"Unfaithfulness in the keeping of an appointment is an act of clear dishonesty. You may as well borrow a person's money as his time."
Horace Mann
As one who sells consulting services to others I am used to clients being late for our meetings and calls . Not sure but I think there is some federal law that says they must; the same law that says consultants like me have to be on time.
So I adjust but what about the rest of you who just work together? Is everyone always on time or as I suspect often late? What is the cost in terms of inefficiency and lost production?
What works and what doesn't in terms of minimizing the problem?
So I adjust but what about the rest of you who just work together? Is everyone always on time or as I suspect often late? What is the cost in terms of inefficiency and lost production?
What works and what doesn't in terms of minimizing the problem?
In my experience, corporate culture greatly impacts and in many cases makes tardiness acceptable and expected.
ReplyDeleteAs a member of an organizational development team at my last employer, we experimented with setting meeting times and tracking arrival rates and preparedness. When we had open discussions about our findings with the group, we found that employees had actually altered their behavior based on what the culture indicated as acceptable by their upper management. Once we correlated this tardiness to corporate expense, expectations changed very quickly and initiatives were underway!
"we experimented with setting meeting times and tracking arrival rates and preparedness. When we had open discussions about our findings with the group, we found that employees had actually altered their behavior based on what the culture indicated as acceptable"
ReplyDeleteExcellent point Mel. It's not enough to be on time; you need to be prepared and if that is the culture, it will be adapted.