? (Yes, I know some people block off time to be more preemptive in their protection of time.)
In any given day, I try to have no more than 5 meetings. Sure, some days get nuts. But I find that the moment I pile on meetings, I am risking overlaps and problems, and thus, I'll seem like I'm not on time.
What About When We're Not Talking About Calendars and Zooms?
I am mister two-hours-early to the airport. I try to be early to social events. (Embarrassingly so. Nerdy-so.) I like being early because it means I can be ready.
No, I don't think "fashionably late" is cool. It just delays getting started on "the thing," whatever that ends up being.
This is Quite Cultural, I Realize
Some cultures have very loose connections to the concept of time. I was once scheduled to present on a stage in Mexico city at 11am. I finally went on at 7pm. It was fascinating.
Another time, I was visiting a bunch of marketing leaders in California who represented the "action sports" category. I learned that people might not come to my presentation "if the surf was good." As an uptight east coast person, I thought this answer was insanity. I'd flown thousands of miles. The reply I got was, "Hey, work to live, man."
Which brings me back to the point at the start of this conversation - okay, rant. If you want to build a culture of effective work and collaboration, then absolutely build into the culture a rule for being on time.
My Own Personal Rules on Lateness
Here's what I do:
1. If I even suspect I'm going to be late to a meeting, I offer to reschedule, or I at least communicate that I'll be late as soon as I know. (Silence is death.)
2. If YOU are late to a meeting with me, you get 5 minutes, then I message you and recommend rescheduling. I use the time for something else right away.
3. If you're late more than twice with me, I think twice about accepting the meeting in the first place.
I'll tell you why I don't feel bad about these kinds of rules: the most "important" people in the world somehow find a way to be on time. My CEO is either on time to meetings with me, or on the rare occasion where he's going to spill over, he communicates it out and we rework the time. I've had meetings with billionaires (two different ones) and they were both on time. I don't take "busy" as a reason to be late.
(My CEO is often the first or second person on any group meeting.)
People Start to Know Your Stance on Lateness
One last detail: I find that if you stick to your rules, people will learn to adapt, or they won't. My rule #3 handles the latter. I've had plenty of meetings start right on time with the other person saying, "I know you hate starting late."
I reply, "I value your time, and I want to give you every minute you scheduled with me."
I don't hate starting late. I take your being late as an indication that you don't value my time.
There. I know *I* feel better. You?
Chris...
Owner, Team 33 Productions ~~ You May Already Be On Team 33!!!
1yIf you're on time you're late, and if you're late, you're fired.
My Dad was always late and he said his mother would say to him, "You're going to be late to your own funeral." So he wrote it into his will. We had to start the service, then a little while later we rolled the casket in. The Funeral home wasn't too happy because they thought it reflected poorly on their service, but his brother explained the reason at the pulpit and everyone had a good laugh.
Intuitive Mentor | Tarot Reader | Book Shepherd | Poet
1yHmmm. I put myself in the category of being on time most of the time. When I know things are bit flexible (personal meeting (e.g. going for a walk at a certain time)), I'm on time or always letting people know as far ahead of time as possible if I'm running later for some reason and how much. My biggest challenge is that I love conversations with interesting people, so I can run over easily. This doesn't affect other meetings because I keep track, but if I don't have another appointment, I can end up disrespecting the other person's time (and my own) by letting the conversation go long. This is the thing I need to work on most. Thanks so much for the insights, Chris!
Founder of Outside of the Circle. Change Strategist. I help people create change to have the freedom to live, work, and do business on their own terms.
1yMy son's baseball coach used to say to the kids, "if you are on time, you are late." As someone who values timeliness I loved that he taught them that you get there at least 10 mins early to be ready to start training on time to respect the training and respect your teammates and the limited time they had together each week. The same applies to work life. For me, it is about both respect and also wanting my days to feel paced and not rushed. Which is why, like you, I get to places very early and like how that feels.
Marketing Director | Illustrator | Creative Technologist
1yThank you. I am also punctual and have ingrained punctuality into my daughters. I used to work with a clever account director who had a workaround for meeting tardiness. We worked in a 10-floor building with slow elevators so back to back meetings were already problematic. This AD would schedule all meetings to start at 10 after the hour. He said that way no one is late, and we don't waste people's time listening to 10 minutes of office gossip which always seems to happen in the beginning of any meeting. He would keep the meetings to a strict 40 minutes maximum, ending at 10 before the next hour. Gave us time to get to the next meeting, and prevented what he called, "meeting filler" where people would just rehash the same points over and over because the hour wasn't up.