On time and timeliness.

?I’ve seen several posts lately discussing or asking about timeliness. For example, “How long should you wait for someone who is not on time?” I’ve not responded and felt it was more appropriate for me to write what I think about the topic.

If you set a time to meet. Be on time. Period. Yes I know this is rigid in an unpredictable world. If you’re not going to be on time here are my two follow up thoughts: (with follow ups below on each)

1. Don’t set a time, just say, “I’ll see you when I see you!”
2. This pertains to those who set a time and are going to be late. As soon as you know you are going to be late let the person or people you are going to meet know.

If you’re one of those people who feels it’s impossible in life to control your calendar (e.g. the “Shit happens” folks) don’t set a time: set a day, week, month … whatever construct you operate in. That way you will have set the expectation about how you operate.

Some may say, “But wait, Dave, you don’t understand”. I think I do. Here’s a story of shit happening to me which explains my point of view and bullet two.

I had a meeting with a prospect in Los Angeles and my flight was into the Ontario, CA airport. I had about a 30 minute buffer factored into my journey, so I could stop and get a coffee near my prospect and go over my pre-call in a relaxed manner. I got my rental car and pulled out on to I-10 heading west. All systems: “Go”. After less than a mile we came to a dead stop in all lanes. Not uncommon. After sitting and not moving for about 5 minutes I learned what the hold up was. A house was being transported and it fell off the truck which was moving it blocking all the lanes of traffic. Once I learned this I called the person I was meeting to let them know my situation. Sure it was more than an hour before our meeting; but, I let them know I wasn’t going to be on time and to see how they wanted to handle it. Their response was, “Welcome to LA! We’ll talk when you get here.”

Time is valuable. When you show you value the others time they will value you and your time.

About the crew/rowing picture. There are few sports where timeliness is more critical than rowing. Business is very much like a team sport. Imagine if the coxswain just called out, “Just stroke when you feel like it.” I doubt they’d win much.

My Dad was in the Air Force and that’s where all of his kids got the “Standing Tall” message. If there’s a pick up at 8 the expectation is you will be there standing tall at 8. If you get there at 8, you’re late. Extreme? Perhaps. If you’re trying to do something as a group or team it is somewhat necessary if you expect to succeed.

In summary. Be on time. If you can’t be call or text notifying those who you were planning on meeting as soon as you know you won’t make it.