Punctuality & Your Career

Punctuality is a major component of your professional career that you should master before graduating college regardless of your career path. There have been countless articles about how punctuality effects your career growth, reputation, and overall opportunities/responsibilities. I am writing my own post about it because it is that important. I have seen individuals not welcome to a meeting if they are late, or a client scolding because the person that is supposed to be running a meeting is late. This post is going to go through the benefits of making being punctual a priority to your architectural career. Being punctual shows that you are:

RESPONSIBLE/DEPENDABLE

It shows that you can be counted on to take on tasks in a timely manner. Coworkers in your office will notice when you are always in the office by a certain time and will notice if you are always late. Punctuality gives off a sense that you are trustworthy, organized, in control of time, responsible, etc. This is also a simple way to show to your Project Manager, Principal, or even client that you can take on more responsibility on a project. This can snowball into a lot of great opportunities and experiences, but if you are always late you may miss out on them.

HAVE INTEGRITY

This goes along with the classic statement of “being a man of your word”. If you tell someone they will have a set of documents or a response by a particular day and time you need to follow through. By keeping your promise shows you have integrity and also shows others you expect the same in return. Sending coordination items to engineers is a great example. If you say you will be giving them a new BIM model or backgrounds to work from by the end of the day Wednesday, you need to have it sent to them by 4-5pm on Wednesday. By following through with your word sets an example of your expectations that you expect them to be able to follow their word to keep the project progressing forward.

CARE

Especially in the commercial world of architecture, showing passion for the project through punctuality is very comforting to an owner. I try my hardest to answer calls, emails, texts as soon as I can especially when it is the owner. And I’d like to add that I’m not someone that has my email synced to my phone, answering work calls at 11 at night, or working an insane number of hours a week. Once I leave the office I try to keep work at work. However, if I need to leave early for a doctor’s appointment or in construction meetings all afternoon, I will take the extra time to review over my emails and missed calls to see if there is anything that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. (or if there is someone in the office, I need to send something while I’m out of the office in meetings) This helps to show that you value not only the project but those that are working on the project.

VALUE AND RESPECT OTHERS

Some articles characterize being constantly tardy as selfish and a form of stealing. This goes along with being punctual shows that you value other individuals time. When you have a client that has great potential of being a repeat client for your firm it is extremely important that you show that you value the time they take out of their busy schedule to meet with you. This in turn will help them have more respect for you, and want you to be involved in future projects. When possible have an agenda prepared ahead of time to send along to the client and other participants to show why the meeting is important, and keep the meeting on track within the time slot people have allotted for. Show up early, have extra copies of the agenda ready, and stick to it. It will show that you are ready for the meeting and that you value the time of others. Another example is with your engineers, if there are only a few items they need to be a part of, do those items first so that they can be dismissed early. (if possible) They will be very appreciative of not having to sit through an two hours of going over finish details.

VALUE YOURSELF

Lastly, it shows you value your own time and yourself as a whole. Constantly being late can hurt your self-esteem and overall hurt the projects you are working on. Punctuality shows that your time is also valuable and that you can set priorities. Time management is a huge part of your architectural career, and studio courses in college are also meant to help you learn time management skills. Sometimes there is just no way that everything can get done so you need to be able to set priorities to meet the promises you have made. It is also okay to say “no” or a compromise when asked to do something. If you already have three deadlines on a Friday and someone asks you to do some other unrelated task also by Friday, it is better for you to explain your other priorities (3 deadlines) that you have and if it’s okay if the task can wait till Monday. Don’t underestimate the value of your time and the value of yourself.

These are just some of the many reasons behind why you should take being punctual as a major part of your career, no matter your career path. Don’t let being late ruin your reputation at work! It is an important aspect in regards to growing in your career and being given more responsibilities on future projects. I try to follow this important concept towards my daily work routine and every meeting whether it is just an internal meeting or an important meeting with a client.

Early is ON TIME
On time is LATE
Late is UNACCEPTABLE

Written by Katelyn Rossier

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