Helping Businesses Understand ADHD in the Workplace
I guide businesses navigate the complexities of ADHD by improving awareness and understanding.
This is to enable the development of a more inclusive workplace, supporting some of your hardest working staff, who might need a little adaptation in return.
Improving ADHD understanding and support in the workplace
Understanding and supporting ADHD in your organisation can transform productivity and well-being.
Empowering managers and decision-makers to understand how ADHD manifests and what employees may be experiencing can lead to compassionate, constructive, and positive outcomes.
ADHD can significantly impact a business, and established processes can exacerbate issues for ADHD employees, leading to misconceptions among peers and frustration for everyone involved. However, effective strategies can be implemented without overhauling your operations.
There is nothing inherently wrong with your ADHD staff; they can uniquely contribute to your business and outperform most in certain roles once given the space to do so. ADHD doesn't make people less capable; their brains simply operate and process things differently.
By providing reasonable adjustments, you can drastically improve their well-being and overall productivity.
ADHD Training
Aimed at operations and project delivery functions: product/project managers and line managers.
Learn how ADHD makes things challenging for your staff in your current workflows and what you can do about it.
Don't worry, it doesn't mean you need to abandon JIRA and Slack, but it'll inform how to specifically support ADHD staff.
ADHD Consultancy
Aimed at decision makers within businesses: heads of function, senior management, CSR and HR functions.
Raising awareness and laws protecting staff, it can be hard to understand ADHDs impact on business, negatively and positively.
I can tailor a specific discussion based on your needs or provide more high-level guidance if you just want more information.
Public speaking
Are you running an event on ADHD, Neurodivergence or Mental Health in the workplace?
I am available to speak at such events. With expertise in ADHD and how it manifests and plenty of public speaking experience.
I can work towards a common theme of an event or propose a bespoke event based on your specific requirements.
How does the engagement process work?
I am quite flexible in discussing how I could help your business beyond the brief descriptions above.
I suggest we have a call to discuss your needs and see if I can assist. For example, we could discuss supporting staff with ADHD.
I can conduct some initial fact-finding, which would include gaining insight into your processes and tools, such as whether you use Agile methodologies with many ceremonies, use Jira, or expect the use of Slack. Based on that information, I can tailor a proposal for you.
To begin, get in touch to arrange an obligation-free follow up call.
I can offer online services but am flexible. I am based in Barcelona and can work with any company in Spain, in English, on-site.
For other countries, particularly within the EU or UK, I am willing to consider travelling to your premises or events if you prefer not to conduct meetings, training sessions, or events online.
I have successfully started and scaled my own business, starting out with laptop and some cheap office space, with less than €1,000 into a thriving company within five years. We secured high-profile clients, including household names in Ireland and listed companies on the EuroStoxx exchange.
Before transitioning to ADHD support and awareness, I served as Managing Director/General Manager of an international e-commerce SaaS platform for four years, gaining extensive expertise in online operations.
I have extensive expertise and experience in all things online. Perhaps thanks to ADHD, I am curious about everything new and have needed and wanted to immerse myself in everything as digital companies evolved since the 90's. Since starting freelance work at sixteen in 1997, I have continuously pursued the tech industry, gaining broad experience in tech-heavy environments and design, from accessibility to UX.
I am adept with various processes and tools and have significant experience building and managing teams, raising funds, handling business transfers, and negotiating deals.
I have cultivated C-level relationships for over a decade across diverse technology sectors. Some of my ADHD attributes probably contribute to why I relish these challenges and building these relationships, and I am comfortable in front of anyone.
I have firsthand experience working with dysregulated ADHD for many years; it's something I care deeply about. I consider myself fortunate to have held senior roles. The idea of a day-to-day job with formalities, to-do lists, and repetitive tasks terrifies me, despite my ability to perform such roles.
A sizeable minority in the workforce are burning out, afraid to ask for help, and unable to articulate the changes they need coherently. ADHD is eroding their confidence, and they are just trying as hard as they can to fit in. A once-promising staff member may now struggle with low output and mood. This is often mistaken for laziness, but with slight tweaks in expectations and processes, they can thrive.
Contrary to some beliefs, people with ADHD are NOT LAZY; their brains simply operate differently. They spend much of their time feeling pressured and trying hard to fix things. They often work harder than most but don't deliver as expected, feeling they let others down.
I've seen compassionate people try to support their ADHD staff, but their solutions often add more confusion. ADHD can be difficult to grasp and covers a broad spectrum of traits and impairments, but companies can support their staff without major overhauls or huge investments.
Sometimes, a different approach to managing tasks, being mindful, and understanding the impact of multitasking and context shifts on an ADHD brain can make a significant difference. This is especially true in Agile work environments, which have become the norm or at least some variant thereof.
If you have a mental health support policy, you can bolster your ADHD toolkit by improving awareness across the business, supporting disclosure and providing support, making accommodations, and covering costs for reasonable supports such as therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, coaching, or even gym memberships.