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What Are You Tolerating?

April 11, 2007  |  from FC Experts

I’ve written articles about being scheduled to death, and living in meeting hell but another question that comes to mind and often, is, “What are you tolerating…and why?” I can’t tell you how many leaders I observe who put up with staff consistently coming late to meetings, their one-on-ones and committees while the rest of the group sits there wasting time waiting for that individual to show up. Whenever a client allows this to happen and accepts it by pushing his schedule back the ten or fifteen minutes when his employee is late, then it’s saying many things. First it’s saying the individual who obviously has little respect for his boss’s role, schedule and volume of work is also saying by his actions that his work or schedule is more important.

By accepting it and then putting everything and everyone else off those same fifteen minutes it’s telling the rest of your staff, this individual is more important than you are because I’m letting him get away with it. It’s also telling the rest of the staff that you don’t respect yourself because you’re not doing anything about it. You’re tolerating it. Why in the world are you doing that?

Filed: Leadership