Get Organized at Work | Career, Leadership, Project Management, Productivity, Time Management cover art

Get Organized at Work | Career, Leadership, Project Management, Productivity, Time Management

Get Organized at Work | Career, Leadership, Project Management, Productivity, Time Management

Written by: Kayla Fahey-Ahrndt | MPH MLS (ASCP) SBB Laboratory Manager Healthcare Leader Scientist
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Are you easily distracted at work - struggling to keep tasks and projects organized?

Do you wish you could accelerate your career growth, but you feel held back due to unclear expectations or your lack of boundaries?

Are you tired of the vicious cycle of burnout and long to feel the peace that comes with doing fulfilling, impactful work?

I am so excited you’re here! This podcast is your go-to for all things career growth! You’ll learn productivity systems to help you get organized, plan ahead, and accomplish your work efficiently. You’ll increase your ability to anticipate problems at work and inside your team before they occur and increase your confidence to lead through them. Goodbye burnout, hello confident, proactive leadership!

Hey, I’m Kayla Fahey-Ahrndt, MPH, MLS(ASCP)SBB…but you can call me KFA! I’ve got 13+ years of professional healthcare leadership experience, and I have 9+ years of management experience. I’m a mama of 3 littles, wife and best friend to my hubby who is also in healthcare, and coffee and planner obsessed.

When I first stepped into my first professional leadership role, I was promoted quickly! At the time, I was a new mama and had way less experience than those I was leading. I knew I needed to learn and grow in order to succeed in my role.

I lacked work-life balance and had no boundaries. I experienced burnout quickly by trying to people please and do everything myself. I worked long hours and my relationships suffered as a result.

I finally realized that I needed simple, effective strategies to help me get organized and manage my competing priorities.

I created my own daily management tool which helped me get organized, manage stress, achieve work-life integration. I quickly became the go-to leader for innovative healthcare leadership, and I was promoted again!

If you are ready to implement sustainable systems and strategies to help you get organized, ditch the burnout, and finally get the recognition you deserve, grab your coffee or bubbly and press play on my show while you rock your spreadsheets! It’s time to dive in!Kayla Fahey-Ahrndt | MPH, MLS (ASCP) SBB, Laboratory Manager, Healthcare Leader, Scientist Careers Economics Personal Success
Episodes
  • How to Stay Organized as a Leader: The System Nobody Teaches

    How to Stay Organized as a Leader: The System Nobody Teaches
    Oct 19 2026
    How to Stay Organized as a Leader: The System Nobody Teaches You have a system for managing your tasks. You're tracking your projects. Maybe you've even organized your inbox, calendar, and information. But what about managing the actual work of being a leader? Employee development. One-on-one meetings. Coaching conversations. Feedback. Follow-ups. Supporting your team. Building relationships. Making decisions. These responsibilities are some of the most important parts of leadership, yet they're often the least organized. And when you're busy managing everything else, it's surprisingly easy for them to fall through the cracks. We spend a lot of time teaching people how to lead, but very little time teaching them how to manage the work of leading. In this episode of the Get Organized at Work Podcast, we're exploring Leadership Management, the fourth of five core systems in the Leadership Operating System (LOS). We'll discuss why even highly capable leaders struggle to keep up with their leadership responsibilities, why traditional task and project management systems aren't enough, and how to create a practical system that helps you lead more intentionally. In This Episode, You'll Learn: Why leadership management deserves its own system: Understand the difference between managing tasks, managing projects, and managing the ongoing responsibilities of leadership.What belongs in your Leadership Management System: From employee development and coaching conversations to feedback, important decisions, and relationship management.Why important leadership responsibilities get overlooked: Explore how reactive work and competing priorities can crowd out the activities that make the biggest difference for your team.How to organize the people side of leadership: Learn how to maintain visibility into the needs of your employees and team without turning meaningful relationships into another checklist.How to lead more intentionally: Discover how a structured approach can help you follow through, support employee growth, and spend more time on proactive leadership. Your Leadership Operating System Leadership Management is just one of five interconnected systems that help you stay organized and effective as a leader: Information ManagementProject ManagementTask ManagementLeadership ManagementStrategic Planning When these systems work together, you can spend less time reacting to everything happening around you and more time leading with intention. Because being a great leader isn't just about knowing what to do. It's about having a system that helps you consistently do it. Ready to Get Organized at Work? 📋 Take the FREE Leadership Operating System Audit Discover where your current leadership systems are working, where you might be operating reactively, and which areas could benefit from improvement. 🌱 Join My Podcast Community and App for Professionals Connect with other leaders who are working to become more organized, intentional, and effective. Explore practical resources, templates, and strategies to help you build your own Leadership Operating System. -- ⭐ If this episode was helpful...🎙️ Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode in this Leadership Operating System series. If you enjoyed today's conversation, I'd be so grateful if you would subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode with another leader. It helps more people discover the show and build systems that create more capacity for what matters most. Continue Your Leadership Journey: 🎯 Free Resources: Download the Simple Task System Template to start organizing your tasks today: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/simpletasklistGrab your Weekly Dashboard Reset and start using this system today: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/weeklydashboard -- GET THE FULL SYSTEM: 📓Get the OneNote Hub template I use to organize my work and leadership systems: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/ultimateonenotetemplate 🎥If you want to watch my OneNote Hub tutorial, it's here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Co83sC_qovw?si=nQtnaV3EQiqaQKas Microsoft Planner: 4 Kanban Boards Every Leader Should Build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0etm9NgkI 📖 Want the full Microsoft Planner Kanban system? Check-out my e-book: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/microsoft-planner-kanban-boards 🎥Watch the Active Projects List walkthrough in my OneNote Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDJl9M7178 🎥Watch the Daily & Weekly Dashboard tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/nWgmoIJBCPc 🎥 Watch the Leader Standard Work and Weekly Reflections Questions tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/JQ4IFTDQV9Y 🎥Watch the Goal Setting for Professionals in OneNote | Annual Goals + Self-Assessment tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/wf7qvyBNK5o
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • Task Management: Why To Do Lists are Failing Leaders

    Task Management: Why To Do Lists are Failing Leaders
    Oct 12 2026
    Task Management: Why To-Do Lists Failing Leaders

    Why do to-do lists fail leaders? A task list can capture everything you need to do, but it can’t prioritize your work, track a project, or keep delegated tasks moving on its own.

    In this episode of Get Organized at Work, Kayla explains how to build a more useful task management system.

    Learn how to:

    • Capture and sort tasks
    • Choose clear next actions
    • Connect tasks to active projects
    • Make ownership and follow-up visible

    You’ll also hear how a simple weekly review can help you get out of reaction mode and focus on the work that matters.

    If your to-do list keeps growing but your important work still feels hard to manage, this episode will help you rethink how you organize tasks and projects as a leader.

    🧠 Download my free Simple Task System Template to organize your work in one place → https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/simpletasklist

    📓Get the OneNote Hub template I use to organize my work and leadership systems: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/ultimateonenotetemplate

    🎙️ Next week on Get Organized at Work: Next week, Kayla is breaking down a system no one teaches or trains on - Leadership Management. You won't want to miss it!

    Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode in this Leadership Operating System series.

    🎁 Resources Mentioned

    📋 Take the FREE Leadership Operating System Audit

    🌱 Join My Podcast Community and App for Professionals

    ⭐ If this episode was helpful...

    If you enjoyed today's conversation, I'd be so grateful if you would subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode with another leader. It helps more people discover the show and build systems that create more capacity for what matters most.

    Continue Your Leadership Journey:

    🎯 Free Resource: Download the Simple Task System Template to start organizing your tasks today: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/simpletasklist

    📓Get the OneNote Hub template I use to organize my work and leadership systems: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/ultimateonenotetemplate

    🎥If you want to watch my OneNote Hub tutorial, it's here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Co83sC_qovw?si=nQtnaV3EQiqaQKas

    Microsoft Planner: 4 Kanban Boards Every Leader Should Build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0etm9NgkI

    📖 Want the full Microsoft Planner Kanban system? Check-out my e-book: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/microsoft-planner-kanban-boards

    🎥Watch the Active Projects List walkthrough in my OneNote Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDJl9M7178

    🎥Watch the Daily & Weekly Dashboard tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/nWgmoIJBCPc

    🎥 Watch the Leader Standard Work and Weekly Reflections Questions tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/JQ4IFTDQV9Y

    🎥Watch the Goal Setting for Professionals in OneNote | Annual Goals + Self-Assessment tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/wf7qvyBNK5o
    Show More Show Less
    12 mins
  • Project Management for Leaders: Always Know What's Happening

    Project Management for Leaders: Always Know What's Happening
    Oct 5 2026
    Project Management for Leaders: Always Know What's Happening Project work gets hard to lead when the status, decisions, owners, and next steps are scattered across meetings, messages, and your memory. In this episode, Kayla breaks down a simple project management system to help you see what’s happening and keep work moving. You’ll learn how to distinguish projects from tasks, what information to track for each active project, how to partner with a project manager without handing over your role as project owner, and how a regular review can help you spot blockers and support your team. If a project needs coordination support and no project manager has been assigned, Kayla also suggests asking what support may be available. In this episode: Why project information can’t live only in your head The difference between a project and a task What to track so you can quickly see project status The project manager’s role—and what remains with the project owner When to ask for project management support How a regular review helps spot blockers and clarify next steps Missed this round of the Leadership Cohort? Join the waitlist for our January 2027 Cohort: Kayla’s Leadership Operating System cohort starts tomorrow! She’s excited to begin building practical leadership systems with this founding group. Want to join a future cohort? Enrollment is expected to open in mid-December. Join the January Leadership Operating System cohort waitlist: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/waitlistjan27livecohort 🎙️ Next week on Get Organized at Work Next week, Kayla is sharing why to-do lists fail leaders and how to create systems that actually help you prioritize your work. 🎁 Resources Mentioned 📋 Take the FREE Leadership Operating System Audit 🌱 Join My Podcast Community and App for Professionals 🎙️ Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode in this Leadership Operating System series. ⭐ If this episode was helpful... If you enjoyed today's conversation, I'd be so grateful if you would subscribe, leave a review, or share this episode with another leader. It helps more people discover the show and build systems that create more capacity for what matters most. Continue Your Leadership Journey: 🎯 Free Resource: Download the Simple Task System Template to start organizing your tasks today: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/simpletasklist 📓Get the OneNote Hub template I use to organize my work and leadership systems: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/ultimateonenotetemplate 🎥If you want to watch my OneNote Hub tutorial, it's here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Co83sC_qovw?si=nQtnaV3EQiqaQKas Microsoft Planner: 4 Kanban Boards Every Leader Should Build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH0etm9NgkI 📖 Want the full Microsoft Planner Kanban system? Check-out my e-book: https://kayla-fahey-ahrndt.myflodesk.com/microsoft-planner-kanban-boards 🎥Watch the Active Projects List walkthrough in my OneNote Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDJl9M7178 🎥Watch the Daily & Weekly Dashboard tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/nWgmoIJBCPc 🎥 Watch the Leader Standard Work and Weekly Reflections Questions tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/JQ4IFTDQV9Y 🎥Watch the Goal Setting for Professionals in OneNote | Annual Goals + Self-Assessment tutorial in my OneNote Hub: https://youtu.be/wf7qvyBNK5o Keywords: project management, project management for leaders, managing projects, project owner, project manager vs project owner, project roles and responsibilities, project planning, project coordination, keeping projects on rack, project status tracking, stakeholder management, team alignment, delegation and accountability, leadership skills, work management, leadership operating system Get Organized at Work, Kayla Fahey-Ahrndt
    Show More Show Less
    15 mins
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