How to improve my reputation at the firm?

[autisticconsultant]

1. Will not tell anyone here what firm it is, where it's based etc. to protect my privacy and stop people from finding out where I am based and complaining about me (snitches!)
2. Recently burnout after sliding off my meds for ptsd caused by sexual abuse and violence from dad and cousin
3. Started job at same time as coming off meds, epic burnout
4. WARNING: contains a lot of technical jargon re autism, so if you don't know much about autism don't read this
5. Just started my career at Company X, had a shit and awful time bc I suffered from burnout, put on a final written warning as the practice I am in is old school and the partner did not believe my underperformance was caused by my autism
6. The resourcing guy then put me on a very unique project that deals with exclusively calling strangers, dealing them ranting at me about their problems with our client, then ends with me recording all of that and trying to solve complex problems too. All my calls are monitored as are no. of customers contacted. If you know anything about autism, you'd know that this not autism friendly
7. The resourcing guy Andy didn't tell the manager on my engagement my autism and in my first week, I almost got thrown off bc Andy didn't understand why I couldn't tactfully deal with clients complaining to me about how shit our client company is without making the client company look bad
8. Eventually, I picked that shit up
9. During my time there, I hit my financial target and chased down the second highest amount of debt ( one of the performance metrics is the amount of money I can secure from debtors)
10. In my final week , unfortunately, I mixed up some exam dates and slid off the project early, but didn't tell the manager until he found out from my counsellor snitching on me... I didn't tell my manager bc by the time I found out it was a mistake, my replacement had already been found anyway
11. The client also complained about me accidentally cc'ing an external customer of theirs into an email chain where they were discussing what they can do about the customer's account ( not much cos the client is incompetent and I know what I did wrong-- I should be more careful re email etiquette next time). This is not a data leak bc the only data they were discussing was the client's data and they were all contactable via email
12. The manager also told me off for deleting some files and then recovering them from the recycling bin … he pointed out it was a wider pattern of me doing things before asking/not informing people of things when they happen/ poor stakeholder management
13. All of those aren't material to the engagement except for the client complaint
14. I had to write my own self-evaluation and send it to manager. I was honest with the points I need to improve on:

Points to improve and how:
a) Refresh Excel data analysis skills by attending courses provided by company
b) Communicate more with senior stakeholders before taking action i.e., know when I am making an important decision and inform the senior stakeholders about it before I take action
c) Stop assuming stakeholders know everything I do so that I can inform stakeholders when I change things i.e., when I changed the statuses of some customer interactions on the spreadsheet over the weekend, I should have informed MANAGER X as he needed to ensure the client reporting was accurate day-to-day; I should have explained to MANAGER X too that sometimes clients promised to pay etc. and then a few days late would email me with a problem they found and refuse to pay, thereby changing their status
d) Strike the right balance between problem solving myself and knowing when to lean on others for help e.g., whilst I have been proactive in reaching out to XX employees to help me, I should have spent more time explaining the issue to them instead so the problem could be solved quicker
e) Enhance ability to make perform well in time-restricted situations i.e. through practice, ensure I do not sacrifice quality when finishing tasks to time restrictions

An easy win, which doesn't require any technical competency, is to be more visible in the office. Spend more days in the office, at a desk within view of stakeholders whose perception of you you want to improve. Make sure you say morning, be present at your desk etc. Make sure your name and identity are known.

It sounds like you've been reflective re the errors and suggested some fixes, which is good. I agree that being more physically visible would help. Might mentoring be something that could be provided for a while? It also makes you look proactive to suggest it.

Why would this help?

Because you are seen to be hard working, because they are more likely to remember you and do so positively. When your name next comes up a positive association is, for obvious reasons, better than a negative association.

Also you can ask in person if you need advice, and build better interpersonal relationships than you can via teams.

How do you know i ask for help via teams?

Did you include a suggestion for a follow up meeting with your email?

If I were your manager, that would come across as a pro-active and professional approach.

I don't, I was just wondering if that's the main means of communicating if you are not physically in the office, and I find it harder to initiate a teams call than to speak to someone in person so wondered if you.might too.

From what you've said, do you reach out for help at all? Its unclear.

Who told you I was not physically in the office?

Given your reaction to @WingSluts post, I inferred that you weren't. I could be wrong.

While I get that you have autism, you will need to work on your communication style if you want to improve in this role. I feel that you are being obstructive and rude when people are trying to be helpful.

The way you've automatically come on here and spoken to PPs offering advice seems quite blunt and combative. Are you the same in your professional communications? If so I would tone that down, adopt a more friendly approach. People at work will appreciate someone who communicates well (spoken or written!) especially if you're friendly and polite without being known to waffle.

I mixed up some exam dates and slid off the project early, but didn't tell the manager until he found out from my counsellor snitching on me... I didn't tell my manager bc by the time I found out it was a mistake, my replacement had already been found anyway

What does this mean? You just walked out without telling people, and were gone for long enough that they'd employed someone else to fill the post?

I am autistic, I can't do small talk

I agree with this.

OP, you are coming across as quite aggressive and combative. There is a difference between not doing small talk and being aggressive/combative. You need to be polite in how you express things.

The client also complained about me accidentally cc'ing an external customer of theirs into an email chain where they were discussing what they can do about the customer's account ( not much cos the client is incompetent and I know what I did wrong-- I should be more careful re email etiquette next time). This is not a data leak bc the only data they were discussing was the client's data and they were all contactable via email

Your quote above really concerns me. It doesn't matter if it's not a data leak - copying in someone you were discussing the accounts of was really unprofessional - and your justification at the end (that it wasn't a big issue) seems to minimise that, actually, it was. Even your caveat that the 'customer is incompetent' is just a tad rude and aggressive.

I don't see how anyone on this thread can help you when, really, your main issue is inability to accept you have made mistakes (above example) without justifying the mistake, and your communication skills (combative).

@autisticconsultant

I'm not necessarily talking about small talk, I'm talking more about being less confrontational in your communication manner.

With your autism, do you enjoy rules / set ways of working? I know some autistic people work around ways of communicating by learning "rules" of conversation and model that into their work communications. My sister does this quite well and I'd say 95% of the time it's totally effective.

Being friendly =/= small talk. I'm not suggesting you chat for 5 minutes about the weather, but that you tone down the aggressive tone. Could you look at taking a corporate comms course at all?

A lot of the points you've mentioned with your ways of working and communication seem to be not up for debate / improvement, which if that's how you want to do it is fine, but you're unlikely to get a good reception in work.

A lot of the points you've mentioned with your ways of working and communication seem to be not up for debate / improvement, which if that's how you want to do it is fine, but you're unlikely to get a good reception in work.

^^ wdym with this

I think you need to improve your communication skills and that would help a lot. You are coming over as defensive and quite abrupt and this could be how you come across at work also. I am ND so I do understand social struggles trust me, but you do need to communicate professionally and try and get on with people at work

Your other thread is getting similar responses. Meant with kindness, you need to take on board that your communication style needs work.

The way you come across on here is combative and defensive.
Instead of "How do you know I'm not in the office?" Which has already put people's back up " Thanks for the idea X, I am actually in the office 3 times a week but that's something I can try".

Everyone has to learn how to communicate appropriately in the office, autistic or not. Some people need to be more formal and not talking like they are down the pub, others like you, need to be softer and less ready for an argument because that's how it comes across and that is likely to be the problem at work if you communicate virtually in the same manner.

DD is autistic, she doesn't do waffle or small talk but she has learnt social etiquette for school and Ill support her learning it for the world of work too. I wonder if there is an autistic work coach you could work with that could support you in appropriate communication skills.

Generally successful people at work are: visible, productive and deliver results, are pleasant to work with as peers, managers and subordinates.

Your communication style has come across as defensive and combative. I understand your autism comment.

If I can offer practical advice it would be to top and tail your comments with something softer and some reasons as to why. I use this, particularly when dealing with folk who I know need some extra niceties: So:

‘Who told you that I don’t come into the office’ would change to ‘Thank you for your comment. I’m curious as to why you think I don’t come into the office. Hopefully I can explain further.’

or

‘I need you to do this’ would become ‘Thank you for your work so far on X. As you know, it’s important that we meet the deadline, and so I wondered if I could ask you to tackle X and Y project. I will continue with Z. If it would be useful to meet to discuss, or if you have any questions, so let me know. Thank you once again for your efforts’

Could you explain what you think they mean by that? So we can understand your thought processing in things like this?

I think your PTSD, as well as your autism, might be affecting how you communicate.

The effect you give in your writing is that of someone constantly poised to fight or flee. Who is constantly expecting to be blamed for something and is ready to deflect and argue back.

As for your autism diagnosis, the resourcing guy isn't allowed to disclose that to anyone without your permission. Ask if your employer has a Disability Passport scheme which is where your reasonable adjustments are agreed and written down and all you have to is forward the document to the new manager.

What makes him think that the points I've mentioned with ways of working and communication seem to be not up for debate / improvement?

Because @autisticconsultant everything that has been suggested to you you've had a defensive come back for.
You had advice about being present in the office with the poster assuming like most office jobs you might be WFH or hybrid and being present in the office will improve your reputation as you are visible. Another poster commented on the fact that communicating via Teams wasn't always great especially when new to a role, again most dispersed teams communicate via MS teams and you had another defensive response to that. That suggests that you aren't actually interested in way of improving your reputation or adapting your ways of working.