Priority Check: The Key to Sanity and Success

So many tasks, so little time. As a manager in Assisted Living or Memory Care, you may feel pulled in a thousand directions in a single day. The constant feeling of juggling every request and every immediate need is exhausting. Figuring out effective priorities will not only save your sanity but will help you produce better, more consistent results for your team and your residents.

Prioritize Your People

When the list feels endless, the best place to start is with the people you serve or the people you manage. Prioritizing people is the foundation of quality management.

• Residents and Families: Focus on issues that directly impact resident safety, comfort, and satisfaction. Helping to put stable plans in place for your residents will increase satisfaction across the board.

• Team Members: Prioritize tasks that enable your team to succeed. This could mean a quick review or training, providing crucial supplies, or clarifying unclear instructions. When your team is set up for success, they are happier, and turnover risk decreases.

  
  

Taming the Time-Sensitive Tasks

Depending on your management role, you must prioritize the issues that have the potential to spiral into a much bigger problem if not tackled right away.

Task Category	Priority Level	Example Action
Urgent & High Impact	1 (Immediate)	An uncovered shift, or a sudden change in a resident's clinical condition.
High Impact & Scheduled	2 (Today)	Completing a due assessment, admission paperwork, addressing immediate safety hazards, or a staff member urgent need.
Preventative & Low Impact	3 (This Week)	Proactive supply ordering, team member 1:1 check-ins.

Conquer the Dreaded Tasks

We all have them: those tasks you dread and procrastinate on. I often find myself wanting to do the easy tasks before tackling the one big, complicated one.

The surprising truth is that when you tackle the task you have the urge to put off—the one that sits on your to-do list draining your mental energy—it generally turns out to be not that terrible. You get an immediate sense of relief, a productivity boost, and a jolt of confidence when it’s finally completed. Start your day with the hardest thing.

Are you struggling to figure out what to prioritize? Reach out to us! We can help guide you to a prioritization system that fits the unique demands of your position and facility needs.