A blog a day (#16)

PUNCTUALITY

Place: A company in Hyderabad
Year: sometime in 2006

We were meeting an executive in an organisation where we were engaged by the company to help them implement Six Sigma. As part of our contract, we were supposed to meet with each team every week and mentor them for about 2-3 hours by going through their work over the past week and guide them in their process understanding and analysis. 

So the person says, "We will meet tomorrow first thing in the morning, Sir!"
We say, "Fine, thanks for your time. But at what time?"
"Sir, at 10:30"

We came out of his office and smiled and asked each other, "Is that first thing in the morning?"

Another occasion. Our meeting a team had to start at 2 pm. So I reached the person's office and found him missing from his office. I waited in the visitor's chair for about 15 minutes, no sign of the person. Then I went out to the factory area and searched for him. Found him. Asked him if we were meeting that day. Sheepish grin. He had forgotten all about our meeting.

I am sure such scenarios play out almost every day at various places in India and in some countries abroad also. Why is punctuality so difficult for most of us? Agreed, there could be some emergency meetings, activities, events that require individual attention necessitating the person's absence from his office. A phone call in advance helps the people who have sought an appointment to reschedule their own meeting in the event there is a delay. Why do many of us not show enough courtesy to others for their time? Why don't we value others' time as much as we value ours. Or don't value ours!

Do some organisations instill the value of keeping to schedules and appointments for their new joinees? I am not aware of this. Maybe some do? 

I was a faculty for MBA students in a management institute in Bangalore for many years. My classes were generally for 2 or 3 hours with break for 10 minutes in between. Agreed a class for this long is difficult to maintain attention and students would feel sleepy, hungry, thirsty, or simply bored. Anyway, all this is AFTER the student has entered the classroom, not before. Hence, I wouldn't listen to any excuse for latecomers. I wouldn't send them back; I would just ask the class to leave the front row vacant for the latecomers and insist that they sit in the front row. Punishment? I don't know. But over time, the number of latecomers reduced significantly!

With my children away in different cities, we have a scheduled video chat every week on Sundays at 8 am India time. Many times all are not available at 8 am! There are some reasons for not meeting or being delayed. This punctuality issue is as personal as it gets!