PMcrunch

As project managers, we are at the center of one of the biggest things life has to offer – time.  So often, the push is on getting more and more out of our time – personally and as groups.  This has been especially true for the last decade or two, where productivity has been a key focus across industry.

The virtue of PATIENCE - going way back to Aesop and beyond - comes right at odds with this view.  Is the old virtue patience perhaps the antidote to the ills of time crunches, the time urgency mentality, and push for increased productivity?  Let’s take a look.

1. Time Crunches – Where do time crunches come from?  The project manager has more control over this than he thinks?  With a strong dose of planning and a firm grasp of the time/quality/quantity tradeoffs for a project, we can present the reality to stakeholders and let them choose the alternatives.
2. Time Urgency Mentality – I have heard - and have practiced – the idea of ‘do it now’, as it does provide some value.  The idea is that it can reduce procrastination, get you and your team into action, and get results.  But it must be balanced with a heavy dose of patience in the sense that we need to be aware of our general direction, need to operate within thoughtfully considered plans, and not be driven entirely by immediate results.
3. Increased Productivity – Often we think that because we are busy and taking action constantly, we are being as productive as we could be.  While practicing this is great for people that just are not taking action, it also has a flip side.  We also need to be patient before ‘pulling the trigger’ and make our well-considered actions count.
   

What it all boils down to is that patience is a real virtue that we need to cultivate.  Patient leaders tend to delegate better and operate more effectively - because they take the long view.  

So how can we cultivate the virtue of patience?  Patience—or lack thereof—is determined by our core belief about time.  An impatient person often will never have enough time — and that tends to make them rush and/or be overly demanding of others.  With a closer look, they are shocked to realize how much of their behavior is driven by self-induced time-urgency. 

Barring an actual crisis, our judgment about time is subjective; after all, we all have the same amount of time.  Thus, it would stand to reason that, with practice, we could replace a time-deficient viewpoint with a more generous view.  Thus, a great question to ask is,  “Is your fundamental belief about time one of abundance, or lack?”
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John Reiling, PMP
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