Starting Late Sucks
Let me guess … starting late is an everyday occurrence experienced by your team—and by most of the civilized world.
9:57 AM
Chris walks by the conference room with its low table, comfy chairs, and cool pictures to see whether anyone has arrived for the project meeting. Nope, lights are still off. Plenty of time to put together his report. It's the same report as last time, anyway.
Lauren checks his e-mail to look for a cancellation notice for the project meeting. Rebecca walks into the conference room—the first one—and turns on the lights.
10:00 AM
Announced starting time for the meeting.
John texts Nancy. “Hey, this meeting still on?” She responds, “I think so. Going?”
10:02 AM
Deb, the host, arrives, and as she gets out the bagels and opens the cream cheese, she greets Rebecca.
10:03 AM
Mary pokes her head in to grab a bagel with a quick schmear of cream cheese. Out she goes, saying she doesn't have her notes, but she did get the lone blueberry bagel before Gene did.
10:05 AM
Jeff, Heather, and Gene arrive and head toward the bagels, laughing as they watch a YouTube clip on Gene's iPhone.
Rebecca sighs. She looks at her watch, eagerly anticipating the return to her office to finish her “real job” for the day.
10:06 AM
Chris, with his newly created report, strolls in the door. A few others follow.
10:07 AM
Small talk about last night's game can be heard around the bagel table.
10:10 AM
Deb eventually says, “Everyone, we're getting started.” Low and behold—the meeting actually starts.
10:15 AM
Door opens. “I was stuck on a conference call,” says George as he hurries in. “What did I miss?”
You've Been There!
Tell me this scenario isn't an everyday, every hour occurrence. The ever-present challenge of late meetings is one of my favorite challenges to talk about—not because I'm opposed to starting a meeting at 10 minutes past the hour or because of the social interaction and side talk. In fact, I strongly support the camaraderie that's critical to form and foster before, during, and after meetings. But I've always been among those who arrived on time and didn't have time to waste. I was prepared to walk out of the conference room and simply return when the meeting actually started.
Let me explain why this challenge has become one of my favorites.
Years ago, I was seated in a now-infamous meeting in our company's Cincinnati office. I was the guy assigned to build the sales team for my employer. I had only two people on my existing team and needed to circle the wagons to set our upcoming goals for the year.
I set an important team meeting that was scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM. I had rented a conference room and was setting it up by 9:45. I was ready to go by 9:50 and 9:55 and 9:58 and 9:59. In that final minute, I had a decision to make—one that possibly changed my path in life. What if I set the expectations for this team meeting going forward? What if I started the meeting on time—all by myself?
Well, that's exactly what I did. I started talking, all by myself. This was before the days of Bluetooth. (Since then, people seemingly talking to themselves has become a common occurrence.) Rather, this took place in the age of people saying, “Some weird man is talking to nobody in the conference room.”
About 10:06, Linda and her cohort Sally strolled into the conference room with their coffee. They took notice of me but certainly didn't worry about my presence. At least not until I pointed to their agendas laid out before them. I whispered, “We're on item three.” That's when the jaw dropping occurred.
“We thought you were on a conference call!? Who are you talking to?” Linda said.
I didn't respond. I simply continued with the meeting.
Yeah, you can call me crazy, but guess what happened for the rest of the meetings I held with that team? People showed up on time. First, because they knew I'd start with or without them, and second, as the team grew, so did this story. They were afraid to find out what I'd do next!
The amount of time wasted by meetings not starting and ending on time would be astronomical if we could physically calculate it. Or maybe we can. You can go to www.BoringMeetingsSuck.com to download a simple tool that helps you calculate the actual cost of your meetings. Check out some apps available for your smart phone and calculate the loss in real time—perhaps during a boring meeting while planning your strategy to exit.
While the meeting host can sometimes be blamed for not starting on time, the larger problem typically lies with attendees. They routinely show up late because they expect the meeting won't formally start until 10 minutes past the hour. Why waste time being there at the designated starting time, right? Well, if the Bore No More! movement catches on in your office, you'll feel differently when your meeting host starts playing by different rules. Here are some of my most-often-used concepts that effectively get people to show up on time and get meetings started as planned.
Facilitator SRDs
- Just start it! If you want to take the direct path, start on time no matter what! Even if the president of the company is late, start anyway. He or she will respect the fact that you made good use of that time. And no offense to your meeting, but the prez just might not show up at all.
- The 11:01 principle. Schedule your meetings at an odd time, such as 11:01 or 11:31 instead of 11:00 or 11:30. It will cause people to look twice at the invitation and wonder why you'd set up something different like this. Whenever you do this, make sure you start on that minute exactly—no exceptions.
Note on first two SRDs: These work best when you're starting a new series of meetings or when you have a new team. If you try this with an existing group or on going meetings, I highly suggest using it in conjunction with the “social time” and “pass the pad” directives that follow.
If you start a new group using this philosophy, you've struck gold!
- Social time. As mentioned, meetings are definitely a time for social interaction among team members who might not have an opportunity to interact regularly. How can you foster that team growth? Give them social time! Literally schedule it in. In the meeting invitation, note the start time as 10:50 AM for bagels, conversation, and networking, with the meeting proper beginning at 11:01 AM sharp. Again, don't let up on this; if you say you'll start at 11:01, do it, no matter what. If people are late, “pass the pad” will take care of that. You'll quickly make many people happy to come to your meetings, and you allow the Rebecca's of the world to show up on time and get in and get out.
- Pass the pad. Here's an incentive to be on time: Request that notes be taken by the last person to arrive. The notes, action items, and summary must be completed by that person and posted/shared within one hour of the meeting to a server or shared platform. Likely, you'll have that favorite yellow legal pad shifted from one person to another as latecomers arrive and previous note takers heave a sigh of relief. Bonus: In addition to the incentive to arrive on time, this allows the last person who comes in to read what he or she missed.
- Close the meeting room doors at the exact start time of the meeting.
- Give the work to those who don't show up. This is my friend Bob's favorite SRD. He says the most important church service he attends regularly is on the second Sunday in June. A major holiday? No. The second Sunday in June is when Sunday school teachers are “elected” for the upcoming year. Those who don't show, get elected.
- Contribute to the coffee or bagel fund. If you show up late, you add a dollar to the jar (unless you informed the meeting host ahead of time that you'd be late).
- Always arrive early. What a concept! People don't need to see you set up your laptop and display device. Have it ready when they come in, and you'll set the tone of the meeting.
Attendee SRDs
- If the facilitator doesn't start on time or doesn't even show up on time, start the meeting on your own with those in attendance—especially if it's a regular meeting and you know the attendees and format well. Be ready to step back when the meeting host shows up and share what's happened so far.
- Be on time. If you're the culprit walking through the door after it's been closed, then stop doing this! Why not schedule in the minutes it takes to get there, including your stop-at-the-bathroom-and-wash-your-hands time. Combine this with the previous SRD and watch how the groove changes.
Get Out!
If you are the first one in the meeting room and no one else has arrived, leave your business card with a hand-written note that says something like, “I was here for the 1:00 meeting, but no one else was, so I assume it's been canceled. Call or text if the meeting still happens.” Then leave a time stamp (e.g., 1:05 PM) to show you waited a few minutes. You can also write this on a paper chart, whiteboard, chalkboard, or whatever is available. When the rest of the people show up, they'll either call or text you. If they don't, then you win! If everyone has to be in attendance before your meeting can begin, then decide right away to reschedule if a team member will be significantly delayed. It's like day-light savings time without turning the clocks back. Don't waste anyone's time if nothing can be accomplished without key people in attendance.