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Seems that Fearless girl was made by unfair men.
“It became the financial world’s most iconic symbol of gender equality and won 18 honors at the prestigious Cannes Lions, including four Grand Prix” http://www.adweek.com/agencies/financial-firm-behind-fearless-girl-will-pay-5-million-for-allegedly-underpaying-women-and-minorities/
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I would just address it head-on, as you did here. What you’ve seen, what the impact is, what you would like to have happen move forward.
you’ve seen that minor lateness is a pattern. You totally get it, it seems like it’s just a minute or two here and there... what’s the big deal. But in a company culture that is very punctual, repeated lateness is noticed and is causing teammates to have less trust in your professionalism then they would’ve if you were on time. Continued lateness, may impede his ability to do the job In the future, you are asking himself to be on time if not a bit early. is there anything that is standing in the way of that happening? Anywhere he needs support?
If it is a scheduled meeting for 9 a.m., tell him the meeting will begin at 8:45 a.m. Be sure you are in the meeting room by that time. If he gets there early, use that time to talk to him about the importance of punctuality -- that 9 a.m. means 9 a.m. and not 9:02 a.m. Tell him it is always better to be early than to be late. That you do not want to implement a rule that the meeting room door will be locked at 9 a.m. and anyone not attending a mandatory meeting will be suspended for one day (unpaid) for the first offense, three-days for the second and fired for a third. Stress to him that the purpose is not to show anyone "who's the boss," but that late arrivals are disruptive to other participants and the tardy employee may miss extremely important information provided in the first two minutes. Remember, you're leader now. Leaders have to lead. They need to be respected and obeyed. They don't need to be loved. Caligula may have been right when he said "Let them hate me, as long as they fear me." Try not to instill fear, of course, but don't be afraid to do so if it is needed.
I used to have late arrivals stand in a chair and sing I’m a little teapot using hand gestures and everything… it’s extremely effective but HR doesn’t love it
Is the person on back-to-back calls? They might just be running to the bathroom or getting something to drink.
Yes, I often see him running to the bathroom right as team meeting begins, eek 🥲 thanks!!
I would want to try to understand the reason for the lateness, ie previous calls/meetings, what causes it.
But I can’t begin to express how much this would/does grind my gears. It’s the height of rudeness.
I’ve previously explained to a team member that it’s not tolerated, and how if they had a meeting with the MD or CEO, would they be late for that…?
I would tell them what you said here. It's not the end of the world but it's a bad look. Ask the question directly. "Is there something that needs to change so that you can be on time for these meetings?" Hopefully, if there's an external problem, it will come out then.
I'm a bit surprised by the responses to this post. Why would the manager need to go out of their way to help the report make it to meetings on time? Didn't this person learn how to tell time? Didn't they have at least 12 years of getting to school on time? It's not the manager's responsibility to teach their direct report basic life skills.
My suggestion - send an email that says "I've noticed you are showing up a couple minutes late to meetings. This seems to be a consistent habit. Please know I, along with others, have noticed and it's not acceptable. Please let me know if you would like to further discuss. Thanks."
I have quit a bit of empathy, actually. I was responding to the fact this has been an ongoing, consistent issue. Adults need to adult and not fall back on school tactics of "I had to go to the bathroom". If there is an actual issue the report should talk with their manager to come up with a solution. The manager's supervisor is going to put this on the manager. What's the manager going to say "I don't know why?", that looks bad on the manager.
He may be neurodiverse or OCD. Set his schedule to five minutes before the meeting.
Suggest reading the One Minute Manager book. It is a short and easy read but very impactful. Team members will only respect what you inspect. That doesn’t mean in their face and aggressive but a simple here is the expectations and we need to hold everyone accountable. Could also make it an evaluation point on their review and let them know it is there.
I certainly think patterns of negative behavior should be addressed. You should give him the feedback ASAP and figure out what the issue is. It could be a number of things like other calls always running over, or not having breaks in between calls all day… maybe his VPN or WiFi isn’t working… or maybe he thinks being fashionably late to meetings will get him noticed :-).
No one knows until you ask. You might be able to coach him, and you might find that your management style needs some work too. Everyone deserves some slack here and there but if you see it as often as you say… I’d consider your lateness in addressing it to be worse than them missing the first two minutes of “how’s the weather there?”
He just started for context!
Make sure there’s not a reason that would require some sort of accusation for being late first and well I’m old school if he doesn’t have a mental health or physical health or any concerns in that area, I’d remind him he is a grown man and being on time is late and disrespectful to the people forced to wait on him. You could also make his appointments 10 minutes before the actual time
I agree with being direct about it. Various good approaches already listed here, but you can’t let it slide. Otherwise lateness becomes an acceptable part of the culture.
Can also recommend to the employee to set an alarm 5-10 minutes prior.