patience Archives - Dennis E. Gilbert

14
Aug 19
-

The Short Supply of Workplace Patience

Tags : buy-in cost patience teamwork workplace

Most workplace teams are driven by time. As individuals, many people express a need for improving their time management skills. Do your employee teams illustrate workplace patience?

Often when the conversation of patience emerges there is a contradictory feeling connected with speed, pace, or customer expectations. It is true, time does tend to directly connect with money.

Should patience be a core value?

I often suggest to groups and teams that it should.

Patience is a learned skill. Patience should be practiced to be improved. A lack of patience costs.

Cost of Workplace Patience

There are at least two forms of cost connected with a lack of patience.

One cost is that of the work completed in a hurry or work completed through haste. The work becomes inferior. The idea often is, the more quantity across time, the better. Of course, the quality needs to be a recognized factor.

The other cost is more intangible. It is the cost of a lack of engagement, lower morale, bad attitudes, employee absenteeism, and turnover.

When employee teams see a team assignment slacking, they may jump in to pick up the pieces. In many cases, this is important and a sign of good teamwork.

The other side of this is that an employee who doesn’t fully participate often lacks buy-in. As a result of not being bought-in, they become more disengaged. They may take a back seat, the easy road, all the while knowing that whatever they don’t accomplish, someone else will do.

Time Factor

The mindset and performance of people is hard to measure with time.

Give ten different employees an individual assignment and not all ten will finish at the same time.

Easy enough to understand.

Yet if we monitor the performance of the fastest seven or eight and then pull the plug on the assignment, we know the unfinished two or three are somewhat disconnected.

Simple enough.

Is there an adequate supply of patience in your teams? How do you balance quality and quantity? Have you measured the impact of a shortage of patience?

Sometimes everybody needs a little patience. Just trying to get it right.

-DEG

H/T (Patience, is a 1989 song released by the band Guns-n-Roses. It included the lyric, “Just trying to get it right.”)

Originally posted on August 14, 2019, last updated on August 31, 2020.

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

10
Nov 17
-

Making Your Work Count and Outlasting Critics

Tags : critic patience progress unique work count

People start their work every day. Every day they may question why am I doing this, why does it matter, and why do people only care enough to find fault. Do you make your work count? Does it speak for itself?

There are days when it feels like everyone is a critic. The project your team worked tirelessly on, the new idea you mentioned at the meeting or the marketing campaign that you know will be a huge success.

Some critics may be trying to be helpful, some are jealous, and some see you growing and they don’t like it because they now have to move up or move on. Your worst critic, sooner or later, they will find someone else to give their attention to, because you’ve moved on.

Different is Better than Average

When you work with the intent to make your work count, to make a difference, to advance the team, it becomes momentum. It is hard to stop momentum. In fact, that may be exactly what critics are calling for. They want to slow the train.

Your work will count the most when it is unique. It is hard to pick the best donut from a rack of two dozen. It is hard to find the nicest rose in the bunch. The work you do, the accomplishments of your team, or the success of your organization will benefit the most when it’s not the same, but different.

Unfortunately, trying something new is exactly what the critic wants to stop. It is different, odd, ugly, or simply won’t work. Especially when the critic suggests that, others have tried it in the past.

The critic invites the challenge to prove them wrong.

Does Your Work Count

You’ll make your work count when you dare to be different. When you dare to improve the quality, the delivery, and the customer experience.

Critics will tell you a different story, but you’ll outlast them.

Critics have little patience for progress.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a five-time author and some of his work includes, #CustServ The Customer Service Culture, and Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

11
Aug 17
-

Career Patience and Emotional Labor

Tags : career growth emotional labor patience skills

People interested in career advancement get pretty excited, they typically don’t lack motivation or drive. When is career patience important and how do you endure it while time passes by?

Your career is important. It is often how people measure their worth or success in life. Today many people have multiple careers. They may change from fire fighter to schoolteacher, or from sales person to a marketing expert, or any other role change you might imagine.

Employment recruiters and human resources professionals can tell you a lot about job seekers and career changers. They can share popular trends, what to look for, and even about how long to expect to wait before a change.

Although the earliest of the baby boomers weren’t big on career changes. Today career changes, job changes, and advancement seem almost necessary. People sometimes feel like it is a requirement to prove your worth.

Not so fast though, don’t jump too far ahead. Sometimes the best moves involve more patience.

Career Patience

Right sizing your patience is important. After joining an organization or team how long do you wait for advancement? Trends might be different depending on the type of work, but chances are great that the trends are shorter now as compared to forty years ago.

Senior leaders might question if you are ready. They might argue that you haven’t paid your dues. Often the suggestion is to have more patience. Is that good advice?

When we join a team we are often hired with a minimum skill or education requirement. We are framed to be competent because of our expertise, proven record of accomplishment, and qualifications. Job hops are evaluated and an interview or two tries to determine your character, attitude, and your ability fit.

Do you want to grow in your position? Are you ready? Have you proven yourself?

Your career is often not about just showing up. It isn’t even about your technical skills, your education, or your track record. It may have more to do with emotional intelligence and even emotional labor.

Emotional Labor

When you have to have patience yet be assertive, and when you have the skills, qualities, reputation, and experience, what is missing?

Sometimes we have to be willing to be patient. Patience is emotional labor. It is the work that we do without a manual, a technical skill, or background check.

Emotional labor is what we endure. It is the dress for success, speaking the language, and effectively representing where we want to be. It might be developing into the perfect fit.

We don’t always get the new job or advancement and then grow into it. We might have to grow out of the job we currently have first.

Demonstrating career patience may be the most hurried thing that you do.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

26
Jun 17
-

Career Management: When The Music Stops

Tags : career motivation patience persistence timing

There are occasions when we want things to speed up, just so we can move forward. It might be the one-hour meeting that has turned into two, a four-hour long car ride, or getting out of the dentist chair. Life sometimes is like musical chairs. When the music stops, will you have a seat?

Playing The Game

As children, many of us played musical chairs. The anticipation of the stopping music meant you had to secure your spot. Your timing was important but the focus was on getting a seat.

We sometimes worry about time running out. We worry that we’ll come up short on the deadline, miss our connecting flight, or arrive at the store just two minutes after it locks its doors.

In other cases we might believe that time goes on forever.

We’ll start the exercise program next week, play with the kids after we mow the lawn, and visit with our parents at the next holiday event.

Then time runs out. It’s over and there isn’t any more time. When the music stops, will you have a seat?

Managing Your Career

The biggest thing I’ve noticed about people and their career is not the failed attempts. It is time running out. It might be the failure to get started, or equally bad is the quick start with little endurance. Patience is important and so is persistence.

You have to keep moving, anticipating the opportunity, and making sure that when the music stops you get your seat.

If we sense the anticipation and the energy of that anxious moment all that we can really do is be as prepared as possible. It is going to happen. We understand both the game and the rules.

When The Music Stops

Now might be the best time commit to your career, play with the kids, or visit your parents. You have to be prepared. Preparation requires your time and energy, when the music stops it might be too late.

Like it or not, we’re all playing the game. It is a game against time. The music won’t play forever.

When the music stops, will you be in the right spot?

– DEG

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

23
May 17
-

5 Reasons Leadership is Patient

Tags : change fear leadership patience risk

Fast-paced is used to describe the action of many businesses today. In a fast-paced, no wait, needed it yesterday world the best leadership is patient.

Other Side of Fast

We often skip or completely forget about the other side. The side where values and traditions shape the culture for what might be known as the long haul. Certainly, you have to survive the short term to make the long haul but without a healthy culture any future might be questionable.

One of the finest qualities of the best leaders might not be their exceptional pace in the face of pressure. It might be their innate ability to understand the value patience.

Leadership is Patient

There are many reasons that the best leaders value patience. Here are five of my favorites:

Shared effort. When we recognize that buy-in is created by shared experiences the value shifts from fast to patient. A team of eight shouldn’t be a working team of five while three observe. Shared effort means everyone is engaged.
Enrollment. A team isn’t a team without enrollment. Moreover, enrollment is necessary for culture. Individuals enroll to participate. Participation and patience means they’ll stay.
Reduces fear. Poor leadership assumes that one of the biggest motivators for fast is fear. Leaders who are patient understand that the closest hurdle isn’t the last one. Sprinting between hurdles is important but there is more than one leap.
Far sighted. The future of the organization means that there is a future for the tribe. Individuals are best motivated through purpose and they’ll care more about the outcomes when they understand the vision for the future. Patience creates a future.
Doesn’t blame. Blame is the game for fast stops or crash, then burn. Having patience to process through trouble spots and learn from those experiences means that there really isn’t much room for blame.

Patience might feel more difficult, even risky. It isn’t for the short run, it’s for the long haul.

Long hauls require the best leadership of all.

Leadership is patient.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

23
Dec 16
2

Communicating with the C-Suite

Tags : C-Suite communication patience trust

It can be elusive, scary, and a place where people sometimes go and are never seen again. Some people will work for most of the career striving to get to the C-Suite, others prefer to avoid it.

Is it harder to communicate with those occupying the tower of the elite? If you’re not in the tower, the feeling just might be an overwhelming, yes.

What makes it so difficult? Aren’t these just people?

Yes, of course, but their charge is somewhat different. Sure everyone is working toward some contribution for the greater good of the organization, but those in the C-Suite are operating under a different kind of pressure. Their pressure is intense, their time very limited, and often they face decisions for setting direction that could result in an enormous victory or become the harshest defeat.

Do you have success communicating with the C-Suite? Are you looking for ways to improve?

Here are a few tips that might help:

Be straight forward. Time is critical for everyone, and those in the C-Suite are definitely concerned about time. Details, drama, or indecisiveness tend to slow things down and time often feels like it is already working against them. Dance less, and give it to them straight.
Bring evidence. Opinions are not facts. If you’re seeking permission or direction for a decision it might help to have a little proof in your proposal. Statistics, white papers, or stock reports might help your cause, but so will street smart news reports or details about a marketing campaign recently launched by a competitor.
Be compelling. If you deliver like a church mouse, you’re probably not commanding enough respect. Chances are good that arrogance is too much, but having appropriate confidence, showing passion for your thoughts or ideas, and having a concise delivery will help bring clarity to your message.
Deliver trusted information. There is a good chance that your C-Suite executive needs more information but their challenge is getting the right information. Their data needs to be reliable and valid. Often they are provided with so much information from so many different resources they simply don’t know who or what to trust. Become that trusted resource.
Be patient. While the C-Suite often operates at a lightening pace, it might seem like a turtle race to others in the organization. If you’re going to build a strong relationship with those in the tower you’re going to have to learn to be patient. What feels urgent to you might have a very low priority for them. When in doubt, stay calm and be patient.

Communication drives all that we do. The very best organizations are great communicators from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top.

Avoidance, hesitation, or procrastination likely won’t improve the outcomes of any communication, especially communication with the C-Suite.

Make sense?

Sweet, you’ve got this!

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

13
Sep 16
8

The Principle of Patience

Tags : generations leadership patience skills

We want it when we want it, and we want it now. Drive through restaurants, television and music on demand, and online purchases with overnight shipping.

Much of the urgency is often cited as a millennial or generation Z (Gen 9/11, iGen) trait. A characteristic that illustrates a lack of consideration for anything other than, “I get what I want when I want it.”

This is not exclusive to the youngest generations and people from every generation have developed expectations built with urgency in mind.

Should workplace teams consider patience as a guiding team principle?

Value of Patience

Consider that teams often experience a lack of patience when the workload is distributed unequally and only a few team members carry a majority of the load. In these cases, the desired short-term goal is achieved but long-term consequences can, and often do, emerge.

The consequences of an uneven balance of workload can destroy employee motivation when team members compare individual contributions and determine they only want to work as hard as the person who is doing less.

It doesn’t end there.

Patience as a Principle

The person who has fallen behind and had their contribution (or portion of distributed workload) completed by a faster moving employee often doesn’t develop the commitment or buy-in since they are not as connected to the work or project.

No buy-in often means a significantly strained, or worse, a failed project or change effort.

Fast, now, or overnight is certainly desirable, as long as the principle of patience guides the work.

– DEG

Originally posted on September 13, 2016, last updated on November 18, 2018.

Challenges with working across the generations? Understanding more about patience and respect are exactly why I wrote this book:

forgotten respect generations book

Buy now on Amazon

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

23
Feb 16
2

3 Lessons From The Intern

Tags : generational differences life lesson patience success

Comedy about business has had its share of success. We can consider the wildly popular television series, The Office, and depending on your taste the 2013 movie, The Wolf of Wall Street. Today, perhaps different from any other time in modern history, we have five generations active in our workforce and it is great timing for the business oriented comedy, The Intern.

Life is full of lessons, and for some humor may provide the thread for the needle to sew up some of life’s best. I watched The Intern this past weekend and here are three of many lessons I patched together:

Sometimes your future is not as important as the right now. Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) is interviewed by a millennial human resources manager and is asked about where he sees himself in ten years. Ben, a seventy year old internship candidate doesn’t understand why where he sees himself when he is eighty years old really matters. Good point.

Often we frame our thoughts to position us at a better place in the future. We imagine ourselves becoming more accomplished, successful, and valuable, but the other side of this thinking is that right now may be the most important time of all.

Patience is just as important as speed. We live in a fast-paced, stopping for nothing world, and there is no denying the value of speed. Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) is a fast-tracker millennial whose startup e-commerce business is growing at an almost out of control pace. Her meetings are scheduled in five minute intervals, she rides a bike around the office to save time, and her family life is desperately being challenged by all of the pace and pressure.

Sometimes though not everything is about speed, it may also be about patience. Practicing patience is a relationship and team building skill. People, teams, and businesses who make the time to embrace a core value of patience will often have more stamina to get through the rough spots. Take nothing for granted, especially your time—have patience.

Never forget where you came from. We’ve probably all either heard this or have said it. This insightful mantra is often used to cause reflection on remembering those persons or situations from which you came. The idea is to remember that while you may now be more successful or more accomplished than in the past, don’t forget those people or circumstances associated with where you’ve come from. Great point to remember.

There is another side to this though, sometimes we forgot about our accomplishments and we live feverishly chasing the next sale, opportunity, or job promotion forgetting all that is good about what we’ve already accomplished. In the movie, Ben invites Jules to remember that she is the person who created this thriving business as she struggles with a tough decision about hiring a CEO. Remember who built you (you did), always count the successes (focus on successes, not on short-comings) no matter how small.

A comedy may not be your favorite genre but if you are interested in taking a break from the intensity of navigating the five generations active in our workforce today you can find some valuable lessons through humor by watching The Intern.

– DEG

Photo Credit: Image from YouTube Official Trailer.

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker, and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at DennisEGilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: patience

Aug 19

-

Cost of Workplace Patience

Time Factor

Nov 17

-

Different is Better than Average

Does Your Work Count

Aug 17

-

Career Patience

Emotional Labor

Jun 17

-

Playing The Game

Managing Your Career

When The Music Stops

May 17

-

Other Side of Fast

Leadership is Patient

Dec 16

Sep 16

Value of Patience

Patience as a Principle

Feb 16

Search This Website

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Blog (Filter) Categories

Follow me on Twitter

Assessment Services and Tools

Recent Posts

Email Signup

Subscribe to newsletter

Contact Info