By J. Mason
Online Career Tips Editor
Punctuality in the workplace is a highly valued soft skill. Many people forget about the importance of being on time for work, interviews, and meetings. When you have a meeting request on your calendar for 9am, you are expected to be in a chair and ready to listen starting at that time…not five minutes after. Whether it’s an all-staff meeting, a 1:1 with your boss, or a weekly meeting with your team, be respectful and be on time.
As we discussed last week we’re trying to break bad habits in the workplace in 2013. If you are still working on email avoidance, keep up the solid work! It is a sign of respect when you value someone’s time spent on correspondence, and it is received the same when you’re late for a meeting. Have you noticed people poking fun at your tardiness, or perhaps someone makes a snide remark when you slink in late? Don’t take this too lightly. While it may be grating to hear this kind of flack, take it as a warning. You want to be a productive member of the meeting, and it’s distracting to the presenter when you walk in late. This habit may also make you a target to get picked on. If you’re late it may also be assumed that you are unprepared. It’s about perception, so you need to make sure you’re giving off the right signals to your leadership team and co-workers. So, how do you break off from this type of bad office habit?
Set reminders in your calendar
Most offices use Outlook for their scheduling and calendars. There are many features within Outlook that will help you stay on top of tasks, emails, and meetings. When you accept a meeting request you can specify whether you want an alert 15, 10, or 5 minutes before the start. My preference is a 15 minute warning. This way I have a few minutes to wrap up what I’m working on, and a few minutes to prepare my materials (if I need to bring any) for the meeting.
Check your schedule first thing each day
This may seem tedious, but if you start doing it for a week it will become habitual after a while. Take five minutes and review your schedule for the day. Do you see any meetings that warrant prep time? Make sure to look for conflicts in your calendar. Sometimes a factor in being late is parallel events that run over. While this may be out of your control, it is up to you to manage your time wisely.
Go with a three strikes policy
Getting called into your manager’s office to talk about your tardiness may be a bit embarrassing, so save yourself by being prepared. Make note of the times you were late to meetings, recently, if it is more than a couple you need to put yourself in the negative. Cut off extraneous activities that may be contributing to your delinquency as a form of punishment. This may seem silly, but as an adult you can’t rely on others to tell you when you’re messing something up.
Stop the excuses and take action
Apologies will only last so long, after a while people will start to tune them out. If you’re consistently late to a specific co-workers meetings then stop saying you’re sorry and make it up to them. Maybe the timing just doesn’t work. Offer an alternative meeting time with just the two of you to make up for it. Or, stop by their desk for meeting notes and your ideas. You can also ask that your name be taken off the meeting request if you’re not contributing on a regular basis. No need to take this personally. If your company is results driven then they’ll understand, and will be looking for active participants, not silent and tardy observers.
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