One of my most recent jobs, which involved working in retail, underwent a large amount of change that taught me many valuable lessons regarding a new workplace. I worked there for over 2 years. This challenge relates to Michael Whites ‘absent but implicit’ narrative therapy, which is based on people “knowing what they want for their lives and knowing what matters to them,” (Carey, Walther & Russell, 2009). Although this disruption was puzzling, I was able to overcome and now be comfortable with change, which is extremely useful for my future professional career.
As I started in a new store, the team grew together. Because of the team I was working in got along so well and the manager trusted us all, it opened up a whole new environment for me to feel comfortable in learning new things, that I wouldn’t have been able to learn before in old jobs, due to stricter management. This developed my skills, independently, as I was trusted enough to run the day for my manager when she was not there. Having the responsibility of opening and closing stores, banking, assisting rosters, passing on important information to head office, were all assigned tasks I was finally able to learn and gain confidence in doing.
However, retail is an ever-changing business where new and better opportunities come and go, quite quickly. My manager decided to leave the business and fulfil a bigger role in her career. After this, a couple team members decided to follow.
Dealing with a huge amount of change, in a professional environment, was tough. Although I have done this numerous times, I found it more difficult to adapt to my new environment, without a manager, but mostly someone I could go to for help. Unfortunately, the lack of support was a deal-breaker. As this work was focused on hiring more casuals before a manager, I took the responsibility to step up and help out, even though there was no guidance from anyone higher up. A few more team members that were left, were also struggling as everyone was tripling their usual busy work amount. My concern was the amount of stress having a negative impact on my team and I. The disappointment lead me to decide it was time for action; a team meeting with head office.
This related to White’s ideology. Firstly, I looked at the intentions and purposes which is “the development of these accounts of skills and know-how invites questions about the person’s intentions and purposes in taking the action that they did” (Carey, Walther & Russell, 2009).
a) By generating the idea of a team meeting, I was hoping for a way that the team could feel less under pressure with all of the change due to a staff shortage and plan ways in which we could reduce this stress. “The act of convening a meeting is motivated by the question of what knowledge about life, or in this case, myself, the act reflects,” (Carey, Walther and Russell, 2009, p.326). In this case, the decision to meet with head office, reflected how much I notice my self-worth to be listened to and have my opinion taken into consideration for the better. If I stayed in this workplace, my life would consist of a huge amount of stress which can negatively impact my health.
b) Given value: I learnt that I value a work place that wants to listen to their staff. It was unfortunately very clear that this job threw myself into the deep end with no support. It taught me that I deserve a job which listens and cares. The bottom line was not having a great environment to work in, like how I started. My decision to leave was a great choice. The awareness made it possible for me to recognise openings (Freedman, 2012, p.2)
c) Societal and Relational History: This wasn’t the first time I felt confident enough to speak up. This also occurred at school, when I had a meeting with the teachers about a group bullying one of my friends. My skills and values developed from primary school, some time ago, to adult-hood. “We can describe the absent but implicit as the idea that we make meaning of any experience by contrasting it with some other experience or set of experiences” (Freedman, 2012, p.2). I not only cared about how I was feeling, but about how the other few team members left were feeling, and how my friend felt back then. My friend was extremely appreciative and it made me feel like my voice could actually change and have a say in horrible situations.
This experience was connected across the dimension of time. It is something from the past, which I experienced in the present, and will forever continue to do in the future. In the end I knew what I wanted in life.
References
Carey, M, Walther, S and Russell, S 2009, ‘The Absent but Implicit: A Map to Support Therapeutic Enquiry’, Family process, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 319–331, viewed 22nd August 2022.
Freedman, J 2012, ‘Explorations of the absent but implicit’, International journal of narrative therapy and community work, no. 4, pp. 1–2, viewed 23rd August 2022.
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