Take a Lesson from the White Rabbit

Never underestimate the importance of being on time. Though this may seem like a simple thing, many managers get bombarded with meeting after meeting and end up falling behind. As manager you set the tone for your team. When you are late it gives off the sense that it's okay for everyone else to be late as well, or that your time is more valuable than theirs so they can wait for you. Neither of these is a good message. So keep a schedule that you know you can stick to. If you know John from finance tends to run long in his meetings, don't schedule a meeting for directly after his. Schedule a 30 minute buffer for you to have time to finish up that meeting and make it to the next one. The effects of setting a tone of it being okay to be late to meetings can snowball into it being okay to be late on delivering work. And that's a whole other level you don't want to reach. Lesson 2: Be on time!