ADHD and how to handle it in the Workplace

Visualise Your Workload

Kanbans are a great way of visually seeing what you are working on and reminding yourself of what state they are at. There are many online tools where you can create one, check out Miro. But, I’ve always been a fan of the old post-it notes on a large piece of paper or a whiteboard.

Here is a great example of one on paper. You can replicate these boards online using Miro – it’s simple and easy to get going. 

Communication

Can you be open with your manager (and team) about ADHD? I find transparency has been key to building a trusting relationship with my manager. Being transparent, paired with showing genuine enthusiasm and drive to want to do your job will show your manager you mean business, but some days you just need to start a little later, maybe take a break from your desk, switch tasks for a small period to reengage your brain.

But, what if your manager is not understanding and you don’t have a work culture that is supportive of ADHD? Well, this is fine if you are managing your workload, but if you find you are struggling to keep up or you feel overwhelmed often, this might be your sign to look for a better working environment. They’re out there, I promise. Always check a company’s website and look at their working policies on neurodiversity – we are seeing a big change across the working landscape regarding this, so have hope and get searching.  

Tangible Transparency

Does your workplace have an employee directory or before projects do you have kick-off meetings? These are great ways to show people how to best communicate with you to ensure you can perform at your highest level. This way, when you get pulled up on something, that was presented to you in a non-ADHD friendly manner – you can stand strong knowing you did your best to raise awareness, they ignored it and this is on them. For example at my work, we have a directory with a profile for each person – here’s mine:

Office distractions?

Well, it doesn’t take a genius but it has to be said, noise-cancelling headphones are your office saviour for drowning out the pointless chit chat of your colleagues – who just don’t get how hard you are working to stay on task.

Working from home

Do your work let you work from home? If so this can be great and have much fewer distractions – but be prepared, set up your working area and clock in and clock out – don’t start eyeing up that mess in the corner, or the plates in the sink, you are in the ‘office’ try and resist getting engaged in more rewarding and immediate tasks, I know its tempting. To avoid this, depending on how you feel on the day, you can set up 30 minutes before you ‘enter the office (in your kitchen)’ to clear away all the mess and distractions you can. But set a timer, you don’t want to fall down the tidying rabbit hole (we’ve all been there).

Meetings

We’ve all gone into meetings and had loads of actionable outcomes and things you need to get on with afterwards – but those notes you scribbled are now unreadable and your executive memory isn’t your best mate so you struggle to retrieve what those actions were. For this I recommend taking your laptop with you to meetings and taking notes on this, some people may find this rude, but promptly explain at the beginning – “Sorry about the laptop, but my handwriting isn’t great and I want to get the most I can out of this!”. Well, this person is not rude – they’re driven and responsible, what a great attitude this person has!

Quick tip – some notes will be general information and some will be actionable outcomes for you to deliver – put a capital ‘A’ or highlight those actions so they stand out. This will require less cognitive load for when you come back to the notes. All you can ever do is your best, and these tips can support you in doing so.

You’ve got this – Chloe

From the editor: These are some great tips from Chloe, if you’re looking for wall planners, diaries or stationery to get you on task and motivated check out this stuff from Mighty Ape.