Patience Is A Virtue: And It’s An Important Soft Skill Too

No job is truly easy. No matter how qualified, how experienced or hard working an employee is, there will be problems. How they deal with problems in the workplace is a mark of an employee’s ability to cope. Problems require lateral thinking, teamwork, positivity and determination. Sometimes, things are out of our hands and we have to wait for a solution. That is where patience comes in. Arguably, we live in an impatient world; we have lost the soft skill of patience. Bookboon has a simple solution for your employees to gain back their patience.

The soft skill patience

Put simply, patience is the ability to take a moment to step back from a situation to assess. It is realising that decision-making should be slow and thoughtful. Most importantly, it demonstrates flexibility and the recognition of the need to wait. When we are patient, we:

• Accept that delay is likely in a variety of situations, rather than fighting back against it and trying to force the issue
• Suppress negative emotions associated with impatience such as anger, frustration, and restlessness
• Persevere in the face of difficulty and obstacles that slow down the process or threaten to derail it completely
• Are able to make a more rational decision about how to proceed in a given situation

It is obvious from these qualities quite why patience is a virtue. In the workplace, it seems to be a disappearing soft skill.

Why is it important to your employees, and can we do anything to encourage it?

Increasing importance of patience in the workplace

Charging headlong into the abyss with all guns blazing may seem to be the way to get things done in business, but it is a damaging culture. It is counterproductive to long-term success of your company. Increasingly, businesses are realising the need for patience as a soft skill in all of their employees. Some problems present themselves, and there is nothing that can be done at the time. Others require external input and teamwork to ensure the best outcome. Business leaders are listing it amongst the most important soft skills – even going so far as entering it into job descriptions.

The problems caused by lack of patience

Impatience leads to rash decisions. It leads to persistent bad decisions and it leads to mistakes. In the modern business world, you cannot afford to make mistakes that might cost your business money or prestige. Everybody is responsible for making their own decisions about their own jobs, from the very bottom to the very top. Even those on the lowest salaries make decisions about their jobs. It doesn’t need repeating that patience is a part of personal responsibility in the workplace. The key to the success of any business, in good times and in bad times, is that people are willing to admit to their mistakes and be willing to come up with a solution to put it right.

Bookboon’s eLibrary Solution: Relearn the virtue of patience

The instant gratification culture is a negative for your business. We need to relearn the virtue of patience in the workplace. Thankfully, there are ways that you can go about training your employees to channel their frustrations in a positive manner and accept what they can and cannot change.

Increasingly, businesses are using effective solutions such as Bookboon’s eLibrary to train their employees and help them learn the soft skills they need at a pace that is right for them. Dispense with the slow process of classroom learning and encourage patience through our large range of eBooks.

Test Bookboon’s eLibrary with this free demo now!