Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to plan for latecomers. If you are
Speaker 1: leading a meeting or other gathering, you can predict that
Speaker 1: some people will show up late, So think in advance
Speaker 1: about how you can welcome them and smoothly incorporate them
Speaker 1: into the gathering that's already under way. So I sing
Speaker 1: in the choir at my church, and from the loft
Speaker 1: I have a great view of the congregation. In particular,
Speaker 1: I can see that ushers tend to gently detain latecomers
Speaker 1: until certain moments, when bringing them in will be less
Speaker 1: conspicuous because the entire congregation standing or singing. Sometimes my
Speaker 1: husband and kids are among the latecomers, because let's face it,
Speaker 1: getting out the door in the morning is hard. Even
Speaker 1: if the Sunday morning launch happens later than the weekday sort,
Speaker 1: it is not as carefully timed, and if I am
Speaker 1: singing in the choir, I am not home to help.
Speaker 1: In general, people tend to drive to church once a
Speaker 1: week or so, as opposed to school or work, which
Speaker 1: happens more frequently. So people know the timing of course,
Speaker 1: people are going to be late to church, so the
Speaker 1: ushers have a system for greeting them when they arrive
Speaker 1: and seating them in bursts. Latecomers are welcomed and know
Speaker 1: just how to plug into the service. Their arrival isn't
Speaker 1: a distraction from what's already underway. Meeting facilitators can do
Speaker 1: something similar. Establish the norm of starting the meeting on time,
Speaker 1: but also planned for the possibility that there may be
Speaker 1: latecomers and know how and when you will incorporate them
Speaker 1: into the larger group. You can start with the invitation
Speaker 1: when you ask people to R s v P for
Speaker 1: the meeting. Also ask people to let you know if
Speaker 1: they anticipate being late so you can plan accordingly. This
Speaker 1: subtly affirms the expectation that people will arrive on time,
Speaker 1: since no one is going to tell you that they
Speaker 1: expect to be five to ten minutes late, because well,
Speaker 1: they always are. But if someone flags that they are
Speaker 1: coming from a meeting that almost always runs over, or
Speaker 1: they will be coming from the airport and so are
Speaker 1: at the mercy of transit delays, you could know what
Speaker 1: to expect and decide in advance what to do about it.
Speaker 1: For in person and meetings. One option is to smile
Speaker 1: and silently mouth good morning or good afternoon to latecomers.
Speaker 1: They will feel welcomed and acknowledged, but your silence will
Speaker 1: cue them that they should enter quietly too. This is
Speaker 1: not the time for Hey, everybody, sorry to be late.
Speaker 1: Traffic on the Loop was crazy. Did you see that
Speaker 1: six car fender vendor by exit sixteen? You can build
Speaker 1: in a point in the agenda somewhere around the middle
Speaker 1: to recap what's been covered so far, to catch up latecomers,
Speaker 1: and as a bonus, reinforce key points for those who
Speaker 1: have been there all along. For video conference meetings, one
Speaker 1: option is to use the waiting room and have a
Speaker 1: designated point in the agenda. When latecomers are admitted all
Speaker 1: at once. At that point you can greet them warmly
Speaker 1: and let them know where you are in the meeting.
Speaker 1: It's just like the ushers waiting to see people until
Speaker 1: the first hymn. Of course, I know that sometimes doesn't
Speaker 1: fit with the culture of the group, and let's face it,
Speaker 1: you aren't going to let your manager linger in the
Speaker 1: weight room if she is the late party. So if
Speaker 1: you aren't doing a bulk admit you can do a
Speaker 1: silent smiling wave or a message in the chat to
Speaker 1: say welcome when you see someone new join. You can
Speaker 1: subtly weave into your comments where you are in the agenda,
Speaker 1: as in before we move on to item three about
Speaker 1: the program evaluation. Does anyone have further thoughts or questions
Speaker 1: to share about Tom's presentation? You have discreetly queued your
Speaker 1: latecomer as to where you are, whatever the specifics of
Speaker 1: your approach, We want to avoid two extremes. At one extreme,
Speaker 1: an organizer allows latecomers to steal the show and the
Speaker 1: planned meeting content is displaced. The fasilicator then has to
Speaker 1: relaunch the meeting and regenerate momentum. It can be annoying
Speaker 1: to those who arrived on time for the meeting to
Speaker 1: restart every time a latecomer comes in. At the other
Speaker 1: end of the spectrum. Also to be avoided is treating
Speaker 1: latecomers as invisible. I mean this makes sense for a
Speaker 1: big meeting of more than a dozen people, but not
Speaker 1: for a smaller meeting. If a person arrives in a
Speaker 1: meeting small enough that everyone is going to notice that
Speaker 1: they came in, they deserve the dignity of a greeting.
Speaker 1: If you are the meeting leader, welcome latecomers one way
Speaker 1: or another. If you are participating in a meeting where
Speaker 1: the facilitator doesn't do that, you can welcome the person.
Speaker 1: A smile and a wave or a direct message can
Speaker 1: go a long way to making the person feel seen
Speaker 1: and not awkward. I think some meeting facilitators avoid greeting
Speaker 1: late comers because they don't want to put them on
Speaker 1: the spot, or because they don't want to make it
Speaker 1: seem like it's okay to be late. But I don't
Speaker 1: think either of these is a big risk. Greet them
Speaker 1: and move on. It really is easier in the long run.
Speaker 1: Do you have effective ways of incorporating late comers into meetings.
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear about it. You can reach me
Speaker 1: at Laura at Laura Vanderkim dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from it. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
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Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast p O d. You can also
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Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
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