Work Prompt #5: How do you adapt to change and embrace new responsibilities?
Welcome back all, I hope you are all taking it easy on yourself at work this week.
Last week we discussed: What are some ways to set boundaries between your work and personal life? Thank you to all who participated and shared their thoughts for discussion. I enjoyed them. I hope you all did too. If you didn't share yours, please share them here and I look forward to reading and discussing them with you.
This week's prompt: How do you adapt to change and embrace new responsibilities?
I wanted to start a discussion on changes and adaptation at your workplace. The ability to adapt to change is crucial in today's dynamic work environment. How do you respond to new responsibilities or unexpected challenges? Are you open to learning new skills and taking on different roles? Embracing change and being flexible can greatly enhance our effectiveness and open up new opportunities for growth. I look forward to hearing and discussing with you all!
Adapting can be challenging depending on the task. I’m usually asked to change how I do things based on if the integration system is working properly. You can have a high speed computer, but performance will is very slow. 4 or 5 different teams use it. Configuration changes per user each day. Then you wait half a week until the machine is back to normal from maintenance. It’s rinse, repeat, and do it all over again. If the machine only works for a couple hours. Only get so much done.
@MoonLightShadow423 It sounds like adapting to frequent changes and waiting for maintenance periods can be frustrating when you have work to complete. What is it like for you when the machine is not functioning reliably?
Can’t get work done. Find other work to do or see who else needs help.
@MoonLightShadow423
It sounds like it's very draining to keep up the willpower of four to five groups of people during times of change and transition.
A new team lead was chosen amongst the Anesthesiologists, one for equipment and the another for the medications. He recently had made some changes to the carts, and easy change. We were given an additional responsibility recently too. An extra task that we need to do, along with many other more important tasks for the evening shift to get done in preparation for the next morning. This extra task, is something that the nurses had been doing all these years, and suddenly, wanted us, Aides, to do it instead. My colleague started it this week, I'll have to ask her next week how it went. How much time does it take her to do it, as we have to check the stock of 3 drawers in each OR. With 6 ORs, that's 18 drawers to look through and restock if needed. I don't understand why we have to do it all of a sudden. A lot of the nurses, near the end of their shift, are just sitting around chatting. While as Aides, we're working non-stop, with many tasks to complete. Anyways, we've decided, if it takes too much extra time to do it, we'll have to go to our Manager to say it's not working out, and get the Nurses to do it themselves. Because once the word is out that the Aides will do it, they won't even touch it, it's not their business anymore.
I like changes and new responsibilities, I like the challenge, but it has to be reasonable. A change for the better, making work more productive and efficient is much better than staying in one place and not moving forward.
@ASilentObserver
@Jaeteuk Hi Jae, good to hear from you. It sounds like this new task is bringing up different feelings for you. On one hand, you value changes that make work more productive, but you also want to feel that responsibilities are distributed reasonably. If I am getting it right, this causes some frustration. Your plan to get feedback and discuss further with management shows wisdom in finding the best solution.
Have you found any understanding with your colleagues about how this new task affects your shared workloads?
Hey, Obs. Well, this task is mainly aimed for the person working the evening shift, as the restocking is only done once all surgeries have been complete for each Operating Room. So, it's not so much as sharing the workload amongst my colleagues. It's just an additional task above everything else we have to do. It started this week, but I have been off. For this week and next week, I'm only working on Mondays, but the morning shift. So next Monday, I'll ask my evening colleague how it went with her this week. See how much time it takes her to do all 6 rooms. See if it's reasonable, or if it takes too much of her time, aside all the other tasks that are more of a priority. She has already thought about it, she'll do as much as time permits and she's not going to go all out on getting everything on the list restocked. But she will voice it to management if this is too much, in top of other things that needs to be prepared for the morning.
@Jaeteuk hmm, sounds like taking on this additional task is weighing on you. Exploring how it goes with your colleague next week and getting her perspective seems a thoughtful way to gain more insight into how it may impact the work. Your priority seems to be ensuring patient care is not compromised. I appreciate your service to the community, Jae.
@Jaeteuk That sounds frustrating and unfair, I'm sorry you're dealing with that. Hopefully the managers listen to you guys, it sounds like y'all have a lot on your plate already!
Definitely already have a lot going on. Plate is overloaded already. I just don't understand, the nurses have been doing the restocking from the beginning, had always been their job as they prepare to set up the rooms for the next day. Why? All of a sudden, they made it the Aides job? The person working at the OR Desk, favours the nurses. So, some of them may have complained that it's not in their "Nurses duties" to be restocking the Anesthetic Machines, that it's not written in their "Nursing Book", that it has nothing to do with "Nursing and patient care". If it is because of complaints from certain nurses, why now? The only time us, Aides, touch the Anesthetic Machines, are in the morning, when we turn them on.
The nurses have to connect tubings to the Anesthetic Machines in the evenings, as they set up the rooms in preparation for the surgeries the next morning. Usually, while they do that, they check the drawers to see what needs to be restocked and get the products themselves. Our job in the evenings, is just to push the Anesthetic Carts into the room that we wipe down and restock every day and wheel it beside the Anesthetic Machine.
Anyways, we'll probably have to try this out for at least a month or so, to see how each of us handles it. Find the average time it takes for us to do it, then give feedback to management.
@ImpudentIncognito
One thought that crossed my mind while reading your post is that most nurses are unionized. This change may be something they negotiated with administration. They give this task to your group so the nurses take on another task the administration wants them to do...Just my thoughts.
Yes, they are unionized. That's why they want to only do tasks that are written in black and white. The rest of the staff, who aren't nurses, are under another union. And we've got a few nurses who follows the book word for word, and will complain if it's not listed as a task they should be doing.
@CyclingThroughLife
How do you adapt to change and embrace new responsibilities?
It's good to see things from a curious and open mind. One has to be willing to learn new things or be accepting of the new change/responsibilities and make the effort to at least try it out.
Although, if the new change/responsibilities are not conductive or efficient, it is OK to challenge that and offer an alternative that works better.
@ImpudentIncognito It sounds like being open yet discerning is important to you. Your perspective on challenging inefficiencies while offering alternatives echoes the thoughtful approach you described. What kinds of new changes have you found most difficult yet grown from facing?
@ASilentObserver
I mean when I was younger I pretty much just did it. Like the Nike ad told me to. But since I've gotten older...yeah I dunno it's pretty hard now.
@communicativePond1728 It sounds like getting motivated has become more challenging as you have grown older. What thoughts or feelings come up when you reflect on the changes you have experienced?
@ASilentObserver
I don't know...none...upon reflection I impulsively block it all out. Which is very bad of me to be doing. I will keep working on myself and utilize the magic of winter as best I can to harness the positive aspects of impulsivity and learn more about health.
@ASilentObserver
How do you adapt to falling down stairs?
@ASilentObserver Cultivating a growth mindset is critical in adopting to change and embracing new responsibilities at work. A growth mindset requires us to believe that we can improve our abilities through hard work and dedication. Change can be hard, but when we maintain a growth mindset we see change as opportunity.
@ElijahLISW Thank you so much for adding your insights with us, Elijah. I agree embracing a growth mindset is important as changes come up at work. Also seeing change as an opportunity - it may help to focus on that positive aspect during difficult transitions.
I think giving ourselves permission to do nothing on the weekend is of extreme, maximum importance.
Doing so allows us to be fully focused and refreshed.
Also, we can then take on the week fully energized and be able to give our best self.
Giving ourselves permission to do nothing allows the magic of the winter ☃️❄️🙏 to open the doors needed for us.
@communicativePond1728 It sounds like taking time to do nothing and recharge over the weekend can be helpful to your well-being. Reflecting on how allowing yourself that permission helps you feel more energized and able to fully engage with your week is insightful. You are attuned to the value of rest and I'm glad you've found an approach that works for you.
@ASilentObserver
Aahhh I mean just because I read something and am attempting in my dumb way to utilize doesn't mean that I've found something that works for me but, thanks I guess.