MANAGING TIME 175
The Manager’s Time A significant difficulty in moving from a staff nurse position to a leadership position is the need to develop different time-management and organizational skills. In a staff nurse role, the regis- tered nurse has little, if any, free or uncommitted time. No planning is required, because every minute is taken. In contrast, when nurses move to a leadership position, they are responsible for defining how time will be spent. Learning to focus on setting goals, determining priorities, and evaluating time use is an important part of the analysis.
Setting Goals Nurses are accustomed to setting both long- and short-range goals, although typically such goals are stated in terms of what patients will accomplish rather than what the nurse will achieve. A critical component of time management is establishing one’s own goals and time frames.
Goals are specific statements of outcomes that are to be achieved. They provide direc- tion and vision for actions as well as a timeline in which activities will be accomplished. Defining goals and time frames helps reduce stress by preventing the panic people often feel when confronted with multiple demands. Although time frames may not be as fast as the nurse manager would like (the tendency is to expect change yesterday), necessary actions have been identified.
Individual or organizational goals encourage thinking about the future and what might hap- pen, what one wants to happen, and what is likely to happen (Sullivan, 2013). Goal setting helps relate current behavior, activities, or operations to the organization’s or individual’s long-range goals. Without this future orientation, activities may not lead to the outcomes that will help achieve the goals and meet the ideals of the individual or organization. The focus should be to develop measurable, realistic, and achievable goals.
It is useful to think of individual or personal goals in categories, such as:
● Department or unit ● Interpersonal (at work) ● Professional ● Financial ● Family and friends (outside of work) ● Vacation and travel ● Physical ● Lifestyle ● Community ● Spiritual
This partial listing is a guide to stimulate thinking about goals. Think about long-term goals, lifetime goals, and short-term goals. These should be divided into job-related goals and personal goals. Job-related goals may revolve around unit or departmental changes, whereas personal goals may include personal life and community involvement.