In this face-paced world of never-ending things to do, things to plan, things to make, things to anticipate, things to worry about, as our hearts beat faster and faster toward …
Are your days crazy busy? Do you spin your wheels, but never fully accomplish things? Do you ever feel out of control at work?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, then I have a plan to share with you. It worked for me, and has worked for many many other directors. I suspect it will work for you as well. And it will save your sanity!
When we begin to take a closer look at how we spend our time, we can begin to control our days, and become more productive in the process. This is the essence of effective management, and all directors must be effective managers. At the heart of all effective management is the art of managing oneself—and changing our focus from what we are doing to how we are doing it.
Becoming an effective director means making productive use of our time.
R. Alec MacKenzie, time management consultant says, “Trying to do everything requires no judgment. Deciding on what is important, and working on those aspects of our job, is what management is all about.”
Let’s begin.
I was the Director of four children’s centers during my career. The last was the largest, and I stayed for twenty years. There were 18 classrooms (6 infant, 6 toddler, 5 preschool, and one kindergarten). There were 200 fulltime children, my staff of 65, and upwards of 400 parents. Our program was open Monday through Friday from 7am to 6pm. A sizeable job!!
I needed to take control of my days from the very beginning. It is key to managing effectively.
No one else can do this for us. We must do this ourselves. It’s important for our mental health, our sanity, and our productivity. We simply cannot be effective if we are running around, putting out fires, not getting our own work done, and getting stressed in the process. We are the leaders and we must be under control—always!
I began taking control by making a list of all the tasks I did, and when I did them. I kept paper and pen close at hand for several days, and made my list as I was doing my work. The list was extensive. There was the people part—my team of teachers, the children, their parents, and how they spend their days at our children’s center. There was the early childhood program part—the developmentally appropriate environments, materials, equipment, and indoor and outdoor spaces that would change frequently to meet individual needs. There was the organization part and the business—the who, what, where, when, and how of every detail of each day. A sizeable task!!
I gathered calendars, paperwork, handbooks, messages online and on the phone, post-it notes, the mail. I listed all the meetings I attended or ran, training I did for teachers and parents, classrooms to visit, parents to tour—everything I did for this job went on my list. I included the work I did at my desk as well as the work I did among my people (the children, parents, and my staff).
I wrote down what I did and when, to find out how I currently used my time. Sometimes writing things down will reveal the obvious—especially if we then read it aloud.
When I had my list as complete as possible, I then began to plan my work days—what I would do and when—in an order that now made sense. I scheduled my regular work tasks in blocks of time. And that will be the topic for my next blog post. That and much more. Stay tuned …
If you’re on a roll and ready for the next steps to sanity, you can get the details more quickly by ordering and reading Beginning to End: The Life Cycle of a Child Care Center—A Director’s Story, at amazon.com Books, as well as on Balboa Press. See you next month!
