You’ve had this happen many times. You rushed to the scheduled 10:00 AM meeting, abandoning a project you hated to leave, tossing your unfinished cup of coffee in the trash basket as you left your office. Walking rapidly, you arrived a few minutes ahead of time, so you could say hello to your colleagues and browse the agenda.
But here you are now nine minutes later, and the meeting hasn’t started. The chairperson announces: “We’ll wait a little while. Bob is on his way here, after running an errand in town. Marjorie is still gathering some information we need. And Ned will join us as soon as his committee adjourns. We’ll be under way soon, I hope.”
This tells you several things. Your frantic rush to get here was pointless. The chairperson doesn’t worry about the time he has wasted for those who, with you, are sitting idle now. Plus, you need not appear on time at future meetings. So frustrating. Has anyone ever solved this perennial tardiness?
Joe did. Chairing the organization’s monthly finance committee meeting, he noticed this pattern of tardiness and delayed starts that frittered away time and discouraged punctual members. So Joe got his message across convincingly, yet without chastising anybody or calling for discussion of the problem. How?
Joe started the meeting at the appointed time. Not at five minutes after, or ten, or twelve. At 10:00 AM he looked at the five people sitting around the table, and gave only a fleeting silent thought to the other five who were latecomers. He didn’t mention them, not once. He said simply: “Let’s get started. Ted, please read the minutes from our last meeting.”
As the absent five members drifted in–Andrew being the latest at twenty minutes after the hour–they observed that the group was well under way. Basic logic told them the meeting had started on time. “Guess that’s how Joe is going to operate this group,” they surmised. The following month, all ten members sat ready to start several minutes before Joe launched the meeting with his characteristic “Let’s get started.”
If you are in charge of meetings plagued by habitual late arrivals, try Joe’s method. I know it works. I was there. . . on time.
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