Making Impatience With Results About You First
Good leaders are naturally impatient people.
They are action-oriented and results-driven. This compels them to reveal or express their frustration any time an outcome doesn’t come to fruition quickly enough or with the quality they expect.
That’s not the problem. How they do it is.
They presume that directing their frustration and intolerance for delays and unrealized expectations toward all those involved will light a fire and increase their urgency and attention to detail.
In reality, it has the opposite effect. Team members interpret a leader’s impatience with results as an accusation. They hear the leader blaming them. Even for matters out of their control.
As a result, team members become defensive, resistant, and less trusting.
They rush to avoid the leader’s agitation but become less motivated to do a quality job. They interpret the leader’s continual restlessness for results as an insult, not as a challenge.
Once insulted, blamed, and accused, they become unmotivated to do their best work. What impatient leaders believe will light a fire actually douses the flame.
The problem is not that leaders are impatient for results. The issue is all about how they communicate it.
Leaders have a choice. They can make their impatience about other people, or they can make it about themselves.
You read that right.
Leaders who make their impatience about themselves express their frustration with results, not people.
Think about these statements of impatience directed at team members:
“Why did you miss the deadline?”
“Why can’t you get the project finished by Friday morning?”
“What is going on with the team that they produce such low-quality work?”
“I need this done faster and better.”
“The team needs to move more quickly if they are going to meet their goals.”
In each case, the team member is likely to feel as if they are the source of the leader’s frustration. While this might improve urgency on a short-term basis, long-term this is a recipe for resistance and demotivation.
The best leaders flip this script and turn their impatience inward, aiming it at themselves.
“What can I do to get the project finished by Friday morning?”
“I must be doing something that is resulting in low-quality work from the team.”
“What resources do you need to get this done faster?”
“My leadership needs to motivate the team to move more quickly to meet our goals.”
In these examples, the team member understands the leader’s impatience is with the results but doesn’t interpret their frustration directed at them.
Leaders who believe such statements and questions to be inaccurate or too indirect miss the point. The leader and their leadership always play the central role in producing timely and high-quality results.
Whether the leader chooses to make themselves the primary source of their expressed impatience is up to them.
Leaders who direct their impatience at themselves communicate the importance of outcomes without the accusation of blame.
The end result is a team motivated to act with urgency and quality.
Like you say, when leaders say, 'What can I do better?' instead of 'Why aren’t you faster?' they inspire a sense of urgency without whittling away trust.
It's important to note that everyone shares in responsibility in the results.
Your posts share wisdom that feels like it's always been there, but it takes a bit of newsletter snake oil to enlighten XD.
Good morning,
In retail management I was taught getting p*ssed off at a material item is totally acceptable. When you target an individual though that's a mortal sin (in our line of work).
One time I mistook a style of coaching as productive. I yelled at this young man while unloading. He was chatting with a young lady. Not paying attention to the line.
Shortly after this he resigned.
He was kind enough to sit down with me and explain why. It definitely hurt to hear.
I am glad it happened though.
I wished him best of luck with his next job.
Shortly after this, another young man left for similar reasons.
My point is even if the newest trend teaches ways to be more efficient. Sometimes we'd be wise to remember people are humans not robots.
Specifically when it's a physically demanding job that's hot and humid during summer time. Cold and damp during the winter. It's okay to let them rest for a few minutes (outside of their break/s).
Ultimately, most of these types of jobs are not enjoyable, but necessary for the business. So it's a shame to teach passion for what we do, loving the job, etc.... A focus should be to take pride in one's work (no matter what field and task), and make sure you are making enough to afford what you need and want from life. Finally, what helped me the most was finding intrinsic reasons to do awful tasks.
Most of my whys lay outside of my cubicle (current position), the kitchen, parking lot, backroom, etc.... It's about those I choose to spend my life with. They get a priority, when it comes to my free time.
Thank you for your time.