Patience and Practice Build Long-Term Results and Outcomes

Most of us are not born experts in anything. In fact, few of us try something new and can immediately feel comfortable with it. When you look at the best athletes, the best writers, the best actors, the best musicians, the best anything, they almost all say that it took them time and a lot of work to get to where they are today. That mindset applies to areas of business as well. As leaders, it can be easy to forget that. When we introduce new ideas, new concepts, new ways of working, we cannot expect everyone to know how to do it right away.

Retail is in a constant state of flux. And if the last year taught us anything, it is that it will continue to change in the most unexpected ways. The ability to adapt to change is a ‘must have’ skill in our environment, but that doesn’t mean it always happens automatically or even quickly for everyone. There is an element of time that must be considered. There is the need for repetition to occur for the skills to be established.

In many of the articles I write, I talk about being good to yourself when trying new things. It takes patience to get used to doing something new. It requires practice to get the hang of the new steps or processes that are being introduced. With that practice, activities become routine. As we have introduced significant change in our business, the idea of patience and practice is equally relevant and necessary. As leaders, we must expect the need for the time and trying to get accustomed to new activities. These are both pieces that we must acknowledge, speak to, and model for our teams to know that we understand that change doesn’t magically happen overnight and without any work. 

Patience

Patience is about coaching, explaining, training, and modeling. It means taking a step back and observing actions, and providing feedback. Patience is a mindset of understanding. Usually, when introducing change to our teams, we have already had some amount of time to absorb and grapple with the impact it will have on ourselves and others. At the point of communicating that to our teams, they have not had that same opportunity. Patience is about giving them that time to go through those same emotions and actions for themselves.

Patience is not everlasting. There are time limits for others to pick up and begin to demonstrate the new expected behaviors. While those timelines will vary from person to person and situation to situation, providing feedback along the way will ensure everyone knows exactly where they stand on the journey of change.

Practice

Practice makes perfect. Right? That’s the saying we have heard our entire lives. While I stop short of saying perfection is what we are really after, I can say practice makes proficient. Doing activities multiple times creates familiarity and comfort in getting to the outcomes. Repetition is what makes us better at anything we attempt to do. It takes commitment and, in many instances, grit to ensure that you can gain the level of proficiency you are seeking. In the early stages of anything new, it can be scary not knowing exactly what you are supposed to do (that’s where patience comes in, by the way). But over time, we get better at what we are doing, and soon we feel competent in completing the new actions.

When change occurs, the feedback team members receive from their leaders can either accelerate or slow their ability to grasp the change. Practice without feedback will only get you so far. If you are not certain if what you are doing is correct along the way, it is harder to focus your practice on the areas that need the most work. Leaders act as a coach to help identify the areas that can be worked on and provide tips on making those improvements. Even the most elite have coaches that help them translate practice into consistent high performance. Our world of retail is no different. In the role of Store Manager, District Manager, Regional leader or higher, the role you play first and foremost is a coach. Developing strong leaders around you is your top priority, and it is about observing ‘practice sessions’ and providing feedback to help them succeed.

“Patience and practice” almost sounds too simple to be necessary for any business. Conceptually they are easy to understand. But in reality, both are critically important and challenging to put into action. We all want things to happen with speed. We all want others to do the work without fail or flaws. Coaching with patience and allowing for practice to happen takes…well…yes, you guessed it — patience and practice. I suppose that makes this a bit of a circular reference, but I think that is the point. There is never an end to the need for patience, and there is never an end to the need for practicing. We can all get better, we can all learn through experience, and we can ensure we give ourselves the necessary time and grace to absorb new information and put it into action.

How do you incorporate patience and practice into your leadership style?

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