Saying What You Think
We are at a crucial juncture in the business.
I was talking to a colleague a couple of weeks ao about where we are and he voiced disagreement with the boss. Basically, he feels that strategically we have put all our eggs in one basket, as opposed to, building other revenue streams whilst we were completing the main project we were commissioned to do.
It was a difficult call because the resources were finite and we had to complete the main project to a high standard for wider credibility issues. I respect my boss's view on this. Hindsight is easy of course, but I suspect that my colleague may have been right.
I have personally been in ths position before and regretd not speaking my mind. There was nothing to have prevented me doing so (providing I did it in the right way of course), and there is nothing to say I can't do so now.
What may be holding me back though is my AS that likes conformity, non-confrontation and an smooth passage.
It is for this reason that I have argued in my book that having AS means that it is invariably better to be a No.2 as it avoids the need to make hard decisions and be put into the anxiety provoking situations they sometime involve.
What I need to do more of as a manager is state my opinion more openly and assertively and be prepared to stand by it. Doing this may also involve divulging more readily the inner thoughts emanating from the Asperger mind and perspective of course!
Does anybody else have any views on this?
I think it's quite difficult
I think it's quite difficult to make decisions, and to speak up like that, but it sometimes has to be done.
I recently had an experience wherein I was asked my opinion on how we were handling a procedure in our office, and I said that I thought it could be handled differently, and better. When asked why I felt that way, I explained the succession of steps that we were currently taking, and how they could be modified to be more efficient.
When I was done, our director was staring at me, and he said, "I have no idea what you just said, or how you reached the conclusion you did."
My boss, who was also involved in this conversation, said, "No, that makes sense - she's thinking out loud, but she's thinking about a lot more details than we are normally aware of."
From this exchange, I had a couple of ideas reaffirmed.
1. People in higher managerial positions don't know what their workers know, because they trust us to handle the details
2. They also trust us to tell them where the details could be bettered
3. Just because we think differently, doesn't mean that the way we think is something to be ashamed of. In a way, aspie's already think "outside the box" (excuse the catch-phrase) - speaking for myself, I don't even know where the boundaries of the "box" are.
It's important to censure to some extent what we say in this regard at work, but it's also important we make our opinions heard when they are important, and could be of assistance.
Making & Stating Positions
A really interesting post.
I think that the key thing is the "way" that we say it. It would be interesting to hear what the subject you discussed was, what you said and why and how you went about it. Would this be possible?
I think that the key thing for me in these situations is ensuring that I remain focused on facts and keep personalities out of it as best as possible. Not easy of course because it means cutting across a boundary.
However, if you focus on the issue, state your case objectively and relate it to the common good/interest of the company, I usually find that this is OK.
Its important to consider this carefully though when the subject matter is very contentious or relates to a strategic consideration with wide repercussions.
Sure, I'll share - you'll
Sure, I'll share - you'll probably find it as boring as the director did!
My job is to take care of the database - but since this is a small shop, I also do a lot of mailings, write reports, and "other duties as needed"
We're under edict to cut our budget, and our office was discussing how we could cut back on expenses, without cutting back on customer service (a lot of our customer service comes in the form of communication with our customers).
This was a really long discussion, but the upshot of what I said was this:
Every month I do a mailing to our members reminding them that their expiration is either coming up next month, is this current month, or was last month. I call these reminders next, this, and last. The number of mailings each month varies considerably, but the ratios always stay the same. 50% of the "next" mailing renew without their "this" notice. 50% of the "this" mailing renew without a "last" notice. 50% of the "last" mailing renew.
This adds up to 75% of our members renewing, and 25% not. This attrition is perfectly acceptable in our business. However, what bothers me is that we spend roughly 21% of our mailing and materials costs on people who won't renew. Why can't we send our "next" notices via email for anyone who has an email address, thereby saving 29% percent of the budget spent on renewals, since we currently have email addresses for 50% of our members.
We could also save money by spending the extra money to buy that membership card printer we've been talking about, so that we can stop re-sending membership cards to members who think they didn't get a card in the mail because our cheap business-card that we use as membership cards stick to the paper, and in the envelope, and people just don't see them. People get irritated, they don't feel valued as a member, they don't renew. We lose money twice, once of the postage and stationary to resend a membership card, and then, again, last year, it adds to our attrition rate because people don't feel that they got anything for their money.
If we reissue membership cards to people, and ask them to update their email addresses at the same time, we can up the number of people who have email on record, and we can lower our mailing costs more in the future.
I went on to talk about a mailing plan in which I could have cards reissued to our active membership within 1 month of getting a card printer, starting with the highest level members - which would take 2 days to print, then the second highest level members, which would take another 3 days to print, and I could stuff envelopes for the first group while those were running. I could start printing the lower level reissue cards, in a chunk of 1 month's worth at a time while I stuffed those envelopes, and if I did a 2 month's worth each week, I would be done by the end of the month, assuming that I took the time to proof-read the cards as I stuffed them in the envelopes, along with our appeal for email addresses.
Of course, I rambled this whole thing without any pre-meditation on how I was presenting the whole thing, and didn't notice the blank stares I was getting until I was done. :)
I would agree with you
I would agree with you wholeheartedly. I think part of AS is always wanting to be #2 to avoid that stress that comes with making those decisions or being in an important position.
We often come up with good
We often come up with good ideas but it's not just us who can be resistant to change. In fact, entrenched bureaucracies are the worst at being hidebound even when they allege that they value innovation.