Your Attention Please

A national survey of 1000 adults with ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder) was conducted recently in the US. What they found did not surprise me since they are the very issues my clients and I often coach around. Here’s what they found:

 I can tell you from personal experience both at home and in my business that this is a common problem. ADHD adults sincerely want to pull their own weight at home but they often forget their commitments because of chronically poor memory, they can’t get started as they struggle with procrastination and their easy distractibility means they rarely finish projects.

 50% of those employed worried that it could affect promotion possibilities.

ADHD adults make, on average, $5000 to $10,000 less revenue than their colleagues working at the same job because they struggle to get to work on time and to deliver quality work on time. They lose more than 20 days of productivity per year at work just due to distractibility and poor time estimating. Distractibility made 60% of ADHD adults unable to wrap up projects. Their poor quality output usually attracts negative attention so they are often passed over for promotions.

75% said ADHD greatly affected their ability to stay on task

Today’s work environment is not conducive to focusing on one priority or task at a time. Many distractions, such as email alerts and ringing phones, vie constantly grab your attention. In addition, ADHDers are interest-based performers, that is, they are able to stay on task when things interest them and they are able to work to their strengths, but they struggle to activate their brains activated in the face of boring tasks.

ADHD also affects their ability to work in teams

In today’s corporation, your ability to work in teams one of your most important skills. For many, team meetings or team activities take up a large portion of the work day, which makes it especially difficult to perform well for the 70% of ADHDers who said they had trouble concentrating on what others are saying, and for the 60% who reported it was difficult to sit still during meetings.

Unfortunately, reports of these types of research findings are rarely accompanied by offered solutions. Yes, these figures are alarming, but what can be done about it? Some companies are considering pre-emptive testing to ensure that they don’t hire ADHD adults. These corporations are likely to miss out on some excellent employees at a time when a company’s talent pool is its most important asset. After all, there is some good news.

These ADHD productivity issues are all manageable with appropriate training designed especially to help adults overcome the challenges of ADHD, training like The Maximum Productivity Makeover for ADHD Adults. With the right training and support, adults with ADHD will become valuable employees, contributing directly to the bottom line with their creativity, unconventional out-of-the-box thinking, and their high level of energy and passion.
 

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The biggest complaints I get from new clients is about their performance at work, problems with relationships as they fail to live up to their commitments with others, their tendency to procrastinate and wait until the last minute to get stuff done, and feeling that they don’t live up to their full potential because of these.

They think that these are different problems but they are really symptoms of the same problem: ADHD productivity issues. Learn to manage your productivity and these problems get solved.

Planning, organizing, engaging in, executing and following through on your commitments in your professional and personal life require you have a handle on your productivity. The problem is that ADHD adults struggle with exactly these issues because of their brain differences.

They try traditional time management systems like Franklyn Covey, Day Timer, Harvard that don’t work for an non-conventional brain. Often, the reason clients show up at my door is that they’ve tried these program and nothing worked. You have a Turbo Limited Edition brain so these programs’ don’t provide you with the right instruction manual for your brain.

You need a YOU Management program that recognizes your unique brain differences and allows you to work WITH your brain instead of against it. This means:

1. matching your brain’s natural energy cycles with the tasks on your To-Do list;
2.  creating ways to conquer boredom by “automating” the boring stuff; 
3. overcoming your tendency to procrastinate by getting at the root of the problem; 
4. using your natural strengths and talents to improve your productivity; 
5. controlling obstacles to your productivity, like interruptions and losing things; 
6. using a method to better manage your life so that you commit to and execute those activities that are important to you; and 
7. choosing tools that allow you to maximize your time and avoid problems.

 The most important thing to recognize is that trying to do things like everyone else does leads to disaster for ADHDers. You need to manage YOU by working WITH your brain not against it.

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Before saying anything, you need to answer a few questions for yourself:

1. What are my strengths?
   We all have them so dig deep
2. How is it helping me?
   One client told me that she had a lot of energy and her out-of-the box thinking heloped her solve problems more easily. Another who was a salesman found that clients liked to work with him because he always seemed to be “on the ball”. Another who was a social worker felt that she was better able to empathize with her clients
3. How is my ADHD hindering me at work?
   Difficulty with concentrating, with organizing, excessive perfectionism…
4. What is the specific problem I want help with?
   Can’t concentrate because of noise or traffic, difficulty getting organized so often looking for things, difficulty with constant distractions of email and phone, can’t seem to organize time well, etc.
5. What solutions do I want to propose?
   Will this solution help or should you consider a different career? What is the cost to the employer? Where can it be found?
6. How can your employer help?
   Do you need your employer to help defray the cost of coaching, provide you with an accommodation, change something in the way he or she works with you?
7. What’s in it for my employer? Why would your employer help you? What does your company stand to gain from reducing or eliminating your problem?

In most cases of course when your employer provides help, he or she ends up with a more productive employee; however, what is the benefit? Will you be able to get more done? Will you improve your sales? Will the quality of your work improve? It can also be an opportunity to solve a problem, or improve the way the company does things. For example, one client who got help with his productivity, was able to help other colleagues, non-ADHDers, also improve theirs.

 It will really help to know your strengths to give you confidence when you see your employer. Be prepared to offer information on the solution you are proposing so that you don’t have to run after him or her a second time.

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This is a question I come across often in my work with people with adult ADHD. When they ask me how they should tell their employer about their ADHD, I usually ask them to identify what benefits they hope to gain by divulging their ADHD.

In a survey I conducted last year, when asked why these participants with adult ADHD felt the need to tell, most mentioned that they needed accommodations or specialized help like coaching and that without that help they struggled at work. Some also felt it was a last resort as they were having so much difficulty at work, they felt they might be fired.

Those who never mentioned their ADHD status stated their main reasons were that there was no need as they were managing well or that it was a private matter and they didn’t feel their employers had any right to know. About half felt shame or were fearful of being negatively impacted. Unfortunately some of those who did mention it were discriminated against.

When problems arise at work, that seem caused by ADHD, require divulging your ADHD consider the following:

1. Could the specific problem and solution be mentioned without talking about ADHD?
2. What is the company’s track record around issues like this? Their size? their ability to pay for accommodations?
3. What do you estimate is your value to your company? What is the employment rate in your industry? Obviously if you are a rare resource with a good track record, you’re less likely to suffer negatively when asking for help.
4. What is YOUR attitude around your ADHD? Many see it as a mental disorder to hide; others realize that there are some positive and negative to having ADHD. If you are in the first category, you’re more likely to convey this sentiment to your boss.

The point is not to hide your ADHD status in shame; however, there is still a lot of misinformation and judgment around ADHD. You may not have the financial means or want to be a martyr. On the other hand when people around you understand and accept differences in others (no matter what they have) as a positive thing, it can be liberating.

I look forward to the day when you can talk about ADHD and people around actually understand the challenges but also ackowledge that you have strengths.

In my next post I’ll provide an answer to how to tell your employer you have ADHD.

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