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Supporting staff member with Aspergers

David1692
David1692 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
edited May 2018 in Work and employment
I am an employer with an employee with aspergers.

He is in a management position which involves communication across all levels of the business and is beginning to struggle with this area of his role.

He appears to be loosing the filters to give effective communication and I am receiving complaints with regard to rudeness, intolerence and an aggressive tone.

Can you advise if you are aware of any organisations that can offer help in his communication skills as I wish to give him some support, help and or guidance in effective communication?

Many thanks

David

Comments

  • thespiceman
    thespiceman Community member Posts: 6,388 Disability Gamechanger
    Hello @David1962 Pleased to meet you.

    Understand I do not have the answer but I do know looking on our threads and posts.

    Talking about Specific Conditions.

    Also have you contacted the relevant organisation. Asperger's Society. Must be one on the web. Local services to you.  Just a suggestion.

    Ask them.  If they can help and advise.

    Otherwise member of our team will be a long to suggest anything.

    Hope that helps

    Take care
    @thespiceman


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  • Geoark
    Geoark Community member Posts: 1,463 Disability Gamechanger
    @David1692 welcome to the community.

    Two thing come to mind, mentoring and training.

    Sorry I am at work and need to go back but will respond further tonight or tomorrow

    As an individual I stood alone.
    As a member of a group I did things.
    As part of a community I helped to create change!

  • David1692
    David1692 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Many thanks and I look forward to receiving your response.

    Best

    David

  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    @pia_scope @Donisha_scope could you help?
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • David1692
    David1692 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Of course I can help and offer mentoring but it would need to be low key as the whole team I manage consists of 9 people and I would need to be balanced in the help I give.

    Thanks

    David

  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    It could be worth you getting in touch with the National Autistic Society, Here you'll find out more information on workplace assessments and training courses.

    Their contact details are:

    NAS Employment Training and Consultancy Service

    0141 285 7117
    employment.bookings@nas.org.uk

    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • David1692
    David1692 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Many thanks I will certainly get in touch with them.

    David
  • Geoark
    Geoark Community member Posts: 1,463 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @David1692

    Sorry about the quick post yesterday.

    Mentoring does not have to be internal, as a small organisation with 2 full time and 3 part time staff when we had a vacancy the best candidate was homeless which caused a number of concerns among board members. So one of the accomodations we put in for the person, with their consent, was some mentoring and support through a local charity. This helped to resolve a few problems in the early days. Helping him to settle in and assisting us in understanding his needs.

    From what you said it seems that things started okay, and possibly were okay for a while but this is deteriating. Autistic people can learn very effective coping skills, but these can weaken and even breakdown given the wrong/right? circumstances and spire downwards if unchecked for a number of reasons. 

    For example I am useless at social interaction, but over the years I have learned, sometimes the hard way, that there are expectations at work and have a work mode to handle this. However when I am tired, feeling stresssed or in a lot of pain those filters can flicker letting things out I would never dream of saying. Not good when my pain levels are high and I am not getting much sleep which leads to feeling more stressed than I should be at work, but I have the option to generally keep my mouth shut and concentrate on my work to get through it. I also work with a good team which means they know when I am like this and leave me alone unless they need my help or information from me. Plus my manager is happy for me to put headphones on and listen to music to cut out general office chatter as long as it is low so others can get my attention and I answer the phone.

    So in terms of training I was thinking more along the lines of something which would be of more help to your manager depending on what is actually going on with him. This could be around anger management, or mindfullness with techniques to help relax which can be done in the workplace and elsewhere. Or it could be around time management and ways of coping. One course I did on Lynda was how to manage your inbox, until recently I managed 3 inboxes and had work to do from a fourth one. And with fluctuating priorities in the team it was not alway easy to work out who to assign emails to. So the course helped me to organise the two I had sole responsibility for, and manage the third. 

    My background has always been in warehousing so the transition into office work has been a hard one. As I pointed out to my current manager one in our recent one to one, one of her key skills is mentoring and this has been a huge part of my learning and development. One thing I did eventually pick up on was when we did get time to go through my workload she would create a list of priorities for the next day, something I finally worked out reduced my stress the next day significantly, and kept me focussed after interruptions so end of the day I always make time to do this. I guess these are basic things for those who have worked in offices for a long time and don't think about it, but two simple things that have made a huge difference for me. My manager does ask to see this list from time to time to and makes suggestions if necessary so I keep learning and improving. The point being that the right support and training tailored for the individual can have huge benefits for them and the business. 

    Sorry for the long post and hope it helps, of course sometimes it is about having that difficult chat with an individual to help sort out what is going wrong and then how to deal with it. 

    As an individual I stood alone.
    As a member of a group I did things.
    As part of a community I helped to create change!

  • David1692
    David1692 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Thank you so much for the time you have spent compiling your response.

    Very helpful indeed.

    We have already implemented the idea of lists and I do see a decline when he is under stress and it is something I am mindful of.

    I have had the conversation with him and he is repsonsive and he is looking to discuss this with his G.P. in the next 2 weeks and see what we can implement further.

    Once again, many thanks for you intuitive comments and observations.

    Best regards

    David

  • Geoark
    Geoark Community member Posts: 1,463 Disability Gamechanger
    @David1692 you are welcome.

    And a big thank you for being understanding and your supportive attitude to this individual.

    In terms of outside agencies who might be able to offer him some support you could try Mind. They do a lot of work in mentoring people with learning difficulties, including autism, and trying to find them to work. The team at work have been very supportive of this offering 3 weeks work experience to an individual for the last 5 years.

    The other thing I have found at work, or in general, is letting who I work with know that sometimes my  filters flicker and I let things out which I don't mean, and if I am rude I do not mean to be. When it does happen I also make a point of apologising to the person/s involved. It does go a long way to manage the fall out and stop resentment from building up. In many cases I have found it beneficial as it also helps them to understand and more often than not they are supportive.

    I hope things get sorted out for everyone's benefit.

    As an individual I stood alone.
    As a member of a group I did things.
    As part of a community I helped to create change!

  • David1692
    David1692 Community member Posts: 6 Listener
    Thanks once more for you comments and I will put these into practice.

    Thanks again

    David

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