Listening to Steven Bartlett’s podcast: The Diary of a CEO, he discussed how time is more precious than gold and diamonds and yet we do not think about time as a precious resource.
If you google the qualities of an ‘inspirational leader’, you will rarely see the word patience.
Patience means having time to ask questions, explore answers, and going with the flow. Patience helps you resist the tendency to create urgency when there is none, allowing space and time for creativity, insight, and judgment. It is more than time management.
Patience has contributed to many great leadership successes. Gandhi demonstrated extraordinary patience in working for a free and independent India. For more than thirty years, Gandhi worked, never varying from his commitment to non-violence. His patience resulted in a free India.
This reminds us, big ideas might take years to achieve.
This made me think about my own relationship with time.
- I am often impatient, achieving goals and feeling a positive energy of ‘doing’
However, this leads to poor decision making, without considering the consequences of quick decisions. In addition, completing the actions yourself, prevents others from achieving these opportunities and finally is a short term fix.
- I have practiced being patience, both as a strategic leader and entrepreneur. This means focusing on the long term vision.
We need to have the ability to wait for our longer term goals, staying calm in the face of disappointment and creating space to think when we are processing urgent decisions especially in face of risk and uncertainty.
- Time Management, is something I feel I have become an expert at. This requires understanding what to prioritise, how to delegate and consider when, what and where we schedule our attention. We need to use every minute wisely.
My view is that you can only juggle 3 big actions at any one time.
We should end our working days positively so doing the hard things in the morning and fun things later.
Strategies such as do, dump, delegate or delay for the to do list are a good way to manage your list.
- Then work-life balance for a workaholic, is not an easy goal to achieve but it is important to be present when you are at home for your family and own wellbeing.
With our world quickly becoming a place where we can get everything instantly, is this creating a false urgency?
In leadership, the expectation is to take action quickly and decisively, creating action plans and targets to measure compliance. Patience is often thought of as a weakness and considered as being slow and sometimes even incompetent.
Split-second decisions and moving on to the next problem becomes the norm but this means that often the incorrect actions are taken and there is not time to reflect or alter the direction of travel.
People demand action and the greater the crisis, the greater the push to act! A leader endures rather than flourishes and often feels under pressure, if they make a decision to wait.
However, patience doesn’t mean ignoring the interim milestones but to keep them in context. It should not to be confused with inactivity – far from it, patience requires overwhelming effort, not to jump in and react.
Many of the roles and responsibilities associated with leadership require patience!
- People Management and the ability to continuously notice the small things, celebrate achievement but manage poor performance takes enormous energy and patience.
- Strategic planning and the understanding of a wicked issue requires thought and patience and may take years to resolve.
- Collaboration, building the wider community or networks of people and organisations takes time.
- Changing Behaviour and organisational culture is not a quick fix.
So despite the importance of patience, many senior leaders, especially those whose careers are in rapid ascent, need results for their portfolio and become distracted for short term glory over long-term results.
Self-awareness and giving yourself permission to wait, is the start of being able to improve your patience. The more self-aware you are, the easier you will recognise the warning signs of impatience, such as quickened pulse, growing irritation or a sense of jumping in. You will also be able to counteract your physical reactions by using strategies to delay decision making and by taking some deep breaths or mindfully adjusting unhelpful behaviours and destructive thought patterns.
Time Management also forms part of this journey and allows calm and control of our ‘doing’. Good time management is the partner of patience and allows to plan for inactivity as well as make the decision to do!
So in conclusion, time should be treated like gold and patience an important leadership skill.
