How to Enter a Video Call When You're Late

We’ve all done it … I do it all day long … inevitably I’m one or two or four minutes late for a video call. Be it on Teams or Zoom or any other platform. It’s almost impossible to be on time when jumping from video call to video call all day long.

So what do we do when that happens …

… we enter and say “I’m sorry.” Or “I’m sorry I’m late.” Repeatedly all day long, every day.

It leaves you apologizing at the start of every meeting and with every interaction. Is that really how best to spend the day with colleagues?

I recently read an article that tackled this phenomenon … and the net net is that saying “I’m sorry” when entering a meeting is exactly what we should not do.

Why? Because it makes it about us. It makes it seem that we are just so important and so busy and so encumbered that we are sorry about it. But the reality is that we are busy. Busy. And we shouldn’t be sorry about that.

So the advice from the writer of this particular column was … we entering a meeting late then simply start with “Thank You.”

“Thank you for your patience as I was finishing something up.”

“Thank you for getting started and getting a jump on the meeting.”

“Thank you for your proactivity in initiating the discussion.”

“Thank you,” not “I’m sorry.”

A breakthrough, at least for me. Make it about them and what they are doing in the meeting. Not about how important you are and therefore had to be late.

Breakthrough. “I’m sorry” is such a default that I’m going to have to work on this. But work on it I will. Thank you.

What’s your experience? JIM