Commitment to Meeting

In many organizations, there is atleast one recurring meeting that each employee is asked to attend. The frequency can run the gamut from annual to daily and everything in between. But, how good are you or your team about protecting this time and not letting it get bumped because something has 'come up'? Reasons to uphold your commitment to meet:

• Shows respect for a person's time; they could have used this time to move items off of their 'to do' list.

• Along the lines of showing respect for a person's time:

• not only meet consistently, but be on-time, every time, to the meeting.

• silence your phone and turn the screen over or put it away so that you are not tempted to look at it and get distracted.

• don't invite someone else into the meeting, unless it is mutually agreed to.

• Model the behavior that you expect of those around you. If you don't prioritize meeting consistently or meeting on time, they won't either.

• If there is a set time to report on progress of a task or deadline, it will be a catalyst for this to progress to happen.

• Consistent meetings means predictable opportunity to exchange information. This can be a timesaver in the sense that it can save some emails or phone calls if they know they are going to have your undivided attention at a given time.

• If you consistently show up, you will be known to be counted on. Relationships and strong teams are formed as a result.

The next time you have the urge to reschedule a meeting, pause for a moment and think about the reason to reschedule, is it really necessary to do so.