Don’t you feel like there are not enough hours in a day? 8-10 hours just doesn’t feel like enough time to execute all of the expectations put on you in a day. You have to examine patients, balance reports, manage inventory, manage staff. Maybe you’re a doctor who is managing their own private practice, or maybe you're a manager trying to whip your practice into shape. Either way, learning to prioritize and manage your time is just as important as learning to manage your staff and appointments.
On a day to day basis, you will find yourself having to put things on hold. A staff member will send you an email asking you to approve their PTO, meanwhile an optician will need you to drop everything and run out to buy them packing tape ASAP, all while an insurance company has been repeatedly denying your claims over a coding issue you can’t seem to resolve. Stop. Think. Prioritize.
You can try to remember the 3D rule: Delete anything that isn’t busy work, that is background noise, or doesn’t serve a higher purpose. Defer anything that isn’t time sensitive needs to be moved to a secondary to-do list. Delegate tasks to your team. If a piece of equipment breaks, delegate that to an employee to manage. Have someone call the manufacturer ASAP to resolve the issue. Anything that is busy work, such as dusting the frame displays or alphabetizing the contact lens inventory can wait. You can defer things that aren’t time sensitive like planning meetings or rep lunches.
Remember, everyone thinks their problem or need should be your top priority, because it’s their top priority. One of my staff members once called me four times in a day to ask me if I had fixed her time card. I was down two employees that day, I had a deadline I was struggling to meet, and payroll wasn’t even going to be processed for another week. It’s important to make your employees feel heard and valued, but once you communicate that you’ve received their request and you will get it taken care of, you do not need to let your staff make you feel rushed to complete the request. I assured my employee that I would achieve her request, but it had to be in a reasonable time frame due to other more immediate concerns. Being direct and leveling with people is a great way to gain respect and trust from your staff. You can also bargain with your staff. If someone needs you to do something for them and they feel like it’s top priority, ask them to take something off of your plate and then do the quick task for the employee. This frees you up to tackle something else!
You should also attempt to schedule as much as possible. You can send invitations to your staff via shared calendars to plan time with employees to have a one on one meeting to voice their concerns or perform their performance reviews. This will cut back on their need to call you constantly or walk into your office and distract you from your tasks between patients. Scheduling an hour a day to work on one big project or meeting at a time makes it easier to execute the things you haven’t found time for previously. If you are constantly waiting around for the time to do something, you never achieve anything. You need to stop feeling guilty about putting tasks on the back burner for a few hours a week to work on something else.
It’s time to stop the clutter of sticky notes on your desk- Start using apps like Evernote for notes or your Google Calendar for reminders. For Team Organization and project planning try some programs like Trello or Asana. Sometimes running an office feels impossible. Let Sol Operations Solutions help you learn to successfully manage your time, all while bringing out the best in your staff so you can trust them to do more for you to keep the clinic flowing smoothly. Check out the website and subscribe to the blog to find out weekly! #FocusMode #FocusFriday #CreatetheSolutionBlog
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