Time Management in Rehab Centers

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If you operate a rehab center, you know firsthand how easily your plans for the day can be quickly sidelined. You may find yourself wondering how you can improve efficiency. If so, the following time management hacks can help you improve your rehab center, and save your sanity.

What is Time Management?

Time management involves controlling your available productive hours with the goal of gaining better efficiency and results. Effective time management relies on adequate planning, organizing, and prioritizing of the day’s objectives. Tasks are then aligned with objectives and goals, and then allotted an amount of time in which to be completed.

Managing time efficiently can improve all aspects of the organization, including the quality of treatment services provided and employee morale. Effective time management has the net effect of getting more things accomplished in a shorter period of time.

Why is Efficient Time Management Important?

Rehab centers, like most businesses, function better when there is order. A well-managed rehab communicates its expectations to the team and supports them by providing adequate time resources. The team feels a sense of control over their workday and job performance when expectations are realistic and fair.

Time management protocols guide the team to meet the daily needs and goals of the rehab. Tasks are scheduled in a manner that allows them to be achievable within the allotted time. Through the use of time management systems, the team gains confidence and feels empowered to succeed in their roles.

Challenges to Time Management in Rehab Centers

The rehab setting can be unpredictable. Situations can develop quickly that force leadership to change their focus from completing the daily goals to addressing the crisis. This is often unavoidable, but there are ways to keep the momentum moving forward even when these events occur.

At the clinical level, time management can also be challenged. A client may require additional time and attention, which can set the therapist behind for the next session. Scheduling clinicians’ record-keeping tasks is often a challenge, as there never seems to be enough time allotted for this.

6 Time Management Hacks to Improve Rehab Centers

Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to improve a rehab center’s time management efforts. Consider these six time-management hacks:

Make a plan. To make the most of each day, first devise a plan of monthly objectives. Each month’s objectives can be distributed through the four weeks in manageable chunks. This method keeps the team from feeling overwhelmed or burned out, and allows them to incrementally achieve the objectives.
Get team buy-in. Strong leadership alignment results in team buy-in. When all department leaders agree on the goals and primary mission of the rehab center, this filters down through inspired leadership. Buy-in helps motivate each department and team member to adhere to and achieve the goals.
Prioritize daily goals. Each department head should create a set of monthly, weekly, and daily goals. When calendaring these tasks, be sure to list them in order of priority. This helps you accomplish the most important tasks no matter what might disrupt the day’s schedule.
Be a role model. If you expect your team to work hard to achieve the daily tasks you must have leadership that sets a good example. For instance, if the clinical director is spending excess time on his or her phone, the staff will emulate this. If you want a productive staff, you must provide a good example.
Create accountability. Human nature is what it is, and when there is no oversight it can lead to wasted time. There are time tracking software systems that can help encourage more focused productivity. These systems can help identify team members that may not be working efficiently.
Reward excellence. Nothing inspires productivity like a reward system. Create incentive programs to acknowledge team members that make the extra effort to get their daily work done on time. If not daily or weekly, set up a regular review process to reward those employees that go the extra mile to keep the team on track.

Better Time Management Starts at the Top

Time management filters down from the top of the operational chart. Organizational health is the first place to begin cultivating a more efficient, productive staff. All forward momentum depends on leadership to set a positive tone and to inspire productivity.

Consider some of the ways you can improve your rehab center’s efficiency:

Improve the workplace culture. Employees are more motivated when they feel happy in the workplace setting. Leadership can poll their team members about things they’d like to see improved at the rehab center. Ensure that your team has the tools needed for success.
Embrace technology. Rehabs that utilize project management tools, such as Asana or Trello, are able to set clear monthly goals, and then break them down into weekly objectives. There are also software solutions to automate other mundane tasks that chew up valuable time.
Reduce the number of meetings. Nothing harpoons the daily objectives like a line-up of meetings. Meetings pull team members away from their desks and clients, and often accomplish very little. For better time management, reduce the number of meetings and control agendas to wrap them up sooner.

Every rehab center has room to improve efficiency. Too often, leadership becomes stuck in its ways and doesn’t stop to consider new time management strategies. A consultant can help guide the rehab’s leadership team toward greater efficiency through organizational health, automation, and other software solutions.

Improve Time Management with Circa Behavioral Healthcare Solutions

Circa Behavioral Healthcare Solutions is a consulting group that provides specialized services designed for helping rehab centers achieve their potential. For information about time management hacks for your rehab, call us today at (888) 458-6619.