In her latest article, Sue Birchall shares practical strategies for school business professionals to manage overflowing to-do lists, prioritise tasks and maintain a healthy work-life balance
When looking at this topic, I was conscious of the fact that the school business professional role looks different in each school. From the small primary where you are the sometimes the only member of staff in your team, to the large MAT with distributed workflows and numerous staff – a one size fits all approach is not practical! There are, however, key skills that you can master that improve time management and thus your sanity!
The Overflowing To-Do-List
The role of the SBP is a many and varied one and over-flowing to-do lists are a reality of everyday practise. If you are lucky enough to be paid to work the school holidays, some of the demands can be moved to this time dependent on their priority but this is often not the case. So how do you structure your working day so that you do not feel compelled to work in your own time and lose the work life balance that we all richly deserve?
Prioritisation is key to time management and quite possibly the most important skill to perfect. As quoted by Steven Covey “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important”.
The nature of our role involves a significant element of immediacy, particularly during the school day. An acceptance of this and realisation that you will be giving up a significant portion of your time to operational day-to-day is a good place to start. It’s not always possible to be a completer/finisher!
The List Makers
Many of us are list makers but how often do you end up with a list that you cannot complete which is carried forward? Using prioritisation skills will enable you to structure your list to suit your setting and your own sense of equilibrium.
For myself, I like to have some easy wins on my list which are quite high up in priority simply because ticking them off gives me a sense of achievement. However, I also structure my list using a RAG rating with red being urgent and green less so. Annotating my list during the day helps me to see where I have gotten to and what I have passed on, a quick reference when asked about the progress of something.
Tackling Time Thieves
Technology has undoubtably improved our working lives – but there are downsides. You are always accessible. There are some time thieves in our everyday work practises which, if managed well, can improve efficiency and ‘make time’. In this I include e-mails and meetings.
Trial using some of the below to see if they work for you:
Not having the automatic pop up to alert e-mails works for some, it can be a huge time thief when you feel that you must answer an e-mail as it comes in
Having and controlling your own diary means that you can structure your day
Don’t hold meetings for meetings sake – use technology to add efficiency to your day
Be brave – use unavailable on your phones, e-mails and Teams to give yourself time to do the bigger jobs that cannot wait
Consider structuring your week so that there is some time to address those more strategic areas – try and work elsewhere in school or work at home
If you can, create delegation lines, think outside the box. Even if it is just some cover so that you can absent yourself to carry out bigger tasks
SBPs are very good at putting others first but your own development is of equal importance. Consider how you can build your CPD into your day. For myself, sharing with others and being abreast of all changes have been part of my training. I sign up to DfE and similar updates, I am a member of ISBL, a huge font of support and knowledge and have built up my own merry band of contacts on whom I can call on.
As I said at the start, not all of this will ‘fit’ your role and setting – but the principles are sound and will help you to enjoy what is a fantastic profession.
Be the first to comment