Do you know how long a task takes you?
Not the big tasks like writing a report but the little ones?
Importantly, do you give yourself enough time in your day for these small tasks? Or do you find yourself at the end of each day going “Where did all my admin time go?” and “Why have I only managed to get one thing ticked off my to-do list?”.
Recently, we had a small task. A simple reschedule. One you would have thought would take no time at all. But it took 4 people and over 1 hour.
It started like any normal day. Paul, in his Allied Health Assistant role, went to the primary school, as he has done all year to see 2 siblings. They are seen one after the other to save on travel costs for the family.
So week 1 term 3, Paul has the first sibling coming in crying. The timetable has changed, and she is missing out on sport. She loves sports and wants to qualify for the heats in the upcoming carnival but now misses out on doing so.
Paul speaks to her teacher who has only found out of the change on the day. Over the next 10 minutes, they are able to create a workaround. Crisis averted.
Paul then phones me. The workaround is that he is now travelling to the school twice a week. Seeing the siblings on different days sounds easy enough, but now we have to reorganise his days to make admin, meetings, lunch breaks and the rest of his schedule work. 15 minutes later, and we have a plan that works.
Now to communicate this to the family. I phone Mum. She is happy with the plan. Grateful that we were able to work it all out. Awesome. Another 10 minutes has gone by.
Then I need to update the calendar, change all the travel times for both siblings, move things around in Paul’s calendar, and then email it out to Mum. 20 minutes later, it is all done.
Paul has the last job to do. Email the teacher to confirm the changes. 5 minutes.
60 minutes later, it is all confirmed. Everyone is informed. Job done.
Except I didn’t have 30 minutes in my day to get this done. So everything else had to go on hold.
Paul didn’t have an extra 30 minutes in his day either.
As Speech Pathologists and Allied Health Assistants, we have the unexpected occur.
When it does, we want to get it sorted out as fast as possible to keep everything running. But when our days are packed with clients and existing tasks, it becomes incredibly difficult.
It’s tempting to look at the space in our calendar and feel that we have to fill up every last bit.
As employers, it can feel like ‘lost’ or ‘dead’ time.
But it’s not.
Slush time is so important. It gives everyone space to breathe. To feel and to know there is time to deal with the unexpected. To be able to get those extra tasks done without having to stay after work, work through your breaks, to work on the weekends.
If we are serious about burnout.
About keeping ourselves and others in the profession, it starts with something as simple as white space in the calendar.
