Fun @ Work

Do you ever look around and wonder how in the world is it mid-September?

Do you ever look around and wonder, how in the world do we have more fun here?

I haven't looked up from work in weeks now. Ever since I fired that manager, I've been in a tailspin. I haven't had that illusion of control in probably five or six weeks. On Thursday night, I studiously toiled away on my laptop (with B-rate college football on in the background) from 7-9 p.m.

Sighing with relief and closing my laptop with gusto, I got my inbox back under 100 messages. Thank goodness!

But then, at 6 a.m. the following morning, I signed in on my iphone to find 18 new messages. From overnight. I was mad that all my colleagues seem to get caught up on email at night, too. I felt like throwing my iphone through the iwindow and watching the itelevision in a rage blackout.

(By the way, iphones are terrible for business purposes. My contacts, tasks, and reminders don't sync and even though Siri is cool, she can't remember what time zone she's in and I end up confused. Then she calls me rude!)

Things ARE getting better, though. Two other directors offered me time with their administrative assistants, so I have about 30 hours of assistance per week. I had to get re-organized so I could delegate some of the stuff to the wonderful assistants. One of the assistants is more of a rock star than Bono and she's saving my sanity. Type A, OCD, and organized to a fault, she's my favorite person on earth right now.

Last Saturday, I asked a team of six to work so we can get caught up with our Epic EMR go-live. The scheduling fell way behind during the transition and the office managers freaked at the lack of control over the physicians. I feel bad asking employees to work when I'm at home, eating bon bons, so I went in and then picked up lunch for everyone. Spirits were high, no one wore make-up, and I overlooked the Kenny Chesney music I heard a hallway away. I kept wondering why they played "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere!"

Yesterday, two managers from Finance gratefully helped me with a huge budget gap in one of my recent operational consolidations. It's really nice to have people on your side who want to see you and your work succeed. In my world, money is key and if I'm showing a $400k budget deficit, I am ripe for filleting by senior leadership. I'm thankful that others try to save you from said filleting!

And I'm finally starting to see the light of day on my state survey project and have been delegating the responsibilities. I feel like a conductor of a big orchestra. Luckily, Elvis named a new Chief Medical Officer who believes in preparedness and he's been a HUGE boost to the initiative.

Work is work. But despite the hours and commitment required from my position, I've got to make it somewhat fun.