How to get people to arrive on time for meetings
It bugs me a little when meetings don’t start on time. I’m fairly punctual myself and while I have no problem waiting five minutes for a meeting to start, it pains me to see ten people waiting fifteen minutes for one or two other people who’re late. It’s particularly annoying when it’s the same people who’re late every time.
Also, when some people are habitually late other participants start thinking “hey, meetings never start on time anyway, I’ll drop in ten minutes late.” It’s a downward slide from there :o)
Here are three steps you can take to get your meetings started on time - including one slightly weird suggestion that works amazingly well.
1: Agree what “The meeting starts at 3PM” means
What does “We meet at 3″ mean? Does it mean that people should get there five minutes early so the meeting is ready to start at 3? Does it mean that people arrive at 3 and the meeting starts whenever people are ready? Or does “We meet at 3PM” really mean 3:15?
Different groups can have different standards but it’s a lot easier when everyone in the group has the same standard. Take five minutes out of a meeting to agree on this.
2: Start the meeting on time
It’s simple: Start the meeting at the appointed time according to your definition above, regardless of how many participants are still missing. Waiting for them only teaches them that it’s OK to be late.
3: Make lateness visible
This is a slightly strange suggestion that I’ve used to great effect: In the meeting room, place a glass or cup for each person labelled with their names. Then buy some red and green marbles and keep them in a jar next to the cups. Every person who arrives in time for a meeting places a green marble in his glass. Every person who arrives after the meeting starts places a red marble in his glass. This is not punishment it’s just a way of making the issue visible.
After a month or so of meetings, you may find that some people’s glasses tend heavily towards red marbles, making it very visible who’s habitually late.
This simple tool is remarkably effective at getting people to arrive on time, and sometimes no further action is required - the problem more or less goes away by itself.
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Trine-Maria Said,
August 25, 2006 @ 9:15 pm
In my high school we had a headmaster with a great deal of humor. He greated us, when we were late in the morning, with a smile, a goodmorning and 5 Danish kroner (app. 1 dollar) for “a new alarm clock”. It was embarrasing because he was nice and sincere - and at the same time telling us to pull our act together.
Alexander Kjerulf Said,
August 25, 2006 @ 10:47 pm
What a great trick Trine-Maria!
Common wisdom would have it that rewarding people for bad behavior only makes it worse, but this kind of paradoxical approach often works far better than punishing or chastising people.
Chris Doherty Said,
August 29, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
The “social reinforcement” method (the marbles in the glass) is actually an old trick in the IT field, at least it is here in North America. What’s always bothered me about it is that in IT, there’s something of a nasty undercurrent.
Two examples:
Back before hard drive space got ridiculously cheap, it was common for IT companies to post a list of the people who were the top 5 or 10 consumers of network disk space. Everyone then knew who was hogging the file server, and social pressure (usually) took care of the problem with minimal IT department intervention.
One place I worked had a whiteboard labelled “Cannot Follow Simple Instructions”. When there was some kind of wide-ranging issue that required the users to do something on their own, explicit instructions, with screenshots, would be posted, emailed out, etc. with the admonition, “do not call IT until you’ve completed these steps exactly”. Anyone who tried to short-circuit the process, or who didn’t follow the instructions, would get their name put up on the board for all to see.
Now, both of these things “worked”, in the sense that they reduced the amount of time IT had to spend on these issues, but it absolutely contributed to an “us vs. them” mentality between IT and the rest of the company. It’s been my experience that the majority of employees are decent, hard-working folk who will happily work with IT to get whatever needs to be done, done - but there are always a handful (or more) or people who are either deliberately contrary, terminally impatient, or just plain not very intelligent and can’t handle working in a modern networked environment without more handholding than should be necessary. Being “nice” to these people just doesn’t work. They need to have some kind of stick to go with the carrot, but such practices need to be universal or the problem employees will (rightly) feel they’re being unfairly dealt with. Any ideas on how to handle this kind of situation?
Vianney Lecroart Said,
August 30, 2006 @ 10:29 pm
I know a company where they fixed a little box on a wall in the meeting room and every people that are late must put 1 dollar in the dollar box.
Of course, after, this money is used to add fun in the meeting room or in the company.
It’s not really a punishment since it’s like a game where we know the rules and everybody win.
Five weeeeeeeeird tips for great meetings Said,
February 20, 2007 @ 12:32 pm
[...] How to get people to arrive on time for meetings [...]
Paula Said,
March 25, 2007 @ 5:02 pm
I can share an effective strategy for “latenicks”, from one of my former jobs. Our VP of Engineering had a rule — if you’re late, you have to sing. Yes, SING. One verse only, any song. He absolutely would not start the meeting until the latenick belted out the verse. That cured the lateness in no time. (Warning: may not be very effective for those aspiring to get onto American Idol!)
Adrienne Najjar Said,
March 27, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Forget the cute little ideas such as marbles. Start the bloody thing on time no matter who is missing. If the late person wants to make an issue out of it, let them explain why they’re habitually late while you explain that it is everyone’s best interest not to waste people’s time. Depending on who the offender is, you will either get fired (good because you deserve better than what this organization has to offer) or behaviours will start to improve. Trust me, I’ve done it and it works.
Estelle Said,
November 6, 2007 @ 6:02 am
Ok team - what are the tips for the person who doesn’t turn up at all! Problem is esecially acute when they are a client; you have no stick to hit them with… One I heard was to ring them and ask if they are ok. Any others?
Christian Anders Jørgensen Said,
March 6, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
Hi Estelle,
If you have the option: “Fire” the customer. It’s not worthe the waste of time, effort and energy. :-)
Gerd Tarand » Arhiiv » Kuidas inimesed õigeks ajaks koosolekule saada… Said,
March 10, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
[...] LED@Home LED@Home RSS Gerd Tarand RSS Kuidas inimesed õigeks ajaks koosolekule saada… Kuidas inimesed õigeks ajaks koosolekule saada… Mul on viimasel ajal endal tekkinud krooniline komme hilineda. Varem nagu ei olnud. Loodetavasti läheb üle. Küll aga mõned lihtsad nipid kuidas inimesed koosolekutele õigeks ajaks kohale saada. Tundub kuidagi asjakohane. Esiteks. Leppige täpselt kokku mida tähendab “Kell 18:00″. Kas see tähendab seda, et kõik on kohal viis minutit enne seda ja koosolek algab kell kuus? Või tähendab see hoopis seda, et inimesed saabuvad kella kuueks ja koosolek algab siis kui kõik on kohal. Või äkki lihtsalt 18:00 = 18:15? Teiseks. Vahet pole, kas kõik on kohal või mitte, koosolek algab ikkagi täpselt kokkulepitud ajal. Sedasi ei teki hilinejatel illusiooni, et hilinemine on tegelikult vastuvõetav ja nende järgi oodatakse. Eriti mõjusaks muutub see olukordades kus koosoleku lõpupoole tõstatub midagi kus kaasa rääkimiseks on tarvis teada, mis koosoleku alguses toimus. Kolmandaks. Kui vähegi võimalik siis etteteatamata hilinejate päevakorrapunktid tuleks päevakorrast välja jätta, eeldusel, et kui sa õigeks ajaks ei tule, siis sa ei tule üldse. Neljandaks. Hilinemine tuleb teha nähtavaks. Hea nipp oleks näiteks MTÜde puhul, et iga hilinetud minuti eest tuleb annetada organisatsiooni kassasse mingi kindel summa. Äriettevõtete puhul võib kaaluda varianti annetada mõnele kokkulepitud MTÜle või lihtsalt koguda raha mõne kontorisse sobiva asja või ühisürituse jaoks. SIIT, pisikeste muudatustega. [...]
Psychological studies confirm what we all know: Long meetings are a waste of time Said,
July 25, 2008 @ 11:01 am
[...] How to get people to arrive on time for meetings. [...]
Stu Willis Said,
July 30, 2008 @ 8:04 am
Hmm. Easiest way to make people turn up on time is to make the meeting relevant. People will be late if they feel there’s no reason for them to be there.