Get into the practice of consistently starting each meeting on time. Leaders who wait to start meetings until more people arrive usually end up wasting a lot of professional time which adds up over the course of a year. It may require a change in the culture, but once people know that you start your meetings on time, they will learn to arrive on time.

Here are a few strategies that can help get your meeting started on time.

• Set a stop watch to go off at the time the meeting is to start. This reminds everyone of the time and may help.
• If the committee or group is not accustomed to starting on time, give fair warning ahead that you will start the meeting on time by either including it on the agenda or as a separate communication.
• Some groups schedule 15 minutes of time to socialize before the start of the meeting.