The curse of every meeting…
LATECOMERS!
Our options:
- We spend ages waiting for them. Waste of time
- Or we start without them, and then have to recap what they’ve missed. Waste of time
- Or we ignore them when they arrive, and hope they catch up. They might not
And, of course, every business has people who rock up late to meetings.
Are you one of these latecomers?
Most people don’t think they are. But someone must be!
And if you are one – please stop it! In fact, here’s how to always be on time from now on…
Before the meeting starts, you will either be:
- With someone else – in another meeting etc; or
- On your own
That’s it. There are no other options.
If you’re with someone else…
… say “I’m conscious of time” 5-10 minutes before you’re due at the next meeting.
When you say this, they’ll look at their watch (everyone does this!), which gives you time to say “I have a hard stop shortly. So let’s quickly agree our actions before I have to go”.
You then use the next 5-10 minutes to:
- Agree actions from this first meeting, and then
- Dial into your next meeting on time – in a calm and stress-free way!
If you’re on your own…
… NEVER do “just one more thing”!
At the start of my career, I always used to do this – “I’ve a meeting starting in two minutes. So I’ll send this quick email before I go.”
But this so-called ‘quick email’ always took longer than two minutes. So I was often late!
So I stopped doing “just one more thing”. And now I’m punctual.
Sound like you? If so, stop doing this one last thing. It isn’t worth it. Almost certainly, it will make you a dreaded LATECOMER … and nobody wants to be one of those!
So that’s it. Nice and simple:
- If you’re with someone else, say “I’m conscious of time” 5-10 minutes before the end time
- If you’re on your own, stop doing “just one more thing”
Imagine if the whole world did this. Every single meeting would start on time.
Action Point
Really obvious this week – turn up to every meeting today on time. Use the two techniques to ensure you do.
And, to see what to say during those meetings to ensure they go brilliantly – click here