I focus a lot on being on time. People I have collaborated with me in the past know this and often perceive this as an obsession. I will admit that at first glance, it looks like that. It is not an obsession, though. It represents a deeper mindset about valuing the time of others.
I am confident that you have experienced a situation where somebody is late for a meeting by 5-10 minutes, and when they come in, they say something like, “I am sorry for being late; I am in back-to-back meetings today” or “I am so sorry, the last meeting was really important and had to stay a bit longer.” This type of behaviour signals to everyone else that this individual’s time is more important than anyone else’s and we need to accept it, or that this person does not want to improve their timeliness and, therefore, others will suffer from it. Maybe you are that person. I’ve been that person as well at times, but rarely.
If you are managing a team or leading a large department or organisation, this becomes ever more important. Patty McCord (former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix) makes a great point on this as well (the link takes you directly to the relevant part of the video and lasts ~ 30 seconds):
I acknowledge that not everybody is wired to be on time for various reasons. In my professional collaborations, I have experienced that it is not enough to ‘ask’ people to be on time. Some people don’t know how. They can get much better once you coach them and provide them with actionable suggestions. Here is what I know has worked most times for most people:
- Explain to them that their time is not more important than someone else’s. If they fail to understand or accept this, then they will never be able to get there.
- Lead by example and be on time (back to Patty McCord’s lessons).
- If you are the meeting organiser, start wrapping it up 10 minutes before the meeting ends by summarising the main takeaways and concrete 1-3 next steps.
- If you are a meeting participant and suspect the meeting will go over, let the participants know you have a hard stop.
- If you are the kind of person who starts preparing at the last moment, imagine that all your meetings start 15-30 minutes earlier (especially when that involves commuting).
if you happen to be late, though, it happens to all of us; switch from the phrase “Sorry for being late” to “Thank you for waiting”.
