The leader uses both the quantity and quality of his time to
advance the mission and vision of the organization. Time has two dimensions, quantity and
quality. Examine your calendar
appointments for the next month (quantity).
Do they reflect the second dimension of time (quality)? Explain.
Reply to at least one other person.
Reply to at least one other person.
My time this past year has been used very much intentionally. In August, I set up target dates for the entire year based on upcoming evaluation/IEP dates. The target dates were intentionally set two weeks before the earlier of the two dates. In planning, I took vacations when school would be out of session and inservices into consideration. My computer calendar was synched to my iPhone and iPad so that I was always connected. When transfers in occurred, they were added to the master list which was created in Excel and on my calendar. In Excel and on my calendar, I listed permission signing dates, routing dates, roll dates, notice dates, and target dates. When new referrals occurred, they were added to the list as well.
ReplyDeleteTo use time more efficiently, I started setting up staffing times and dates when parents signed the iPad for consent to evaluate. Rather than having two contacts, I had one. I gave each parent a reminder call the day prior to the meeting. Reminders to give reminder calls were placed in my computer's calendar.
As a result, all of our meetings have been before the due date and everything has been signed. Though I realize that this planning was an efficient use of time and likely necessary, I still wonder if it was the best use of my time. Are there other, better uses of my skills and training as a school psychologist? The answer to this is yes, but necessity is the mother of invention. In answer to Elizabeth's earlier question regarding my metaphor about draining the swamp, I have felt like the little Dutch boy holding back the ocean with his finger in the dike.
A large quantity of work was accomplished, but the quality of the time spent was not at the level that I would have liked it to be. I guess my efficiency created time to do this Spirit Movers book blog which has allowed more time for creative thought. If we spend all our time with our nose to the grindstone and never look up, we will miss all the great possibilities that exist out there.
Alan, you have learned a lot about yourself this year. I must say you appear much more relaxed lately than you did in the beginning of the year. You have found ways to maximize your time and organization shortcuts to help you get the job done. Hang in there the year is almost over.
DeleteI like your idea to schedule the meeting at the time of getting consent. I started doing that out of need or survival at the end of the year and found it very helpful and a time saver. It is great that you can reflect on your year and point out the short cuts that have made your job easier.
DeleteWho ever has enough time? I really think it is necessary to think about the difference between quantity and quality time. Get organized. Often I ask others here at the office, if I have missed something let me know and I will get it done. You can't add time to the day but you can take the time you have and make it more productive. It helps to be able to multitask. I have really learned not to procrastinate this year. Get it done!!!! There will be more to do tomorrow!!!!. Never forget though that it is alright to ask others for help when you are feeling overwhelmed and like you don't have time to do something properly. We advertise HPEC as being one big family and familes help each other out.
ReplyDeleteI'm a "get it done" type of person also. I like to scratch things off my list so if it's something easy to scratch off I would rather just get it done. I wish I could be one of those people that worked well under pressure but I'm not.
DeleteI am often tempted to shut my door and/or turn off the lights so I'm more productive and people won't bother me. But didn't I post earlier that our MUST as a school psych is to help?! Lol! I can't win!! :)
DeleteMarcy, this made me realize even more than I am not good about asking for help! Eeekk - McRel goal for next year?! lol!
Asking for help is very difficult for me, both in my professional and personal life. As a result, I usually end up with a calendar and to do list that is overflowing. This causes me to constantly feel pressured and overwhelmed, which is not a positive area to operate from on a daily basis.
DeleteOver the past couple of years, I’ve made several changes to help with time management. For example, I’ve placed all of my teacher questionnaires in a google document. After permission is signed, I send that form in an email. Teachers fill it out online and the responses are sent back to me. I have found that it has saved me tons of time and the teachers are quicker at responding. I also use simple things like copy and paste blurbs. For example, when writing an IEP if there are no concerns in a section, I have a blurb that I can copy and paste. When setting up meetings, I have experimented with google calendar. I send out a calendar invite and then teachers can respond yes or no if it works for them. That meeting is then placed on their calendar. I have also used boomerang, which is part of my google email. When I send out a notice of meeting, I also create an email through boomerang that will remind them the day of the meeting.
ReplyDeleteUsing a google doc. questioner has been wonderful for me as well. I also use the google calendar. It's nice,because I can see other peoples schedules, what rooms are available and it puts it on their calendar.
DeleteCatherine, I may need to pick your brain in using technology to become more efficient. I have used technology this year, but not at the level that you are able to use it. Looking at available technology might be a good use of psych. meeting time to teach an old dog a new trick. In terms of time, I have found that, as I age, I slow down. It seems to take more time to do everything. Learning new tricks might help my brain stay younger or at least slow the aging process.
DeleteIn Syracuse, we are in the process of putting all of our documents on google doc. I am looking forward to this and hoping that I will get faster feedback from teachers.
DeleteI try to do things when I am thinking of them and to not procrastinate. This is one of the reasons I am able to get things done so efficiently. Some of the other things I do to make sure that the quantity of my works does not hinder the quality of my work is using google calendar to set-up times to pull kids for testing, using my one week on and one week off system and moving kids up when possible.
ReplyDeleteYou may be wondering what my one week on and one week of system is. It is probably not for everyone, but it works well for me if scheduling allows it. I test kids, do paperwork, send out NOM etc. for a week and the next week I will have 5-6 IEP meetings. After, all the week of tons of IEP meeting ( I do paperwork after the meetings as well) as the next week I go back to testing and paperwork.
Rachel-
DeleteYour week on/week off system reminded me of another strategy I heard about a teacher using. It wasn't a teacher from HPEC, but she would schedule all of her staffings for 1 day. I'm not even kidding. ALL of them. I can't remember how big her caseload was, and for some reason I'm thinking it took place during an 'inservice' type day where staff was present, but students weren't. I can't even imagine how much prep time would go into organizing something like that. Maybe it would work out well though, so the rest of the year she could just focus solely on teaching and not have to worry about any of the other stuff??? I don't know... It just sounds nuts to me, haha!
Brittney! I don't think I could do them all in one day ouch. She must have been super organized and patient. Her method does make sense.
DeleteI have heard you talk about your week on, week off system several times this school year. It seems to be very effective for you.
ReplyDeleteTime…..that word alone stresses me out a bit. There never seems to be enough time during the day to get all tasks that need accomplished completed. I have a weekly to do list with target dates to accomplish tasks. I need the to do list to keep me focused in the right direction. I need the accomplished feeling that I get when I cross something off my to do list. This was a crazy busy year for me. At the beginning of the year, I felt like my feet hit the ground running and that I continued running the marathon until just recently. I learned to prioritize. I developed a system that I followed with each student after gaining consent. There were times that my system failed me due to overload, but I was able to spend “time” on it and get things straightened out.
ReplyDeleteThis post asks us to look at our calendar for the next month, so I did that. I am glad I am late posting because if I would have been looking at May instead of June I may have stressed out a bit more than I am. However, in looking at June, I can take a deep breath. I will be spending time organizing my office and getting prepared to start next school year. After my contract is up, I will then switch my focus to getting ready for baby number 4’s entrance into this world. My children seem to be involved in every activity around so we have lots of meetings, camps, barrel races, practices, and games to attend. I will be attending everyone with a smile on myself (well that is only if it is not boiling outside). Spending time with my family is really what I live for and I am very much looking forward to it this summer.
Yes, June is a month I enjoy looking ahead into.
DeleteLike Jamie, I am glad that I am looking at my calendar for June, rather than April and May! And to echo Marcy - who ever has enough time, really!
ReplyDeleteThe months of April and May I struggled greatly with having enough time in the day and found myself breaking my rule of taking work home at nights. Had I not though, Tressa REALLY would've been bugging me for paperwork and completed IEPs. I am a list person and take great pleasure in crossing things off that are completed.
I am loving the quality of my time at the present moment, even if it's just as busy - helping with VBS, running my daughter to theater practices and softball, and dodging tornadoes!
I definitely fall in the intentional category with the facet of time. I focus on the quality of my reports, rather than quickly completing them just to say it's done. I always say, I don't want my name associated with a poorly written IEP. There are some situations in which I could be at the inspired level and did a better job of delegating duties. However, I don't believe I have the personality and disposition to be a the "soul fulfilling" status - and I'm okay with that!
I feel like during the summer (i.e. the next month) I can have LOTS of quality time, because the absolute, necessary tasks are generally fewer, so I can allocate a greater quantity of time to work on/complete them. However, during the school year, I feel like I’m often in survival mode, so the quality of my time is likely lacking. And to be honest… It feels like the quantity is, too! How is that even possible?! You have to have at least ONE or the other, right??? Haha!
ReplyDeleteI am a list writer and love to cross of things. Every day - even Saturdays and Sundays, I write a list. It is less stressful for me to see what there is that needs done and its not just floating around in my head loosely. My quality of work may hinder because I am trying to cross things off my list. I do believe my quality of time with others is usually genuine. I may have a hundred things on my list but if I am visiting with someone or a team, my mind and attention is usually 100% there.
ReplyDeleteLooking at my calendar for June, it's obvious that my family is a priority for me. Most of what is on my calendar revolves around my children or extended family.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at my professional calendar for March, April, and May, I don't like what I see. Most all the appointments and notations revolve around the assessment process. Getting permission, testing students, writing reports, and attending staffings, etc. etc. etc. My job as a psychologist should be about so much more than this. As Elizabeth said in an earlier post, we must make time to help others and make helping others a priority. Hopefully, I'll find a way to make my calendar look different in the future.
June is about family, their lessons and put off Dr. appointments, projects I've chosen because they were of interest, and preparation from the coming year. That doesn't sound bad at all. When I look back into April and the first of May, though, I too see primarily assessments and organizing them.
ReplyDelete