Consulting Journal: Style - How to be late

Style: How to be late

by David Blakey

You should never be late but, if you are, here's how to do it with style.

[Monday 2 July 2001]

One of the basic elements of good manners in everyday life is punctuality. Anyone can get delayed, so being late isn't the problem (unless it's a habit). But a lack of good manners when someone is delayed is unforgivable.

You may be able to avoid being late by doing the following.

Put slack time into your schedules.

Don't rely upon events fitting together so that your schedule has no slack time in it. I often fly from Auckland (in New Zealand) to Wellington. I don't assume that the journey from Wellington Airport to the city centre will take twenty minutes, as it usually does. Much of this is simple arithmetic. A flight from Auckland at 10:00 will land at Wellington at 11:00. Getting out of the airport will take until 11:10. If the journey to the city takes twenty minutes, you may make an appointment for 11:30. Don't. Make it for 11:45. It doesn't matter if you go for a stroll or sit in the reception area for a quarter of an hour; you can check that you're neat and tidy and that you have a good command of the topic for discussion and you can have a coffee or fruit juice. The person you've come to see may even be available early.

Good consultants avoid schedule that are too optimistic.
Avoid tasks that are not essential.

If I can avoid checking baggage, I do. I have a selection of bags of various sizes, ranging from a light, soft leather briefcase for day trips to a small case that can hold my laptop and essentials for three days. These bags are all within cabin baggage limits. I don't check in baggage, retrieve it or trundle it around unless I have to.

Good consultants avoid complex plans.
Prearrange anything that can be.

I have a taxi waiting for me at Wellington airport, so that I just walk up to the person with the ‘David Blakey’ sign and we're off. If you have to queue for a taxi, you're building another unpredictable element into your schedule.

Good consultants avoid the unpredictable.

If you can't avoid being late, you should call the people you are going to meet, apologize and then make alternative arrangements. Often, it's simply a matter of being delayed by unexpectedly heavy traffic, so that your delay will only be about five minutes. Still, if you were supposed to be in a client's reception area by 15:00 and you now won't be there until 15:05, you should call and apologize and let the client know.

You should have a contact telephone number on a card or programmed into your telephone. The first thing to do when you call is to apologize. Don't make excuses. Just call, tell the person you're late, apologize and then ask for a rearrangement of the meeting time. Even if it's not your fault, just apologize without excuses. Later, during your meeting, the person may ask you what happened and you can then tell them that your flight was delayed or you got held up in traffic or whatever. Don't offer to explain unless they ask.

Finally, here are some situations that are unforgivable.

Being late for an internal meeting when you were already in your own office and not in a meeting.

No one thinks that you're important because you're the last to enter the room.
Being consistently late for a regular meeting.

You might be late once, but then you should know how long it will really take for you to get there next time.
Making continual underestimates of travelling times.

Don't work on door-to-door times. If you're driving you'll need to park and then get from the carpark to your appointment. You may need to get out a carpark before you can set off. It can sometimes take up to ten minutes to get out of carparks.
Failing to organize so that a meeting starts on time.

Arriving punctually for your meeting and then fumbling about with screens and projectors for ten minutes demonstrates your lack of manners and your incompetence.

If you do it really well, you can actually be late - once - and make your clients like you more. They will see that you are able to cope with unexpected problems, that you keep them informed and that you don't complain about matters that have been resolved and can now be forgotten.

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