A520.2.6.RB_HansardCarey

Time Management

                Quite frankly, I am a horrible time manager. Everything seems to get done, but there is no rhyme or reason to it. I do not have a history of ADHA, but when it comes to completing tasks, I tend to start something and then move on to something else and then go back to the initial task. As a colleague of mine pointed out the other day, Outlook has some great tools for organizing emails into what has to be done now and what can be put off until tomorrow. Unfortunately, I cannot find the time to utilize these tools.

I have used my Outlook calendar to try to manage my time better to a certain extent. I have started to put reminders in to complete certain tasks. However, I can be right in the middle of a task when an email comes in. For some reason, I feel like I have to know what it says right away; so, I stop what I am doing and read it. Frequently, I begin working on answering that email rather than finishing the one I was already working on. I always get back to the first email and complete the task, but telling myself that I need to spend  time on this project and ignore emails and phone calls seems to be a foreign concept to me. I see co-workers who always seem to have time scheduled for certain projects and they stick to it even though others are tugging at their coattails like toddlers trying to get their mother’s attention.  

At first glance, it may seem like I think this is an external locus of control. However, I am not allowing others to determine what I do at any given moment. Instead, because I am aware of it and allow it to happen, I believe that this falls under the category of internal locus of control. I need to make a conscience effort to improve in this category. Identifying the reason that I move away from one task and on to another would be the first step in improving. There may not be one simple reason, but I believe the primary reason is boredom. When you are working at a task for long enough you tend to get tired of it. Briefly switching gears allows for the boredom to diminish and a feeling of refreshment when the original task is resumed.

Improving my time management skills would definitely reduce stress levels at home. Both of my children currently play baseball in different cities. Managing my work, school, home, and children’s schedules requires some creative finagling at times and often leaves me stressed and feeling like I could not possibly have time to do anything else…especially not something for myself!  Using a planner for personal appointments may help me manage my time outside of work more wisely.

Focusing on time management would also benefit my professional life. I am the EagleVision trainer for ERAU and I spend a lot of time sending emails in between training sessions. Learning how to organize my day into specific tasks at certain times (and sticking to that) would greatly reduce work-related stress.

Finally, making time for myself would probably be the most important element in time management to reduce stress. I rarely take time for myself to do something that I enjoy. Like many working moms, I tend to put everything and everyone else before myself. This leaves me feeling tired and stressed out more than anything else in my life.

My plan at work is to use my Outlook calendar to organize the tasks that need to be accomplished on any given day. This should theoretically allow me to work on specific tasks for a set period of time and allow me to finish everything in an orderly fashion. The department I work in is getting ready to have a training session on how to use Microsoft Project, a tool that helps you manage deadlines for major projects. After attending the session, I hope to be able to integrate this tool into my work environment, as well. I am still not sure how I plan on making time for myself. I will formulate that plan when I have some free time….

A.520.2.3.RB-Conflictresolution_Hansard

A520.2.3.RB_HansardCarey

            I cannot think of anyone who has to manage conflict more than a parent. I have 2 sons who love each other and get along most of the time, but they also have their moments. The particular conflict I am referencing today involves both of them wanting to join spring baseball teams. There are several issues involved in that request that made it difficult for me to say yes. My younger son, who is 7, is athletic. He played fall baseball for the first time last fall and he did very well. He was excited about playing ball again in the spring and we were looking forward to it, as well. My older son, 12, is not the least bit athletic. He is more of an academic. He enjoys school and he loves to play the saxophone. He has not played any organized sports since soccer about 7 years ago which left him with the realization that running on his flat feet was not doing his body any favors. So it was a surprise when, after registration for a neighboring city had ended, (the one where we registered our younger son) he announced that he wanted to play baseball. This is where the conflict ensued. I work nights for ERAU frequently, I just started my master’s program here, my husband is in law enforcement and cannot always be relied upon to take the kids to their functions, through no fault of his own, and I had already committed to take my other son to practices and games three nights per week. So, I told him no. His point of view was that he should be allowed to play a sport, too. He also pointed out that his friend would be playing for this same city and he wanted to be able to play with him. My point was that I was already stretching myself thin trying to find time to do things for everyone else. He explained that he really wanted to try to play and that it was important to him.

            My role in this situation was that of busy and guilt-ridden mom. How can I tell him no but let my other son participate? My husband said that he would do what he could, but the fact remained that I was the one who would have to leave work at 5, pick both boys up at different places, and have both of them to practices and/or games at basically the same time. In order to try to resolve the problem, I told my son that if his friend’s mom was able to bring him to practices on days when my younger son had something at the same time, I would register him. So the end result was that she agreed to help and, as it turns out, her husband ended up coaching and my son and his friend were on the same team. As I write this blog entry, it is 6:30pm and I am sitting at the baseball field of my older son. I left work at 5, picked up one child, brought the other child his baseball gear, took the first child to his game in one city where my husband met him, and then went back to the older child’s fields in another city to watch him for a short time before heading home.

            In the future, I see much room for improvement in this area. I need to be sure that my older son, if he is interested in this again, needs to decide ahead of time so that both children can be in the same city. It would help a little, anyway. Although I do not see a way to avoid it, I need to try not to be influenced by guilt. It is hard to stay sane and have time to clean, cook dinner, make lunches for the next day, help with homework, etc… when you are at baseball games 4 nights a week in two different places; however, if I were not so guilt-ridden, I would have said no. Aside from that, I am happy when my children are happy. I love to see them succeed in their endeavors so, although it is a pain, I feel as though we ended the conflict with a win-win for both sides. Take me out to the ballgame!!!

A520.1.6.RB-SelfAwareness_HansardCarey

A520.1.6.RB_SelfAwareness_HansardCarey

            Since beginning the MSLD program in January, I have already noticed that I am more aware of several things about my personality. One important aspect of my personality that needs to change is my emotional intelligence. Although I am aware of my emotions and how I react to others, I realize that I need to stop taking some things so personally. When people offer suggestions for improvement or tell me that they do not like something that I have done, I tend to feel hurt. This also happens when I know that I have made a mistake. I feel like I have let everyone down and that I am not doing a good job. Although I know that this is not truly the case, this is my initial reaction. This will not be something that is easy to “fix”, but being more aware of it is half the battle.

            In addition to emotional intelligence, I am more in tune with my attitude towards change. I am not a big fan of change, unfortunately, but once it happens, I am usually happy about the change. I worked as a teacher for 18 years of my life, had the same basic routine every day, and did not do many things that were out of the ordinary. Since beginning my work at ERAU, I have been more accepting of change. I feel freer and have embraced the changes that have been happening in my life. Again, I realize that I still have a long way to go, but I feel more confident that I can take on changes in a positive way now.

            The values that I hold are strong and based on what I learned as a child from my parents. The instrumental values that I hold sometimes get in the way. For example, I get irritated easily when I am out in public and other people’s children are acting in ways that are interrupting others. If they are doing things that are dangerous and the parents are not doing anything about it, I see this as wrong because my values differ from theirs. This is not something that I see as a problem, however. I also have my own terminal values which I also feel though are a product of my childhood and upbringing.

            Finally, I was left to consider my cognitive style. I believe I identify best with the planning style. I prefer to have a plan before I begin a task or chore. Although the plans do not always work out, I feel like organization helps minimize problems and mistakes. One of the aspects of this style that I struggle with is being well prepared. I do not always feel as though I am well prepared, but many of the others characteristics of this style apply to me. I am fairly resistant to change, I like to have rules set in place for everyone to follow and, as preciously mentioned, I follow a fairly predictable routine.

            Being aware of all of this information will definitely make me a more effective leader. Being aware of my strengths and weaknesses allows  me to surround myself with others who have different strengths for certain areas and are like minded for other areas important to my job role. 

A520.1.2.RB_Awareness_HansardCarey

In my personal awareness assessment, I noticed that I was in the third quartile in the first two areas, self-awareness and emotional intelligence. According to the text, these two areas are the most important areas for determining how effective a person will be as a manager. If I were to go by these results, it does not seems as though I would be a very effective manager.
I also learned that I have an internal locus of control. People with this locus of control believe that they are in charge of what happens to them. They feel as though they are in control of their own destinies. These individuals, according to the text, are more successful, pay more attention to their environments and how they can change them, strive to improve their skills in certain areas, and are more apt to remember information that they learn than those with an external locus of control. These results seem to contradict each other. One set of results seems to indicate that I need to work on certain aspects of my personality while the other seems to indicate that I am the type of individual who will be successful because, for the most part, I believe that I am in control of most things that happen to me. While I do tend to think that many of the things that happen to me in my professional life are because of decisions I have made, I do not always think that about life in general, which I find very interesting. Outside of the workplace, there are many external factors which I cannot control that have big effects on me. However, I also recognize that decisions I have made throughout the years have had more of an impact on me than outside forces.
As far as the results go, I was surprised to find that I scored in the lower half of the population in self-awareness and emotional intelligence. I feel as though I am aware of how I react to situations and that, most of the time, my realizations are  accurate. I feel that I can use the information on behavioral guidelines from the text to help me improve overall. Suggestions made in this section of the text will certainly help me improve my self-awareness and emotional intelligence. For instance, I can make an effort to expand my cognitive style and locus of control by exposing myself to tasks that I am not familiar with and find ways to learn new information. Emotional intelligence can be improved by being more cognizant of the responses I have to various situations and using signals of others to aid me in  my responses. I also think that concentrating on the positive aspects of what I do and feel every day will help me improve my self-regard. I already have someone close to me that I can talk with about different aspects of my personality. Doing this on a regular basis and seeking input from this person as to how I can improve will also be a healthy activity for me to engage in. Finally, after reading through the cases in the book about self-awareness, I realized that I do not want to have to make some of these decisions! There were scenarios outlined in the book and then questions after them. The questions were very difficult to answer in many cases because of the ethical implications of the answers. Of course, this type of decision-making happens in everyday life but, when you read about some of the atrocities that people endure, you wonder how someone as an individual, and then groups of people, decide that these are good ideas. I look forward to becoming a better leader but sincerely hope that I do not have to make very many of these tough and heart-wrenching decisions in my life.