Now What?

Joy posted a comment to the April 16 post: "My Boss is Late to Meetings." She said "In my organization, it is indeed senior management that has set an established corporate culture of "meetings start when we arrive, not when they are called for". I do not report directly to any of them. This behavior has been going on for 10+ years. It diminishes the value of every person who is prompt for meetings, and also punishes those prompt people for properly managing their schedules. It has made me not want to waste my time with meetings. Any thoughts?"


My response: Hi Joy --As discussed in the April 16 post, rank has its privilege. Thus, unless you have a very strong rapport with people at the very top of the organization, there's not much you (by yourself) can do to change the culture created by senior managers. But there are things you can do:

1. Make sure you set a good example by starting and stopping your meetings on time.

2. If you have a good rapport with your boss and peers, see if you can encourage them to start and stop their meetings on time.

3. If your attendance in a meeting called by senior managers (or anyone else for that matter) is not required, see if you can be excused (in a politically correct way of course).

4. When your attendance is required and you think the meeting will start late, bring some in-between time work with you. Click here to see the "in-Between Time" post of January 30, 2009.

In any case, as painful as it may be, make sure you are on-time to every meeting. That sends a message that, as a leader, you will always model the appropriate behavior. And, by bringing in-between-time work with you, you demonstrate your ability to manage your time and to make the best of any situation presented to you.

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