On the other hand, I work with a company in Norwalk, CT whose people are never on time for a class. If a class is scheduled to start at 8:00, you can bet at 8:00 there will be no one there. The first time I did a program for the company (at a local college), I began to worry that I was in the wrong classroom. It was 15 minutes past start time and no one was there. The first person arrived soon thereafter and the class started 30 minutes late. I learned that meetings in their company usually start late as well.
I believe actual meeting start times are governed by the company culture. If the culture is such that meetings always start on time, people tend to be there and ready to go at the scheduled time. On the other hand, if meetings always start 10 minutes late, people tend to arrive 8 to 12 minutes late. Why? Because they know meetings start late. They know people who arrive on time are penalized waiting for others to show up. So most people hold back and use the normal delay time to do other things.
If you want a culture of promptness for your meetings, learn to shut the door and start on time, whether everyone is there or not. As people straggle in, don't be quick to stop and update them. Some groups have ground rules covering lateness. Some groups exclude people (shut out, lock the door) after a certain time. Some groups have a "penalty" for lateness (but only if everyone agrees).
I once did a two day seminar for salespeople from around the country. At every break they would start making their phone calls. Invariably many were late coming back to the seminar. Soon some participants suggested a fine of $1.00 for the first 5 minutes and $2.00 for each additional five minutes a person was late; the money to be donated to The Salvation Army (as it was the Christmas holiday season). While promptness did improve, we still collected a good sum of money for the charity.
About me: Before becoming a full time educator, my career experiences included being vice president of a consulting firm, vice president - finance of a publishing company, vice president - sales support services for a manufacturing company and vice president - operations for a distribution company. As a full time educator working principally in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts I am pleased to share my experiences and business philosophies with managers at all levels.
Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
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4 comments:
Good topic Dan -- a subject I am passionate about. What is your suggestion to correct lateness when senior management of the company are the ones that are consistently late and then are obliged with an update when they finally decide to arrive?
Good question. I'm traveling for the next few days, but will respond soon. Watch for additional comment here, or in a blog post addressed to this specific question.
Thinking about this further, I'll respond with a blog post, hopefully by April 17. It would be useful for me to know if senior managers called the meeting, were advisors to the meeting, were supposed to be running the meeting, or just dropped in to see what was being worked on.
The actual date of the blog post "My Boss is Late for Meetings" is April 15, 2009
Dan
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