Signs of a Healthy Leader: Value Other People’s Time
When a leader prioritizes timeliness by starting and ending appointments on time, they are communicating to others that they value other people’s time.
Why is this a sign of a healthy leader? Valuing other people’s time is part of valuing other people and valuing yourself. When you are in a place of health yourself, you are not OVERESTIMATING your importance over other people’s importance, and you are not UNDERESTIMATING your importance over other people’s importance. Overestimating your own importance may show itself by either being ok with people waiting on you or in extreme cases making sure other people have to wait on you as an exercise of dominance. Underestimating your own importance may show itself by allowing the people in your current appointment to ignore the stated end time of the appointment, making you late for your next appointment.
When a leader is late to appointments and meetings on a consistent basis, they can be communicating (often unintentionally) to the people who are waiting that the leader considers their time is less valuable than the leader’s time. This can lead to frustration or even distrust from the stakeholders who are being kept waiting. It can also communicate to stakeholders that the leader or their company is habitually disorganized.
This can be a huge challenge when a leader is constantly being asked for their time. Some leaders are naturally less time-conscious than others. All leaders can use a variety of strategies to structure their appointments in order to value their own and other people’s time.
Schedule transition time between appointments to move from one virtual or physical space to another with time to stand up, attend to biological needs, etc.
Ten minutes before the appointment is scheduled to end say, “As we are wrapping up…” This also gives time to end the appointment with any action items or next steps.
Set reminders or notifications on your phone.
Place a clock directly in your line of sight during meetings.
If you are fortunate enough to have administrative support, empower your support person to interrupt a meeting that is running long.
There are many differences in cultural norms when it comes to time, timing, and schedules. However, cultures are not monolithic. Individuals may be more or less time conscious regardless of the norms in their culture of origin. Whether an individual or their cultural norms are time-conscious, the leader should be asking themselves, “How am I communicating to the people I am working with that their time is valuable to me?”
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