Of all the ways to build your leadership cred, this would have to be the easiest but most often neglected. In recent years a lack of punctuality has become one of my pet hates. I try and be places on time. Granted I'm not always successful but the way I look at it, is it's a sign of respect. If we have an agreed upon meeting time and I'm late, and don't let you know, that is not showing you any respect.
There are many reasons why a person can be late, but close to the top of the list for people who are frequently late is they are either lazy, forgetful or slack. Whatever the reason if you are late it says to the other person, what I was just doing is more important than you. Now if you weren't doing anything prior and just couldn't be bothered arriving on time, that says "I'm more important than you."
The biggest problem with a lack of punctuality however is the roll-on effect it has. If I'm late to a meeting with you, but we need to meet for an hour, that then means that you will be late to the person you have committed to meeting with after us. Thus I force you to disrespect another, because of my lack of respect for you. On a team level, meetings and team communication cannot occur till all parties are present. If one person is late, they are saying to everyone else "I'm more important than you, so wait for me." Of course the response is and often needs to be "We'll start on time regardless of who is here." The draw back of this is that the work of the leader is doubled in having to re-communicate everything that was missed, otherwise that leader has to put up with the mistakes made by the person who was late, who did not hear the instructions.
THE CALL TO ACTION: Turn up on time! Do what you need to do to be organised prior, so as to fulfil your commitments of turning up on time. Plan better, set your watch faster, work out travel times, aim to arrive early. It will quickly make a huge difference to your leadership cred!
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