Starting Meetings; Do and Don't

I've been asked by my leadership clients when leading meetings, should they wait to start a meeting to allow latecomers to arrive or should they start on time?

Not only do I coach my clients to lead by example, but I also must lead by example. So my intentional answer will be no surprise to you. If a client asks me if they should wait when leading a meeting, my answer is always, NO.

But Why?

1. Starting on time honors those who arrived on time. Starting on time tells those who are there that their time is important and you are not going to waste their time having everyone wait for those who are going to be late.
2. Starting on time sets a precedence for how you run meetings. In time your brand becomes a person who starts meetings on time.
3. Starting on time sends a clear message that you do what you commit to do. It demonstrates your professionalism, exhibits your organization, shows that you are dependable, and illustrates that you are efficient.
4. Starting on time ensures you will get to the entire agenda. Otherwise, you will risk shortchanging information that needs to be shared and time for discussions and decisions.
5. Starting on time establishes accountability for everyone who attends. It sets a tone for the entire meeting and cements your standard for responsible behavior.

When They Are Late

When people arrive late to your meeting, as a meeting facilitator:

1. Don't catch up latecomers on what has been covered so far. It's disruptive and interrupts the flow of the meeting. They will learn that they miss out if they aren't on time.
2. Don't draw attention. It doesn't do you any good to point out that someone is late. Everyone already knows, including the latecomer. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism even for latecomers.
3. Don't let it slide. Although you shouldn't draw attention to someone when they arrive late, ignoring it altogether also does not serve you or the latecomer. After the meeting address the importance of arriving on time and clearly communicate that you expect them to be on time for future meetings. Addressing someone who it late also demonstrates to other meeting attendees that you will address lateness.
4. Don't discipline. Disciplining for arriving late to a meeting can feel heavy-handed. Appropriately addressing the expected behavior should be sufficient. The key is not to overly manage a latecomer. You want to maintain their dignity and address the behavior change that you expect to see.
5. Don't accept habitual lateness. Habitual lateness is a performance issue that can bleed into other performance areas. Addressing habitual lateness can prevent future performance issues by establishing performance expectations. When addressing habitual lateness, focus on the root cause of the person arriving late. Address the root cause and not the person.

Other times to start on time.

Last week I hosted my first First-Time Managers Summit of this year. Each day of the summit, we started on time to set the stage for my standard during the summit.

When we took breaks in the morning and afternoon and for lunch, at the start of the break I announced that we would take a break and then asked how long was needed for the break. Sometimes the break was 5 minutes, and other times longer. As a group, we agreed when we would come back and start again.

I also said that if one person was there, we would start on time or if everyone was there, we would start on time. This is the easiest time to set this standard before anyone was late. they also knew that they would be missing out if they were late. (note: not one person was ever late).