Editor’s note: The Women in Emergency Services (WiES) “Ask Laurie” column provides advice for those challenges that leave us stressed and overthinking in the workplace. In “Ask Laurie,” Laurie Thiel, the CEO of Mobile Medical Response in Michigan, hopes to encourage and coach all women proudly serving in EMS.
Have a question? Ask Laurie! Want to see more “Ask Laurie” questions and responses? Join Women in Emergency Services and access the member-only community for more.
Q: Dear Laurie, I’m facing a situation where my director seems unaware of my daily significant workload. I’m passionate about my job, but the pace is becoming unmanageable. I’m worried that expressing my concerns might be interpreted as an inability to handle pressure, hindering my career growth. Any advice would be appreciated!
Laurie Thiel: First, give serious thought to what you’re doing all day. Those casual conversations steal precious time away from work. If you’re not working remotely, consider asking your director if they are open to you working remotely even a couple of days a week.
At one point in my career, I created a process that sent my boss a Friday update highlighting what I did for the week. I made a table in a Word document. I created sections for all the main functions of an EMS organization (i.e., operations, dispatch, marketing, quality, IT, finance, etc.). Then, I would provide the highlights in each category for the week.
In your case, you might try a document that lists projects started, in progress and not started projects. Your director could see everything you have going on, particularly the not-started section. It’s a great way to self-reflect at the end of the week and keep your workload in front of your director.
