On Time and Ready

When you look at the many rules of business, how do you prioritize which are most important?  When you have meetings with staff, managers, suppliers and customers how do you get through the current meeting and to the next meeting? What is the most important rule to use for meetings?

 Where do you focus when you have an upcoming meeting? Some people focus too much on how they look, what the graphics on their presentation look like, and what food or drink is being served. Is their effort being focused on the important things.  From a common-sense standpoint, we might think the answer obvious.  Be ON TIME and be PREPARED!

To paraphrase, if you make a commitment… keep the commitment. You booked a meeting for a specific time. Live up to your commitment and be there ready to roll at that time. Not 15 minutes late, not with an excuse.

Business life has taught me that being somewhere 10 or 15 minutes early has its benefits. You are seen as eager. You are able to centre yourself, focus and acclimatize to the environment. The person you are meeting with will see you are “there and prepared” and this may give you an advantage. These factors will give you the edge.

I read a LinkedIn posting titled, “10 Obvious Mistakes Consultants Make”. David Fields give a great example of what I refer to about being on time. Don’t lose out on a meeting with a client because you were late.

My second major rule, which is interwoven with the first, is ‘be prepared’ in advance of a meeting. I find little mutual benefit to being asked to attend a meeting if the person hosting or asking for the meeting is not prepared. Does the venue have everything you need, white board, chalk, projector, paper, pens? Make sure you know the questions to ask and the answers and can make best use of your shared time. Time is a value commodity for all of us, we need to be respectful and be prepared to capitalize on others time wisely and with mutual benefit.

When my boys were pre-teen, they would complain at me for getting everywhere slightly early or at minimum on-time. When they were older, they went into business together. After three years in business they voluntarily told me (to my surprise and delight) that they now understood my passion (being obsessive) for being on time and prepared. They just could not understand why someone would be intentionally late and waste their time.

I am very happy that my sons now “get” it. All of us in the business community also need to improve our focus on being respectful to others and arrive “on-time and prepared”.

Let me know how you feel about this and your thoughts. ( www.MyCxO.ca )