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Critical Skills - Patience - do we still have it?

Gregory Ronczewski

By Gregory Ronczewski, Director of Product Design at Ibbaka. See his skill profile.

Google defines Patience as "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset." Accept or tolerate. Quite radical. When we landed in Vancouver in the summer of 1993, to stay in touch with our families in Poland we did exactly what people did for thousands of years, we wrote letters. According to BBC Travel, the "civilisations like those of Egypt and China are said to have been amongst the first to use postal services, and the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires in modern-day Iraq were using forms of mail delivery before the Persian Empire was founded in the 6th Century BC." There is more from BBC: "According to scholars, a message could be sent from Susa, the administrative capital of the empire in western Iran, to Sardis, in what is now western Turkey, in between seven and nine days, following the Royal Road, a sort of highway connecting the two cities." Seven to nine days is better than when we had to wait for our letter to reach Poland and then receive a reply. The wait did not make me angry or upset. It was expected, so we waited. Sometimes I would add a photo or a map that I cut out from a newspaper, and the thought that my parents will receive it in ten to fourteen days was making me happy, not angry. It was a pleasant feeling that the letter is getting closer and closer.

I don't write letters anymore. Now, I type without looking at the keys and my handwriting is quite bad. Another once critical skill vanishes without a trace. Do you still write letters by hand?

Fast forward to the amazon-next-day-delivery, and any delay, I mean ANY, is not acceptable. Today is Sunday. A beautiful day on Bowen Island where I live, which started with a surprise - no Internet. We did all the usual tricks with my son, unplugging the modem, waiting ten seconds, and plugging the cable back. Nothing. I picked up my cell and tried to find the tech support number—an almost impossible task—that sent me on a loop from page to page only to arrive at the place I started. Luckily, I had the number written in a phone book. "Your current wait time is estimated at fifteen minutes. Would you like to use the call-back function? Yes, I would.

Did it make me angry? Not yet, as I was in the middle of making breakfast. Eventually, the phone rang, and the tech started to troubleshoot my Internet. Unfortunately, according to her, my old modem had to be replaced. What she said next was unthinkable - we scheduled a technician for a visit in four days! FOUR DAYS! It's impossible. How would we function without the Internet? Can we pick up the modem in the city? No, this option has been cancelled.

The fact that I am writing this only a few hours later means that the Internet is working. Fixing it was a nice little project. We recently launched the Design Thinking Open Competency Model and the process we went through today was similar to what our model suggests. We used Pattern Recognition, Observation, Critical Thinking, Curiosity, Collaboration and a lot of Patience. Yes, Patience is a skill. We went through a couple of process loops disconnecting and connecting back all the cables. We used our wonderful and versatile Miele vacuum cleaner, and then, after an hour or so, the signal was back.

We did not cancel the order, and we are expecting a new modem in a few days, just in case. We will not be desperately waiting for it since we now have a process of getting the signal back. The whole experience made me think of how impatient we are. We expect a minimal wait, instant feedback, and gratification, but it is not always possible. When sixteen years ago we moved to the island, we were really angry with the ferry. We know that the ferry is always late, so instead of being upset, we carry a couple of books in the car. It is relatively straightforward to come to terms with easy-to-understand moments, like the late delivery or plane departure. But, sometimes, life can test our patience. Health issues often require months to resolve. Instant feedback and next-day delivery are satisfactory, but let's try to be patient.

Ryszard Ronczewski in his favourite costume - photo was taken many, many years ago.

Am I a patient person? I think I am. From morning, I have been waiting for my Mother to call. Today, there was an event at the Threater Atelier in Sopot put together in the memory of my Father, titled For us, you are still here - Hommage à Ryszard Ronczewski. Obviously, I could not be there, and it will be months before I sit by his tombstone. My Mom said that it was beautiful and close to the end, organizers gave everyone in the audience pens and pieces of paper to write some thoughts to my Dad. Later, those pieces of paper got collected into an old suitcase. The theatre building sits right on the beach, and there are big doors that once open allow the audience to see the beach and the sea. They did open the door, and a Pierrot, which my Dad often played, took the suitcase and walked away to the sea. I was told that they recorded the spectacle, and at one point, I will receive the recording... I just need to be patient.

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