Punctuality is a lost art. Perhaps it was living in Switzerland for six years, but I have become a big believer that people should be punctual, in general and especially in the world of business.
Sadly, it is a trait that I do not believe is adequately taught in most education systems and students suffer when entering the workforce.
One student I know, recently had an assignment due for a class. He had a social engagement and planned to complete and electronically submit the paper right after the reception. As tends to occur, the reception ran late and he was unable to finish the assignment on time. Explaining the situation to his professor the next day he was able to get an extension. Nice prof, no problem.
Unfortunately, in a short while this student will enter the business world. He will be tasked with assignments that have due dates. When something arises that causes him to not get the work finished on time, there will be major problems. Business is much like a conveyor belt. Someone else is always relying on your completed work before they can do their own. One delay impacts everyone. If you are consistently the one who is seen as the weak link, others will not want you as part of the team. This will hurt your upward mobility.
Similar with meetings. In management, at least half of my day involved individual and group meetings. As such, meetings must be fairly tight in length and content. Often, if the meetings were in my office, they could run back to back. The first from 8:00 to 8:30, then 8:30 to 9:00 and so on. If you arrive late or cannot effectively deal with the matter in the time allotted, you throw my entire day off, not too mention the days of everyone meeting with me after you. In an office environment, the tardy and the bloviators are quickly noted and suffer for their actions. Do I want to deal with people that throw my day out of alignment or would I rather not have them working on my projects in the first place? In the business world, if you do not get to do the work, it is hard to make a positive impression. No positive impression, no chance for advancement.
In the long run, I think my friend’s professor would have done more good by not accepting the late assignment. Depending on the impact of a zero, the student would likely never miss a due date again.
If you would like to read a funny email exchange where lateness was not accepted, please click here. Supposedly a true story. I expect this fellow had indeed gone through life with no consequences for lateness. I think it would have been better to learn the lesson on a simple assignment, rather than something as important as admission to the M.B.A. program. But at least he did not learn the potential $1.26 billion lesson like Pepsi did. I wonder what the odds are for promotions, raises or bonuses for the Pepsico law departments this year.
Punctuality is not built into one’s genetic code, although the Swiss may beg to differ. Life in the Caribbean, when I lived there, tended to seldom run on time. Not necessarily the work world, but definitely the island life. Getting taxis, determining bus schedules were impossibilities. In Cayman, buses were privately run and drivers earned their money by the level of fares. During rush hour, you would often see a mad dash of leap frogging mini-buses barrelling down West Bay Road to be the first to the next stop. In Nassau, taxis were always an adventure. Many a time you would order a taxi to pick you up and despite reassurance after reassurance that it was on its way, an office worker would have to speed you to the airport in their own car so you could catch your plane. As for plane departures, let’s just say those too were usually a mess as well, as we waited patiently for people at the Duty Free or just arriving at security for the flight as boarding was finishing.
People living in these climes get used to the lifestyle, local and ex-patriate alike. Then they come to Switzerland on business and are late for their first meeting. One colleague arrived at my office and exclaimed, “Jordan, these Swiss trains!! When they say they leave at 8:35 a.m., they leave right on the dot!” Well, yes. It is because that train has to connect at specific times with subsequent stops to collect new passengers and disembark old ones to catch equally tight connections. That is why there are schedules. Late once, it seldom occurred again.
Please do not take this as a slam at the Caribbean. A great place to live. Most business people I have worked with in Cayman and Nassau were very aware of the “soon come” stereotype and took great efforts to counter that perception. In fact, I can think of some that out Swissed the Swiss. For me, when asked about workers in the Caribbean, I truthfully state that if I were starting a business and could choose any staff that I wanted, my first choices would involve a few people from both Cayman and Nassau. That said, I do not think you will find very many Bahamians or Caymanians that would disagree with there being a general “soon come” approach to life in those locations.
In business, punctuality is often perceived, incorrectly I believe, as professionalism. However, you need substance to go with it. Arriving and finishing within the time parameters is great, but if there is nothing in between for content, it is even more so a waste of time.
As for how to be punctual?
Be on time and ensure that you stick to any time limits!
Easy.
