Sorry, I am Late
There Are Those Who Are on Time. Always.
On a recent trip to Japan, I took a Shinkansen high- speed train from Kyoto to Tokyo. The train was scheduled to arrive at Tokyo Station at 9.03pm. Since I had made an appointment to meet a good friend after arrival, I asked the train conductor whether we would be on time.
The conductor looked at me, not understanding my question, and said: “We will arrive at 9.03pm.” I thought to myself, yes, I know the schedule. But will we be on time?
He must then have somehow guessed my real meaning. He said: “There is no reason for a delay. We have not had an earthquake or tsunami today. So, we will be on time.”
I had not heard this kind of answer for a while.
Nurturing Our Values
Punctuality Shows one’s Attitude Towards Integrity, Professionalism and Respect.
My professor at a German university where I studied – let’s call him Ho – was very strict in many aspects. His style displayed a deeply ingrained set of values. One of them was punctuality. Unless there was a very, very good reason for being late, we had to be on time – always.
Once, I was quite late for a meeting. However, I thought I had a good reason: “My train was late by 40 minutes.”
His reply was, “Okay, you take this train every day, right?”
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
“Was it ever late before?”
“Yes, this happens from time to time,” I answered, thinking that I was off the hook with that answer.
His reply: “Then you should have taken this into account and been prepared. Don’t use this excuse again!”
With this management style, we were able to deliver outstanding results. No project was ever late.
Despite this tough regime, Professor Ho was known as one of the professors everyone wanted to work with. He was not only able to develop one’s skills and knowledge but took strong care of our attitude as well.
As a result, punctuality is one form of behaviour that I hold very dear to my heart, because it reveals one’s attitude towards the most basic values of integrity, professionalism and respect.
Punctuality is the Politeness of Kings
“Sorry, I am Late” Shows Lack of Courtesy and a Degree of Disrespect.
Every human relationship starts with basic courtesy.
“Punctuality is the politeness of kings” is a saying coined by King Louis XVIII of France. He was making the point that educated people, and people who aspire to have and try to show a certain status, will fail if they don’t master the most basic of all manners: punctuality. Without punctuality they are just “small men”.
In Singapore, we are familiar with the phrase, “Sorry, I’m late”, uttered by members of all levels of society without hesitation or shame. Often, it comes without any excuse. Only sometimes is it paired with statements such as “heavy traffic on PIE”.
No one is really surprised about the fact that some people are late, or the fact that there is heavy traffic on the Pan-Island Expressway, although both facts really have nothing to do with each other.
It is very likely that there is some heavy traffic on the PIE at certain times. This happens daily.
But heavy traffic is as good an explanation for being late as something like “There are many birds in Changi Village”.
So what is the real reason for being late? I think that this is, because we are good in talking about values. But we have forgotten that these values should also form part of daily courtesy and kindness, and not only be put on display on National Day.
Increase of Productivity Through Values
Living our Values Means Integrity and Respect for Others
A good example of the huge gap between theory and practice is when meetings regarding value development or competency deployment cannot start on time because of the late arrival of key players.
Their entrance with a “Sorry, I’m late” can be directly translated into “Sorry, I don’t respect you”. Would you want to say this to your colleagues or friends? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to show the correct behaviour ourselves before we try to plant this seed in others? This would be good for our credibility as well.
In Singapore, we should live every day the way we deliver great projects: excellent quality, on time.
How much time gets wasted and how much productivity gets squandered every day due to our inability to walk the talk? How about increasing productivity by living our own values?
There are always excuses for not doing things. Can we instead try to find reasons for doing things such as being on time? Our co-workers would thank us for it.
Remember, behaviour is contagious. Is yours worth catching?
Published on The Straits Times, 15 Jul 2013
Published on Training Buzz, Issue 7, 2015. Civil Service Training Institute (CSTI), Maldives
Published on Training Buzz, Issue 7, 2015. Civil Service Training Institute (CSTI), Maldives
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