I want to talk about a very important topic today. And that topic is “Meeting Lateness”.
Over the years, I have noticed that most of the meetings that I have been in have started late. The main reason for that is people joining in late.
Also, this issue has not showed any signs of getting better. Honestly I feel that it is getting worse.
I know this may seem like a silly thing to talk about. But there are published scientific researches that highlight the negative effects of people being late for scheduled meetings.
If you know me, you will know that I push myself to be on time for every meeting that I am a part of. And when I see the other participants coming in late, I find it disrespectful and rude.
What does the research say on this topic.
I have come across a few research studies on the topic of “Meeting Lateness” and given below are some of the highlights. You will see that none of these are desired outcomes.
- Individuals start having negative feelings towards the late comers and therefore this affects the meeting effectiveness.
- People start displaying negative behaviors, such as interrupting and side-talking, if a meeting starts late. It gets worse the later a meeting starts.
- Instead of focusing on the meeting agenda, such as brainstorming or problem solving, the meeting gets bogged down by the previously mentioned negative behaviors.
How I try to be on time for meetings.
I try to follow some basic principles to help me be on time for meetings.
- First and foremost, I respect other’s time. If I am the person responsible for someone just waiting, I would hate it because I know how that feels.
- I ensure not to schedule back to back meetings if the meeting venue is far apart.
- I will only join meetings that has an agenda and my attendance is mandatory. You should not participate in meetings where your presence is for “just-in-case-a-question-related-to-your-area-comes-up” reasons.
- I will not join meetings where the actual topic can be hashed out over a quick phone call or an email.
These are simple principles that I adhere to and I do believe that anyone can follow the same. So I request you to try these out.
By the way, I have read about how Larry Page had made it his primary objective to make every meeting at Google more productive when he took over as CEO in 2011. I particularly like the “50/25” rule that he had supposedly implemented.
The “50/25” rule states that you should keep hour-long meetings to 50 minutes and half an hour meetings to 25 minutes. So you get some time to prepare for the next meeting, take a bathroom break or walk to your next meeting location.
I wish every company would implement this rule. 🤞
What you should/shouldn’t do when you are late.
If you are late for some reason beyond your control, I request you to follow the below suggestions.
- You should apologize. And it is important that you be sincere in your apology.
- You should not give excuses where you are name-dropping someone senior in your organization.
A common excuse that I have seen is “I was with the CEO” or “I was with the Director”. These types of excuses indirectly make it seem to the others that they are less important or that the meeting is less important. Also this is especially bad if you are the one who set up the meeting in the first place! - You should not make small-talk or tell jokes after coming in late. Nobody wants more time to be wasted.
- If the others have started the meeting and are already deep into the discussion, you should not interrupt their flow. Honestly, if this happens, you were probably not needed for the meeting anyways. 😊
- You should not request the others to rehash the part of the meeting that you missed. It is your responsibility to glean whatever you can from the remainder of the meeting.
A final request.
Since meetings have become a huge part of every organization, I believe that there should be a top-down initiative to eliminate this issue of meeting lateness. But until that happens we all have to tackle this problem ourselves.
So let us all take a personal commitment to be on time for all our meetings. This will definitely make the workplace more productive and the environment more respectful. 👍
References
Allen, J. A., Nale Lehmann‐Willenbrock, & Rogelberg, S. G. (2018). Let’s get this meeting started: Meeting lateness and actual meeting outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(8), 1008-1021. doi:http://dx.doi.org.spjain.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/job.2276
Clark, P. (2018). A quest to banish lateness at meetings and claw back lost time. FT.Com, Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.spjain.idm.oclc.org/docview/2121703892?accountid=162730
Credits
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