ADD friendly boss leaving (long O/T rant)

[lemming]

I know change is the only constant in this life, but it doesn't mean some changes suck any less.
I've been working in a place that honestly doesn't feel like just another job for me- it's more like a genuine community that I have real, emotional ties to. After all the enormous problems I had with uni that finally led to me leaving, this place gave me a sense of stability (structurally and emotionally) and has really nurtured and supported me in little ways that they probably will never know they have. It's given me the grounding I need to actually get out and explore what I am about. As someone who is really sensitive to their physical environment and really needs structure and support, this job has really helped me a long way in picking up all the little life skills I was so desperately lacking in.

And the boss has been instrumental in this, giving me the patience, encouragement, support and unconditional acceptance that I really needed (and still need). She doesn't know about my issues per se (I'm still undxed anyway)-- clearly she saw that I was slower in many ways, far more prone to making mistakes, and went the extra mile to give me that extra support. It probably wouldn't have made a difference to her whether my issues stemmed from any quantifiable condition, or were just part of a personality quirk- all she knew was that I needed help. I've never been made to feel any less for my many shortcomings in the efficiency and alertness department, and was instead praised for my strengths. She's the perfect ADD-friendly boss. Right now, however, in an abrupt and completely arbitrary decision, she's being transferred. She's been so instrumental in making the place something very different from the impersonal, cold workplace- people really feel a sense of belonging there.. that it'll all just collapse once she leaves. And it looks like a change in managerial style to coldly efficient and professional, and ADD-unfriendly is on the cards. Everyone is unhappy about the changes, she wants to challenge the decision, but I'm not sure how that will work out.

Sorry for the rant, but while it's a given the workplace is just usually pretty hostile to ADDers.. this place has truly helped me probably far more than the psychologists I've been paying.. and now it's in danger of being taken away from me just like that.

[DTownDave22]

I would not hesitate to write to communicate to this person what you express here. There are a number of ways:

1. Handwritten or typed letter
2. Email
3. Face-to-face conversation (I fancy the song "Face-to-Face" too)
4. Phone conversation

I'm apt to suggest strategizing to deal with these changes, but there likely may not be even half of the support that you would get with a new supervisor if that transfer does happen. I have little work experience, so I can't really draw from it to help you. I'd still try strategizing to help you do just as good at your job before as in the future. Identify three key areas in which you think there will be changes, what the problems are, and how you might be able to strategize to manage these. What changes would be brought about in a new supervisor on your end? Is it a lack of confidence that a new supervisor helped you with?

What is the transfer for anyways?

[lemming]

Thanks DtownDave. I suppose the biggest change really, is that this place has been my badly needed support system in many crucial ways, rather than a job. That's why I've stayed on, because it wasn't 'just' a job. With the changes, my support system and that incredible sense of community will basically fall apart. The transfer is for some completely arbitrary reason. Of course, the outside world has two things to say to me. 1) Grow up 2) That's the real world.

[stef]

I understand, it's devastating. several years ago, I was working in this translation agency. the company was horrible; but my manager was lovely. she was very kind. We worked well together; on a difficult point in a text we would brainstorm in french and english etc.
once there was some nasty meeting about how I was charging too much for my work - I was using "too many words" and they wouldn't pay me over the estimates; which is true there are actually fewer words in a sentence in english than in french but most of the stuff I translated were brochures, catalogues and menus without complete sentences... she couldn't do anything about it but going into this meeting, she gently squeezed my arm out of sympathy.

Well, she had enough and left the company, and the unpleasant proofreader didn't get her job but teamed up with the new manager who wasn't even a translator and sought revenge on the four of us who very close to the person who left. yikes.