Successful Change
Most of the postings under this section have been under issues that have somewhat negative overtones.
I have - I think just quite successfully adapted to change so I thought I'd start a post to try and identify the reasons behind successful change.
For me these are:
* giving it time: everyone will find change to a degree hard. You need to adjust and adapt to a new job, environment, colleagues and routines. I have done this and, so far, it has gone quite well meaning that I have fitted in OK
* not worrying initially. Inevitably I did do this; in fact the first week was quite hard. However, I did adapt and key to this was forcing myself to slow down and take things slower.
This involves simple, small things. Walking to work slowly and not rushing was one; particularly in the evening when I wanted to get home.
* acknowledging people and finding time for them; listening attentively to what they have to say;
* not worrying too much!!!
I know that I mustn't be complacent and that there are other things I need to do: delivering tangible short term results/wins is one.
Perhaps others can add from their own experiences.
MJ
Good Methods
These are good methods and I'm glad it worked out for you. I do agree in most cases these methods can successfully work. I do have to admit, however, these methods can be easier said than done but they're good and I'm glad they were posted.
Gradual Adjustment
I think that the key thing is that, over time, you sub-consciously implement these measures.
Experience and marurity also help of course, but each time I have been through an "event" I have undoubtedly learnt something from it.
Slowly but surely I am implementing the lessons I have acquired along the way and, as I say at the end of my book, learning and understanding is what makes it easier.
I can relate
I do have to agree that in most cases experience and maturity will help along the way in dealing with events and changes. As time goes on I notice when I get more experienced and comfortable in doing a particular task or method at work I'm able to do it a lot better, understand it, have the ability to explain it better and feel good.
I do have to agree also that sub-consciously we tend to implement many of these measures as time goes on.
I agree...training a co-worker
AS1976, I can agree with what you have said. I started a new job with a Land surveying company as a GPS Analyst just over a year ago and had some experience with post processing GPS data but not a lot and i also had a hard time explaining what i was doing to other people and had to plan out what i wanted to say in a feedback email or over the phone.
A year has gone by and has given me more experience and understanding and i am able to provide feedback much more quickly with confidence.
I went on a brief one week vacation two weeks ago and before i want on vacation i spent three days training a co-worker how to do my job so that he could cover my workload for the week i was gone. I was amazed at how well i was able to explain what he needed to know to do my job and was able to answer all his questions very quickly which is something i struggled with in the past but am getting better with it as time goes on and i strongly believe it comes from experience and understanding much like you stated.
On a side note:
I briefly introduced my self on a previous form but i would like to expand on that a little. I also was invited to join this site by Malcolm and i would like to thank him for providing this great site, i have learned a lot from this site about work place environments that i previously had little or no knowledge of, which is one of the reasons i don't post very often. Anyways the main reason i joined this site is because about 3 or 4 years ago now, i had a job as party chief (which in the world of land surveying is not a senior management role, but it is a lower level management role) as i was responsible for managing one person below me known as a survey assistant which proved to be somewhat stressful.
One day i was driving home from a job site and the survey assistant wanted to show me a letter he had written, so i read it. Two main points were that survey assistants that worked with me, ended up quitting because the didn't like working with me and it was recommended that i take an inter-personal communication course which i was something i didn't want to do because i didn't see anything wrong with my management style and was dismissive of the fact that survey assistants were quitting.
Basically i had the mindset that its not my problem that their quitting because they don't like working with me, i think a lot of that stems from the fact that they wouldn't address me directly that they have a problem with my management style, in fact i was obilivous to the fact that survey assistants who worked with me were quitting until i read that letter the survey assistant wrote.
That pretty much sums up why i am here as i am now willing to learn more about inter-personal communication which in hindsight is something i wish i wasn't so closed minded about.
Heartening, Well done and .... Thank You!
Firstly, well done for taking the initiative with the survey work.
The key thrust of my book and my site is my passionate belief that people with AS can work effectively - and successfully - in senior management capacities.
When I read postings like this it give sme enormous personal satisfaction. Everyone makes mistakes at work - goodness knows I have - but what I have strongly found is that you can lean greatly from them (mistakes are the best learning experiences) and, once I have leart the lesson, it becomes embeded, fully learnt and I come back all the stronger.
It never fails to surprise me how well I learn and how I advance as a result. Its not to say that the lessons are always easy to take - they are not - but I can take them!
The key as you say is to "have a go". Sure it takes a little courage, and you have to be in the right frame of mind before you try, but it can be done.
I have to also applaud your honesty. As I have also mentioned numerous times before on my site, "if you want to change other people, you need to change yourself first". By admitting that you also needed to change you enabled yourself to grow.
Congratulations, well done and keep advancing!
Fell the Fear and Do It Anyway
This is the title of a well known book which I haven't read for a while now, but which I might review shortly for the site.
What it is basically about is that everyone feels frightened about taking on new tasks that they feel uncomfortable about. The key, however, is to accept this and go ahead nonetheless.
It is even more pertinent for a person with AS fo reasons which we all know about and can relate to.
A critical lesson that I have learnt in my management career is not to back off and have a go!
Not easy, sometimes it does go wrong but, in certain ASD fashion, when I have understood, assimilated and taken the lesson on board it never goes away.
The next time I have to do it as well I normally sail through!
I think that going into the
I think that going into the new position or taking on new responsibilities with a positive attitude can really affect a lot. Your overall mood can really have an effect on first impressions, and we all know how important they can be.
Re-visiting Experience
I have been reading the postings previously about starting a new job and thought that I would re-visit in the light of my current experience.
I think there are two things that have made settling into my new posiiton much easier.
The first is the environment that I have been required to work within. It is very collegiate, not pressurised in the sense that it is ruthlessly, commercially demanding and the type of person I am working with are intelligent and well meaning.
As many readers of my book and visitors to Aspergermanagement.com will know, I have placed great emphasis over the last few years on obtaining the right working conditions as so many related issues - anxiety, inter-personal relationships etc - stem from this.
Secondly, and what is really heartening personally, is that I feel I am really learning from past mistakes and effectively implementing the lessons that I have accrued from them.
One example that springs to mind is how I have on two or three occasions, not worried or fretted when days have gone less than well and have, instead, done other things and re-visited more demanding issues later when I am in a better frame of mind.
I have also, as previously posted, adapted well to the change in office layout into an open plan.
Easy to say but not so easy
Oh dear, I must be very immature as it always takes me quite a while to adjust to change (unless it is self-initiated change) and have to go through a protest stage before settling down and coping with the change.