How to work smarter, not harder in higher education

As academics, we are constantly under pressure to excel. On top of that, we’re responsible for setting an example for students. This makes it extremely important to integrate self-care into our busy schedules. But how can we take care of ourselves and still get work done? How can we work smarter, not harder? Here are some tips.

Get comfortable with delegating: if you are fortunate enough to have team members who complement your strengths, you can take a collaborative approach. Delegating tasks that fall outside your specialism to juniors, research assistants, teaching assistants and administrative staff can help you free up time and allow you to focus on your priorities. With a supportive team, you know that the work will get done even when you choose to give yourself a well-deserved break.

Speed things up with technology: effective use of technology helps you manage students, allocate resources and improve the effectiveness of your programmes and teaching. Use learning management and student life cycle management systems and lecture-capture facilities to streamline teaching and assessment.

Technology can help you automate routine work. You can use AI-enabled proctored tests and assignments to save time on invigilation and supervision. You can also use it to create assessment questions.

Adopt agile principles: prioritise tasks by setting aside time to define your most important tasks. Speed up the marking process by answering the same question on all students’ scripts together. Create a feedback loop or control mechanism to help you identify any issues students are having and take corrective actions.

• Resource collection: Unplug from academia
• Recognise work-life imbalance and restore resilience
• Conversations around stress must move beyond ‘I’m fine, how are you?’

Build a strong network: developing a good network with higher education and industry professionals and government organisations offers up collaboration opportunities. Make use of LinkedIn and X, introduce yourself to people at conferences and get to know visiting industry partners and colleagues at other academic institutions. Developing a network will help you gain knowledge and feel comfortable relying on the expertise of others.

Strive for continuous improvement: working in higher education means we can access and learn about the latest technologies. Stay abreast of the trends and practices to build your confidence and knowledge. Industry-sponsored certificate courses, working on real-life problem statements and getting involved in active research can help us stay abreast of issues in our field. Upskilling ourselves makes us more capable of managing our workloads.

Manage stress and take time off: self-care is necessary. Meditation and yoga are some tried-and-tested practices that can rejuvenate the body and mind. You might feel uncomfortable rewarding yourself with longer bouts of time off, but if you take stock of your achievements, you’ll realise how much you deserve it.

Set healthy boundaries: it is important to create a clear distinction between work and family time. We must also accept that it is not possible to please everyone, all the time. Learning to say no is an art and we should practise it. But how do we know when to draw the line? Start by realising when people are asking you to do things beyond the scope of your responsibilities. Be honest with yourself and the person who is requesting something from you. Saying no will become easier the more you do it.

Try something new: you can still be productive off the clock. Try something you’ve never tried before, like a new hobby. Experimenting with things outside your comfort zone and working towards personal development can give you energy and enthusiasm that you can bring back to work when you return.

Finally, if we love what we do then we can enjoy both our professional and personal lives without having to compromise.

K. V. Sriram is a professor at Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, MAHE Manipal.

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