what's your recommendation for an an employee that is late to work who
usually is late but they're usually a good performer so being late is
unacceptable and III tell us whenever I work with a
company and they start talking about we know this guy's late for a meeting
sometimes I was home that I was in the military for 20 years and I was
literally never late I was literally never late one time yeah
think about that 20 years never late never late never late any time for
anything we would you know we would show up at work in the morning so early that
even if the worst case scenario my I got t-boned on the way to work I would still
be able to get insurance get everything covered get a cab and so show up and be
an hour early so you should be you're right in the fact that being on time is
definitely very very important so people shouldn't be late so now with this
individual you got someone that's showing up late for work you've got it
like any other leadership challenge what I would attack is making sure they
understand why why is it important some people never make the connection as to
why being on time is important so you've got to explain to them why it's
important you got to explain to them that's basic respect for other people's
time that it's basic operational readiness is to follow a timeline that
it's about being prepared that it's about showing your reliability and your
professionalism to other people that you're working with
inside and outside of your company and even sunsoo
Sun Tzu and I I didn't say this during the during the podcast that we did about
Sun Tzu and I can't believe I didn't say it because I always believed in look
waking up early and being early and Sun Tzu said that he who is waiting on the
battlefield is gonna win and who he was rushing late to the battlefield is gonna
lose well that's the way your life is - and if you're Russian and you things are
disorganized and you're running late it's horrible but if you wake up early
and you show up early and you're ready and you're prepared and you're waiting
on the battlefield you're gonna win that's all there is to it so those the
important things that you have to explain to your employee that they so
that they understand why being late isn't unacceptable and why being on time
is this standard that needs to be maintained some people it's a horrible
habit that some people have of being late it's a horrible habit yeah you
don't want to get into it it just just unreliability yeah I was one of those
people he's working the night club in here San Diego downtown for a while -
from like 7 years and unlike you I feel like I feel like I don't know I don't
engage it or another of count'em but it feels like I was late at the very least
one minute late you know you have a shift right you know starts at whatever
time either one minute late or ten minutes late I feel like I was more late
more times than I was on time like right so my dad was always late I come from a
long line of late guys nonetheless but I was this guy I was the guy was a good
performer I felt like I mean according to my bosses and stuff and I would you
know I'd do well it other than the time thing I was pretty reliable very
reliable in the nightclub industry so and I'd always justify it like man all
this time I would you know take to be prepared to get there and find parking
and all this stuff I could be doing something else in my life or whatever
not necessarily useful stuff but just something
what do I have to work while I'm not working you know like preparing for work
I don't know that was kind of my attitude as long as I have good output
as long as my job is being done it's fine
so when I stop the you know when I was done with a nightclub or um industry
Jade my brother would um he explained it to me where and the the the thing that I
read that really kind of hit me was being late is a blatant disregard and a
blatant display of disrespect to the person or people who are waiting for you
no doubt in their time which is time is like when you really think about it's
the most valuable thing you have so even if you're talking about one minute
are you talking about one hour you are wasting that person's time if you have a
meeting or something right you can you show up five minutes late people are
waiting for you to start the meeting that's five minutes gone where you know
we still have to go over that material so we're gonna spend an extra five
minutes just because you're relate because you fail to prepare everyone
else was there on time and you're the one doing it you know so and then also I
learned through a I want to say it was a book I read I forget where but where one
of the two major thing main things that ensure your success or will get in the
way of your success is reliability being reliable so and and one day I went to
the store right and my wife sends me in the shopping spree she says get this
kind of tomatoes like canned tomatoes but it was like a this specific kind you
ever try to go chuffer can't tomatoes brother there's like this one and this
one this one I'm like I'm just gonna eat it just grab one anyone cuz I can't find
this one or I'm not gonna get them at all I'm just gonna go home and be like
you get two Tomatoes if you I don't even want whatever it is you're making with
shit so imma but I'm getting frustrated on the inside like like look down the
line of frustrating things that I've told myself all the way to the point of
this isn't my job to do this it is my job by the way but this isn't my job I
don't want Tomatoes why should i why am I even shopping right now why is like
this story I'm making a point and it might be an is
a very important point so if I do that if I'm like you know it's
I'm not getting the tomatoes so I'm just gonna go ahead and settle for the wrong
one I've demonstrated and basically
proclaimed that I am unreliable so why would anyone come to me for anything
who's to say I'm gonna be reliable about it and sure you might be reliable on
some things but you've demonstrated that you can and will be unreliable under
certain circumstances and those circumstances are dictated by by you so
who knows really you're not gonna get hired no you're not you might not even
be if somebody's friend what do you think well it it or husband or whatever
you know yeah definitely it shows lack of being on time shows a total
disrespect for other people's time and it shows a lack of reliability on your
part so these are the kind of things you got to explain to your subordinates or
explain to this person that's being constantly late so that they understand
why you're telling them that and then you they can then they can improve and
then you can that you know if the person is a good performer generally that means
their type of person I care about how they're perceived and doing a good job
so let's get them to understand how being late affects everybody else and
affects their own reputation as as a performer yeah so it'll mean something
to him plus you'll be it come through guy everyone likes to come through a guy
who comes through I'm sure they liked you for coming in on time every single
day for 20 years yeah they did