Time Management For Practice Managers

Time management for Practice/Business managers is something that we are all aware of in one form or another - there never seem to be enough hours in the day and we are always SO busy!

Time management for Practice/Business managers is something that we are all aware of in one form or another - there never seem to be enough hours in the day and we are always SO busy! It's a wonder we get anything done isn't it?! Well there are ways and means to ease this pain, or at least manage it, so let's discuss...

The first thing to say, is that running around in circles with our hair on fire achieves absolutely nothing. Fact. Curve balls constantly and consistently come along during the course of our working lives and we react to them and want to solve them immediately (or not...) - that is human nature to a degree.

So how can we ease the pain of the seemingly never ending stream of trivial twoddle we have to deal with all day every day?

Well first and foremost we need to accept that this kind of stuff does happen in addition to our usual daily tasks and it won't ever stop - get used to it, is essentially the crux of it I'm afraid.

We agree! Horrah - so let's get down to the nitty gritty of the matter shall we...

The first thing that you must do is make a good old fashioned list of tasks. This can be on a piece of paper or in a system such as Trello or Evernote - whichever you're comfortable with. You'll feel better just getting the tasks out of your head and into one of those formats.

You have now scheduled your priorities so it's now time to prioritise your schedule.Order your task list depending on the importance of each task - don't fall into the trap of picking the low hanging fruit first, that's not prioritising, that's taking the easy way out of the problem! Make sure you take the really important tasks (which are also often the toughest) head on - don't shirk it.

So, you're now a very busy bee doing all the important tasks from your list - but what about all the other tasks? I call these the 'woodpeckers' which are constantly tap, tap, TAPPING away in the back of your mind... but never seem to get done! How jolly frustrating! How do we get those tasks done? It's simple really - DELEGATE! Get someone else to do it for you, empower another member of the team - you can't do everything!

Oh and BTW, delegating to that person who you think 'isn't quite up to it' will often have some surprising results... Lastly, make sure you communicate with your boss - tell them what you are up against and that you are not made of electricity. This DOES NOT mean moaning or gripes at every turn, it means highlight the facts of the matter and ask for a collaborative solution. This may mean paying you some overtime, helping themselves or tasking other members of the team (as above).

We are all busy, but the ones who do the above well - don't moan about it half as much! ​ ​Edward Jones - Managing Partner at C&E Consult - Helping Dental Practices across the UK, take those steps to success!

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