“I’d like to do more, but I don’t have the time”

This is a comment Learning and Development Managers regularly hear about time management.

As we make our way around the country for Professional Development Days and visiting your Villages, this comment is closely followed by, “I’d like to do more.”

The truth is, this won’t change unless you do.

Stephen R. Covey said, “Time management is really a misnomer—the challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves.”

An open-door policy is a non-negotiable in the eyes of many Village Professionals, and rightly so. That said, consider this: if you are always available, then you can be visited at any time.

Could you look to introduce times of the day when visits are preferred? How would your residents respond if they knew the best time to visit you was from, say, 10am until 2pm?

Times outside of this they can still reach you, in the event of an emergency.

You can then go one step further to create ‘work blocks’ in your diary. Times when you are unavailable for meetings – which is important for internal requests. Your diary is public to your peers within the same network. They can work around your availability, and you around theirs.

This discipline will provide you time to work smarter. To respond to these queries and head office requests. To keep up with your compliance. And, to keep up with your own professional development goals. It will overall help your time management.

Having your door closed won’t be interpreted as not wanting to spend time with residents. Rather, it will be a sign that you are in the middle of ‘focus time’.

Block out regular time for professional development – completing a topic in the Knowledge Centre, going over your notes from the last Professional Development Day.  Reading industry newsletters like our FRIDAY newsletter 😊.