Public Health Intersection

How much of your time is spent putting out fires one at a time?

How many remember the old public health parable about whether your time and efforts were best spent downstream pulling people out of the river or going upstream to see how they ended up in the river in the first place.

When I was a trade association lobbyist representing literally thousands of public health workers, I had an open door, phone, e-mail policy encouraging all of them to feel free to contact me directly at anytime.

I still have the same policy here at PHFE.

When someone would bring an issue or problem to me I would always ask around to see if anyone else had the same or similar issues and since there are only so many hours in the day, days in the week and nights you can spend away from home before your kids start calling you Uncle Dad, I decided to focus my time on the problems or issues that, if addressed, would have the broadest impact.

It wasn’t always the loudest or squeakiest wheel that got priority but the issues with the most clients involved and/or those with the most pressing deadlines.

I also always tried to respond immediately and offer to be there tomorrow, or call at 6 AM or midnight which oftentimes caused the requester to evaluate just how important their concern or issue was.

The point of all of this is that it is important to be as responsive as possible and at the same time assess how best to use your time, energy and resources.

In the introduction to my blog I talk about taking the big step back.

For me, that means trying to get a handle on the bigger picture rather than getting caught up in the crisis du jour.

Looking for the broader perspective and seeing if there is a common solution for problems that might, initially, not seem to be connected.

Also, I try to look for gaps or shortcomings in current policies and practices and try to address them before they become a problem.

Developing solutions that address more than one problem or provide systemic fixes are always a better use of my time, energy and resources.