Crisis Management
Don’t Order the T-Shirts Chief ... and Other Time Management Ideas
Kelly Walsh and Dan Jones
The fire department leaders I work with fight many battles on and off the fire ground. One that comes up most often is the battle with the clock. I frequently hear comments like,“I am always up until midnight getting my reports done,” or “I can’t get away from my computer long enough to visit my stations.” Most of us like to be busy. It keeps us engaged, moving and our skills sharp. But being too busy all the time is stressful on our bodies and our minds. According to Psychology Today,
20 Fall • 2020
Time Management is an art form. physical symptoms such as sleep problems, headaches and even chest pains are just a few of the physical impacts of stress. Poor concentration, increased alcohol or drug use and isolation weigh in on the behavioral side. How do you get back in control of
your work time so that it doesn’t own you? Here are a few strategies to help:
Collect Data Take a spreadsheet and list your day in 15-minute increments. On a normal work week, write down what you did all day — even the hallway conversations. No time to track your time? Then you need to do this! Like a financial budget, we can’t manage our time until we know where we spend it. Typically, leaders will tell me they are surprised to find how many hours they spend having impromptu conversations
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from visitors who “pop in” for a quick second that takes an hour. What does your data say? Look for opportunities to take some of your time back for your priorities.
Triage Look at your work priorities just like a medical emergency. As a leader people bring you problems in rapid succession. As consummate problem solvers, we tend to want to solve everything for everyone.That is an admirable quality, but we can get burned out and might also fail
Carolina Fire Rescue EMS Journal
