How accommodations for ADHD help everyone to Thrive
Sh*t I Wish My Manager Knew...the Presentation
On my ADHD journey I started exploring ways to help myself whilst at work and was communicating these with my managers at the time.
The funny thing was though, the more I looked into them and worked out WHY they were effective, it dawned on me how easily these could be implemented in the workplace for EVERYONE, regardless of what is going on in the brain.
But, aren’t accommodations and ‘special treatment’ expensive I hear you say? No, they really aren’t. Now, what I’m about to share is in no way shape or form groundbreaking, but I found that at two of my recent workplaces once I had disclosed my ADHD journey, and asked for these minor adjustments to be made - it was used against me in an incredibly traumatic way.
What did I ask for? Weekly 1:1 check ins with my manager. Yup. That’s it.
A quick, 10-15min check in once a week to just cover off the following:
Do WHAT
By WHEN
And WHY
I wasn’t asking for thousands of dollars of equipment or something to be built especially for me, I was asking for something that should just be a part of working culture. I realised that with my interest-driven brain, I needed to have a bigger picture view of why I was doing something, and I needed a deadline to add pressure.
Telling me, ‘oh, just when you can’ is a recipe for disaster. I know this about myself now, but for a long time I didn’t, so things would repeatedly slip through the gaps. I also now know that I NEED to write something down, or have instruction in written form. As an added bonus, if I can be walked through new tasks it will have a better chance of being retained.
Little did I know that I was subconcsiously making allowances for my executive (dys)functions. You know, the brains operating system that helps you to DO THE THING - the system that absolutely short circuited somewhere along the way in my development.
Essentially, I was asking for CLEAR & CONSCISE communication in the workplace. Having worked in mulitple industries, it still completely blows my mind how far behind construction is in terms of soft skills, professional development, upskilling and opportunities. There have been studies done in recent years that even highlight just how poorly construction rates in areas of innovation, psychosocial safety, mental health and productivity. All things that would be greatly improved with soft skills.
So, with all the above in mind, I created a presentation that helped to incorporate all the shortfalls in softskills and highlighted the need for them. While this isn’t unique to construction by any means, it does have a somewhat sobering affect when you see the suicide rates in the industry (1 person per week in NZ, 98% of those are men).
Imagine if we could all incorporate more empathy & communication into our workplace, what a world that would be!
