The huge cost of being late!

            “If you are five minutes early, you are already ten minutes late” – Vince Lombardi (Famous coach of the Green Bay Packers.

Does your business have a culture of timeliness, or a culture of tardiness?

As an example, if your meetings ALWAYS start at the scheduled time with all invitees present, seated with fresh tea, coffee or water, and with a copy of the previously distributed meeting agenda in front of them … then timeliness is a respected and executed cultural value at your place of business.

Conversely, if attendees are still wandering in several minutes after the scheduled meeting start time, and there are no consequences for their behaviour, then you are suffering from a disrespectful culture of tardiness … and it’s costing your business an enormous amount of lost revenue.

Let me explain.

A few years ago, I sat down with a coaching client, I’ll call him Rob, and asked him how much his regular lateness (he was always running late), and the subsequent poor leadership example he was demonstrating, was costing his professional services firm (Rob was the CEO). Unsurprisingly he didn’t know and tried to dismiss my question as not that relevant.

I persisted and we set about finding an answer to my question. We calculated the average number of meetings attended by him and his staff, the average delay in start time to those meetings, the average number of staff present at meetings, and the average billable charge-out rate of fee-earners attending. Multiplied that by forty-eight weeks and the total cost was in excess of $400,000. Suddenly I had his attention.

What is an attitude of tardiness costing your business? Short answer … HEAPS!!

But how do you ensure your meetings start on time? Various punitive measures have been tried over the years, such as being locked out, having to bring muffins to the next meeting, and so on, all with limited and diminishing effect.

Here is the penalty that we implemented at Rob’s business. Anyone arriving late is still admitted to the meeting, as often their attendance and contribution is crucial to the meeting’s purpose and desired outcome. However, those arriving late are required to stand for the duration of the meeting.

Try it … I am sure your will reap similar benefits to those that Rob and his team are now enjoying as they have successfully transitioned from a culture of tardiness to a culture of timeliness, and mutual respect for the value of each other’s, and their client’s time.

By the way … Rob had to stand for the first three meetings he attended after the new rule was implemented. He has been on time ever since.

In closing, your life, and busines, will change in so many positive ways when you make the decision to ALWAYS be five minutes early for EVERY appointment. You’ll be amazed at how many green lights you get when you are running early. (You already know the opposite is true when running late).

?Graham Harvey CSP is a Professional Speaker, Service Designer, Business Coach and the bestselling author of Seducing the Vigilante Customer: 101 winning strategies to attract and retain happy customers and healthy profits. Recognised as one of Australia’s thought leaders on Service Design and Customer Experience, in 2018 Graham received The Nevin Award and was inducted into the Professional Speakers Australia Hall of Fame.                      

Service EQ    Email: [email protected] Website: www.grahamharvey.com