Podcast 15: The Soft Skill of Patience and Its Many Rewards

Patience makes the list of soft skills. We'll explain why and how
it fosters opportunities at work and in careers.
 
Introduction
Dr. Tobin Porterfield (‘0:20'): Welcome to Serious Soft Skills,
Episode 15. With me is Bob Graham. For you newcomers, welcome.
Let's set the stage. We have uncovered a list of 55 soft skills
from our review of academic research and our teaching of college
students, and our work in diverse industries. We use our keen eye
on soft skills to help uncover how they work and how we all can
improve them. We look at what they mean and why they matter in
today's workplace.
Porterfield (‘0:48'): Now we are going to take a look at patience.
As I say that Bob, I feel like I need to take a deep breath. Let's.
Deal. With. Patience. I feel relaxed when I say it.
Bob Graham (‘1:00'): I have been waiting forever for you to ask me
that question. I am at the edge of my seat. Could he have gone any
longer with that introduction and the guy with the really good
voice that we paid so much money for. Then back to you. I just
can't wait any longer. I am just going to jump right into it.
Porterfield (‘1:23'): Maybe patience isn't your thing.
Graham (‘1:23'): It is not. I openly admit that. This is one that I
cringe to see some of the people who are around me to hear that I
am talking about patience. I am not a very patient person. I am
hoping we can learn some things from our discussion. I did some
research because it is not my strong suit.
Getting a Handle on Basic Patience
Graham (‘1:47'): There was a good article about patience in the
Huffington Post in April 2015. It's by Dr. Heiger Zayed. I
apologize if i misstated that name. He really explained where we
start with the idea of patience. He say:
Patience gives us the option to cool down and to extend the grace
to ourselves and others in the immediate moment — when we need it
most. To be patient means we don't react mindlessly to minor
irritations and inconveniences. Patience gives us the freedom to
respond in a more kind and gentle way.
Graham (‘2:42'): He ends with a really interesting idea, which is
that it is one of the greatest virtues in all religions. And if you
think about that, it is really true. We really value patience —
like we value gold because it's hard to find gold. And it's hard to
find patience, and when I find it, it's often by just luck. I don't
think I am consistent with patience at all and that's part of the
challenge with it. But you want to talk a little differently about
patience? Can you explain why it's a soft skill and why we think
it's important?
How Patience is a Soft Skill
Porterfield (‘3:18'): We cast patience as one of our Individual
skills that we bring to the workplace, but it's not one we
naturally bring to any relationship. It is something most of us
have to work on, myself included. It gets back to that core
element. It can be so damaging to a relationship to not have
patiences involved. My concern with including patience or
encouraging it in the workplace is that it can run in conflict with
the need to be proactive. We want to be careful that we cast
patience and some similar ones that we talk about with respect for
the people we work with. Empathy is one of them. Patience isn't
about how we deal with time management or how we deal with
proactive or taking initiative. Patience doesn't mean sitting back
and letting things come, but as Zayed had said, allowing us to take
a breath and think about that next step and not respond in a way
that will be inappropriate or damaging. We really are talking about
being patient with other people and being patient even with
ourselves and our situation.

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