Change process

Three weeks ago I started a new job.  You would think that wouldn't be such a big deal.  Libraries being the same and all. But in fact it has been a big deal for me and libraries are the same ... but different.

For 16 years I have worked in the tertiary sector. It has been a comfortable fit for me and my values align with the kind of things you find there.  For about 10 of those years I worked in one particular institution so became very familiar with the environment, the people, the type of customer, the culture and enjoyed the close proximity to my home.

But I left that very comfortable job, one that I enjoyed, a team that have been very supportive and have changed sector (to public libraries) and job role (now a team leader) and location (the CBD).  I moved from a position of being the person who knows things to a person who knows very little.

So yes, to me it has been a big deal. Just before I left, I attended a course called "dealing with change". In it I learned about the change cycle and what happened during that process. 

So far I can say I have been through stage 1 and 2!

Image from The Change Cycle, Retrieved from http://www.changecycle.com/changecycle.htm 

The first week was actually pretty tough. I also had this bad cold virus which didn't help. Poor DH copped his wife wailing about making the wrong decision, going off to work in tears and coming home not much better. The commute is long which puts family and recharge time under strain.

But things are starting to make more sense now. I am getting used to the different culture even if I don't always like it. Fortunately, people are friendly and though I still feel a bit Nigel No Mates sometimes, I also realize that will change as I make connections.

It both amuses and disturbs me how much I have become used to the technology freedom found in the tertiary sector. I no longer have a laptop to take around with me to meetings.  No Macs seem to exist in the organization.  I can't use Firefox (and consequently all the plug ins I had set up to use in my work), Dropbox, Skitch, slideshare... Anything cloud based is difficult which feels so alien to me. I have worked out how to get TweetDeck as a web version so that makes me more connected to my PLN thankfully.  I have managed to download Chrome so some plugins work on that. My iPad plus the free wifi lets me connect to Dropbox and other things that the web marshal clamps down on if I use my desktop.

There are things that I am doing that are exciting, challenging and will provide me with some great experience. These are the things I am trying to focus on to move myself into stage 4.