How To Be On Time To Meetings
There is some bad advice that has been circulating on social media. It’s advice designed to prevent people from over-apologizing and therefore sounding unconfident. This specific bad advice is that if you’re late to a meeting you shouldn’t say “I’m sorry for being late.” and instead say “Thank you for waiting.”
If your lateness caused others to wait, you need to sincerely apologize.
With your actions you have told this group of people that your time is more valuable than theirs and it’s not. It doesn’t matter who you are. It’s not. If this is happening regularly you should examine why and think of some strategies to prevent it from happening in the future.
Strategies to improve timeliness
Set expectations up front. If there is a high priority meeting that starts right after the current meeting, say something like “I’m going to need to drop 5 minutes early from this call in preparation for my next meeting.” If you prefer corporate-speak, you could say “I have a hard stop at 2:00” to make it clear that you can’t stay on if the meeting runs over.
Verbally acknowledge the time. If you’ve been in meetings with me, you know that I’ll often say something like “We have 5 minutes left, are we clear on what we’ve decided and what the next steps are?” as a cue that the meeting should be wrapping up. It has the added benefit of getting the group on the same page about what happened and what’s next.
Build in a time buffer in your schedule. Consider scheduling the mtgs that you host for 25 or 50 minutes instead of 30 or 60 minutes. It builds the schedule buffer you need without losing a full 30 minute time slot. Block the time immediately prior to an important meeting when you can. In addition to helping you to be on time, this will give you the chance to set your intentions and prepare for the meeting.
Have a technical back up plan. Not to throw shade on WebEx, but the amount of time it takes to log into a WebEx meeting has been a challenge. When you can, log into the meeting early. When you can’t, identify in advance what you will do if you’re not able to get into the meeting link. Is there a dial in option? or a mobile app version that is faster? Knowing in advance what you will do if you run into technical issues will ensure that they don’t make you late.
How to make judgement calls in managing time
There are a wide variety of meeting types and the importance of your attendance and participation will vary greatly. It is helpful to understand your role when you need to apply judgement calls in managing your time.
Priority 1: You are the facilitator, the decision maker, or otherwise a key participant. The meeting cannot begin without you.
Priority 2: You are a stakeholder invested in the topic and/or able to provide expertise. The meeting could start without you, but your involvement is important.
Priority 3: You are a general participant and likely to be listen-only. The meeting will start without you.
A special note for managers. Your presence or lack of presence is more important to your team than you think. This is a factor to consider when making judgement calls.
Here are some general ideas to consider:
If they have started without you don’t interrupt the flow of discussion to apologize.
If you joined a meting late, when you speak raise a point or question consider that it may have been covered before you joined and acknowledge your lateness at that time.
If you have an advance insight that a meeting will run over because the agenda is too ambitious for the time allotted or the participants are known to be verbose and prone to tangents, let the host of your next meeting know that you expect your meeting prior to run over and that they should start without you. This courtesy goes a long way.
It may be the right call to stay on a meeting that is running over to advance the work even though it will make you late to another meeting, depending on your role in that meeting.
Conclusion
Stuff happens, and sometimes that stuff is going to make you late. Your time is not more valuable than others. If your lateness makes people wait, then apologize to them and if it’s a chronic problem it’s your responsibility to fix it.
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