Together With

Good morning.  Where are the areas of your operation that are going well but unprepared for a change in the climate?  Asked in a different context, what do we wish we would have done two years ago from a recruiting and employee engagement standpoint to prevent where we are today?  One of my favorite quotes from Warren Buffet is, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked."  

Set yourself up for success

There are a few straightforward routines that will keep you from being caught "swimming naked."

The first is to spend ten minutes on Sunday night or first thing Monday morning planning out the priorities for the week.  Utilize the 80/20 rule to ensure the only tasks and activities that make it to your priority list fit the definition.  

We all spend a considerable amount of time, especially these days, putting out "fires."  It's part of the job.  The best of us realize this and put measures in place to prioritize and balance the proactive from the reactive tasks.  Starting a routine of making an 80/20 based priority list alone will make you more efficient than most of your industry peers.

The second routine that will set you up for success is to take that priority list and match each task to this priority grid.  To complete this, you need to label each task as urgent or not urgent and important or not important.  To decide, keep in mind that urgent tasks are those tasks that cause us to stop and address them immediately.  The "fires" such as ensuring the 3-11 shift today is filled.  An important task leads us towards our ultimate and often longer-term goal.

The final step is to reevaluate your list.  If at least 50% of your priority list doesn't fall into the "not urgent" and "important" quadrant, you're secretly swimming naked, but the tide may not have exposed you yet.  Delegate tasks, remove tasks and add priorities accordingly to get to 50% "not urgent" and "important" each week.

For more information on using this priority grid, check out this resource.

Together with Jenerations Health Education

This week we are bringing you our first free CEU opportunities of 2022.  Please share this great opportunity with your teams and colleagues.

Jenerations Health Education, Inc. helps you better serve stressed-out residents and families by addressing burnout and stress in your teams.  Join them for one or two FREE NAB-approved continuing education programs on burnout!

Recognizing and Responding To Burnout, Compassion Fatigue & Countertransference During A Healthcare Crisis will be held on 2/8, 11am ET/8am PT.

Beyond Burned Out: What To Do When You And Your Team Are Barely Hanging On will be held on 2/22, 4pm ET/1pm PT.

Grab your coffee and make it a great day.  We appreciate you and your dedication to your team and residents. -Thank you!