Case Studies

Executive Assistant support for consultant radiologist and clinical director

Our Results

• Adaptive, proactive and professional
• Freed from the burdensome tasks
• Helped optimise and value time properly.

Meet John Sheehan
John Sheehan is a consultant radiologist, a clinical director and advisor, a healthcare technologist and an entrepreneur. He is based in Ireland and works nationally and internationally.

Brief
John is a busy medical professional with interests in many different spheres. He thrives on his multiple roles but also knew they brought difficulties. As he says: “I was finding it very challenging to juggle everything.”

He was aware he was spending too much time on administrative activities, which meant he had less time to spend on activities that were more rewarding, both professionally and financially. There was also the issue of the cognitive burden of trying to manage and organise his commitments, which was impacting on his work and home lives. Ultimately, he knew he was placing himself at greater risk of burnout.

On a flight home from a conference, he found himself discussing his concerns with the colleagues sitting with him. “I asked: how do you do it all? I know it’s partly about being organised, but even so, it’s still a challenge.”

One of his colleagues had a suggestion. “They said: ‘I know of this company, Executive PA Solutions. Give them a call.’ So I did.”

From his first conversation with Sandy, John knew he had found the answer. “There’s an emotional context and an intellectual context to consider when you engage with somebody. I liked Sandy personally. I could also see she was experienced and knew what she was doing, so I trusted her.”

John was happy to make the decision to move forward with Executive PA Solutions. A few days later, he spoke to his new executive assistant, Nancy, for the first time.

Approach
Nancy has been working with John for a little over a year now. They communicate via direct messaging, secure email and a weekly video call, and John reports that the partnership is going from strength to strength. “As we’ve got to know each other, my utilisation of Nancy has increased. She’s adaptive, proactive and professional – very conscientiousness and very conscious of making sure I’m OK. She’s also just a very nice person and we have a laugh.”

Nancy takes care of all the administrative elements of John’s working life, including booking travel, conducting day-to-day banking, carrying out admin tasks and liaising with John’s colleagues and their assistants to schedule meetings. He says: “I trust her with everything.”

In taking care of all the day-to-day logistics, Nancy has helped to make John more effective. “Nancy has freed me from the burdensome tasks that increase my cognitive load but don’t use my skill sets most effectively. It means I can direct more of my efforts to where I can make the most difference.”

John particularly highlights the value of having someone who is the first point of contact for anyone wanting to speak to him or ask for his involvement in anything.

“People, understandably, don’t always appreciate all the balls you’re juggling. With Nancy, I know there’s a barrier in place, which takes away a lot of the stress.”

It’s something he knows he can make more use of as he and Nancy continue to work together. He explains: “I’m not employed by anyone, so if I’m not doing fee-paying work, I’m not earning anything. It means I have to weigh up the opportunity cost of everything very carefully. Working with Nancy, I don’t have to say yes to everything and we can make sure we value my time properly.”

By giving John more time and space, Nancy’s support has meant he has a renewed focus on his health and wellbeing. Nancy has proved valuable here too. She schedules his weekly yoga and Pilates sessions and has scheduled regular health checks and assessments. He says: “I’m looking after myself more now.”

As the relationship has developed, Nancy has become more involved in John’s home life, which is just as busy as his work life. John’s wife is a doctor, with a demanding schedule of her own. They also have two daughters, both with activities and interests that need to be included in the diary.

Nancy is on hand to look after domestic admin tasks such as booking window cleaners or organising for the car to be serviced. To save John and his wife another task, Nancy has enlisted the support of John’s elder daughter, who’s 14. She helps Nancy by opening, sorting, scanning, filing and shredding post that comes to the home office.

John says: “We can do all of these things for ourselves, but knowing we can delegate them and use our time more effectively is very helpful.”

Results 

Reflecting on a year of working with Nancy, John says: “People like me are always time impoverished. But time is the one thing you can never get back, so it’s best to try to optimise your use of it. Nancy helps me to do that.”

He concludes: “I find my dependency on Nancy is a little bit like my dependency on my iPhone. Before you get one, you wonder why you’d need one. But now you’ve got one, you wonder how you ever lived without it.”