{"id":82767,"date":"2014-10-15T11:30:18","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T16:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=82767"},"modified":"2014-10-15T12:31:50","modified_gmt":"2014-10-15T17:31:50","slug":"5-tips-to-surviving-institutional-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=82767","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips to Surviving (Institutional) Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Naomi Gonzales, Senior Assistant, INALJ Virginia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

5 Tips to Surviving (Institutional) Change<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"gonzales\"<\/a>Recently, the institution I\u2019m affiliated with underwent some organizational changes. It was a\u00a0difficult few months for me, but I learned some valuable things along the way. The following are\u00a0some survival tips for those of you dealing with a difficult work situation:<\/p>\n

1) Acceptance<\/strong> \u2013 Accepting the fact that change was on the horizon and I couldn\u2019t stop it was\u00a0probably the most difficult part of this entire experience for me. Didn\u2019t library administration\u00a0realize how this would impact x, y, and z (x, y, and z all being me, of course)? I really enjoy my\u00a0job and these imminent changes would definitely impact some of the parts of my job I loved best\u00a0and that just wasn\u2019t an easy pill to swallow. It took me a solid month or so before I finally came\u00a0to terms with the fact that change was going to happen whether or not I wanted it to and my\u00a0attitude would determine the ease of transition.<\/p>\n

2) Worst-case-scenario<\/strong> \u2013 When I get upset, I tend to let myself get really worked up before I\u00a0finally hit that point of \u201coh wait, it\u2019s really not that bad\u201d. Usually I hit that point because I play\u00a0what I like to call the worst-case-scenario game, which is exactly what it sounds like. Although\u00a0the changes felt like the worst thing ever, they really weren\u2019t. I still had a job, I would still be\u00a0able to pay my bills and loans, and I\u2019d still be able to eat. In this instance, the \u201cworst-case\u201d was\u00a0simply that I would have to get out of my comfort zone and be flexible (just like I said I could be\u00a0in my cover letter). I recognize that I got pretty lucky in my worst-case, but taking a moment to\u00a0slow down and really look at the situation can put things in perspective.<\/p>\n

3) Leave work at work<\/strong> \u2013 Without a doubt, this is the most important thing to remember when\u00a0going through something difficult at work. I was perfectly happy and content in my job and\u00a0although I don\u2019t usually consider myself a creature of habit, the changes being put in place by\u00a0my institution were earth shaking enough for me that it bled into my personal life. I would go to\u00a0work and commiserate with coworkers about the situation and then go to happy hour with my\u00a0friends and grumble there too. Before I knew it, my friends and family were well versed in my\u00a0complaints and I could see their eyes glaze over when I started talking about work. Don\u2019t share\u00a0that negativity with your loved ones, y\u2019all. Leave work at work.<\/p>\n

4) Chin up<\/strong> \u2013 In my opinion, one of the worse things you can say to someone who is having\u00a0a bad day is \u201cWhen life gives you lemons…!\u201d. The same goes for someone in my situation.\u00a0Yes, we know that we should make lemonade but really all we want to do is chuck the lemons\u00a0at something. That being said, remembering that things will eventually turn a corner is key to\u00a0keeping your spirits up. If the people trying to convince you to make lemonade are maybe a little\u00a0too optimistic for your taste, write yourself little reminders and stick them places where you\u2019ll\u00a0see them throughout the day. It works, I promise. Some days, a note on my mirror telling me to\u00a0take it one day at a time is exactly what I need.<\/p>\n

5) Lean on me<\/strong> \u2013 Despite my earlier tip to leave work at work, having folks you can talk to about\u00a0what\u2019s going on is also really important. This can also include coworkers, although keep in\u00a0mind that they will probably be feeling the same things you are so there is the risk of sympathy\u00a0spiraling. A good support network won\u2019t just hear what you have to say about what\u2019s going\u00a0on, but also listen and provide feedback when you need it. They can give you an outsider\u2019s\u00a0perspective on the issue and also let you know when it\u2019s time to change topics if you\u2019re dwelling\u00a0too much on the negative.<\/p>\n

Naturally these tips won\u2019t apply to every difficult situation, but hopefully there\u2019s something here\u00a0you can use in whatever circumstance you find yourself!<\/p>\n

Naomi Gonzales is the Senior Assistant for INALJ Virginia and a self-proclaimed practicing generalist. Although currently a #medlib, Naomi has experience with public, academic, and special libraries but somehow still can’t pick a favorite. She is also the current chair of the ALA Rainbow List Project, a committee that puts together a list of LGBTQ titles for ages 0-18. A Texas native, Naomi enjoys being outside (especially the desert), reading comic books, watching truly terrible television, and spending time with her two cats, both named after food. Follow her on Twitter @InMediasRes_\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Naomi Gonzales, Senior Assistant, INALJ Virginia 5 Tips to Surviving (Institutional) Change Recently, the institution I\u2019m affiliated with underwent some organizational changes. It was a\u00a0difficult few months for me, but I learned some valuable things along the way. The following are\u00a0some survival tips for those of you dealing with a difficult work situation: 1)…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":82810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[4129,69,3592,6433,3663,6596,6595,111],"class_list":["post-82767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-5-tips","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-change","tag-inalj-virginia","tag-institutional-changes","tag-naomi-gonzales","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/naomi-gonzales.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-lwX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}