Patience: a virtue worth obtaining

Patience is not one of those qualities that people instantly spring to mind as a leadership or managerial quality worth pursuing. Strategic development, result driven, people management – they are all qualities higher on the list that people pursue in order to assume that next role or development.

Yet patience is a wonderful virtue that allows strong people to critically assess, make concerted decisions and funnily enough, obtain greater happiness.

Too often the workplace requires urgent, responsive action. However you can still qualitatively use patience when making critical decisions under pressure. Patience is the part of you that clears the mind, opens you to be more mindful of the present and use those extra moments to make more powerful decisions that are appropriate. It hopefully allows you to make fewer errors.

Patience often walks hand-in-hand with calmness. Would you rather a leader that was rushing about in a manic state, or one that moves calmly and quickly through the same situation? You are more likely to get better and more powerful performance from staff when you act in a calm manner, than in one that is more fiery, at least in the longer term or in the reduced number of errors.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same can be said about any big project. Using the practice of patience, the bigger picture can be achieved in a thoughtful, calm manner (even if the work is urgent and critical).

Not all workplace environments give you the luxury of thinking through things and creating options. However the skill of patience allows a decision maker to think through issues faster and more clearly. This is because taking a patient, calm approach to any situation reduces the build up of stress which can cloud thinking.

Some ideas/tips/hints on how to improve patience:

• Think before you speak and consider whether you need to speak first (or even at all)

• Delay instant gratification. In a fast consumer paced world where things are on demand, consider whether the instant gratification is needed and will resolve the situation. Sometimes taking the quicker instant path is not the best in the longer term.

• Slow down. Even in a hectic environment, there are different levels of priority. Burning yourself out with each and every chore is exhausting and unnecessary. The less urgent chores can be done at a slower pace.

• Recognise your triggers of impatience. A particular co-worker? The drive to work? Kids? Whatever it is, acknowledge it and then make an effort to address it.

• Choose a day at work and make it your mantra for the day: “I will exercise patience in everything and every decision I do”. Take note of whether there are any instant benefits.

• Read. I mean really read, each word, not part of paragraphs and then skip. Reading is an art and to get a true message, you need to be mindful in reading.

Look at the process, rather than the final result. By concentrating on the process to achieve a result, you slow down and shift your thinking.