Last week, I talked about Time, and how people’s understanding of time effects their daily routine, and that of others.Today I would like to elaborate on this idea, with an example to illustrate the point.

One client we worked for was always late for meetings, regularly 30 to 45 minutes late, every time.

There was one notorious occasion when a large meeting involving several companies was held up for over an hour; when this particular client arrived she apologised saying “I am sorry I am late, I’ve just been to a time management seminar”.

Some seminar! So how can you deal with people like this, who are inherently late? Even with important clients it is vital to set ground rules. For meetings, state in advance:

Whilst these guidelines work best if you are the chair of the meeting, setting out your understanding of how a meeting will run in advance, can help all participants.