Patience

 

 

Perhaps other than practicing a relative form of truth, our prevailing business culture is marked by a lack of patience.  This microwave mentality permeates many aspects of our expectations regarding product functions, learning, sales, marketing, information availability, relationships, and the services we purchase.  Unfortunately, it also marks a number of people in our culture who seem ready to complain or explode at the slightest provocation.

 

Lest I be too quick to make a judgmental statement, we must all be careful to not condemn others so quickly.  We rarely know what mental or physical exasperations others have experienced before they lose their cool.  I once heard a respected physiologist say he had observed normally calm, rational people do the most bizarre and extreme things under the stress of heavy mental or physical pressure.  This does not excuse explosive behavior, but it does help us understand that at times pressure can cause someone to act far outside the limits of acceptable behavior. 

 

However, in this context I am referring to two different aspects of patience.  The first is the patience required to allow a maturing or learning experience take place in another individual.  The second is the patience required to finish a process.  Specifically, this is the patience required to allow for all the components to come together for a quality project or product to be produced.

 

For issues regarding a lack of patience with people, we may have to consider the possibility that the primary issue lies within the person who displays the lack of patience.  It may be necessary for those individuals to seriously consider their own lack of humility.  Many “Type A” personalities have long forgotten what it was like to be the new or inexperienced associate.  These people are so convinced that their decision-making abilities and experience are so superior that patience has be learned.  These learning experiences can be painful for both the impatient individual and the object of their irritation.  

 

This assumption of invincibility can easily lead to outbursts of anger and judgmental decisions about inexperienced or slow people.  So as not to pass judgment on strictly type A’s, it must be acknowledged that we can all loose our patience if personally impeded in achieving our professional goals.

 

To combat this tendency, those of us that fit into the “experienced category” must learn to walk a mile in the other’s shoes and be objective about performance expectations.  Of course, continuous communication is necessary to inform newcomers about production benchmarks.    

 

Patience also has a strong element of gentleness and truthfulness about it.  Just as it is unnecessary to explode at a lack of performance, it is also unprofessional to allow a lack of performance to go on without the proper instruction or retraining.  

 

Project completion is also an area that requires professional and personal patience.  As business managers, we should be practicing objective evaluations about the capital projects recommended to our employers.  Return on investment evaluations in conjunction with the long-term strategies and goals of the company must be used to make these decisions.

 

As with many new initiatives, the initial sailing is not always smooth and there is some level of discouragement midway through the project.   To allow temporary setbacks and our emotions to cause the cancellation of worthwhile projects is a strong sign that patience is lacking.  Frustrated decision making creates bad morale, lost opportunities and at the very least, vacillation that leads to delays in completion.

 

To combat these potential cuts and run temptations, have a strong vision of the success of the new business undertaking.  Foreseeing the rewards through the construction phase will create patience and perseverance.   Have confidence in your initial project analysis and take the setbacks as part of the project’s steps to completion.

 

Application:

 

Has your career been marked by impatience that created barriers to the success of others and yourself?  Work diligently to walk a mile in another’s shoes and visualize the successful outcome of your goals to combat your lack of patience.

Author:

Gary D. Seale - Principal 

Trucon Communications and Consulting

512-529-7045  www.truconbd.com