How do you make a workplace friendly for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD? If you ask this question you would often get a myriad of answers and suggestions. In fact if you take a poll you will see that ADHD sufferers have become productive in some fields of endeavor. It is best to ask what career options are available for people that have ADHD.
Working with ADHD
Finding a good match
The truth is that every career can be a potential good match for a person with ADHD. Even if a career is potentially dangerous for a person with ADHD it may still work well. When you are finding the right career match you need to consider some factors. These factors include your interests, personality, strengths, weaknesses, level of training and educational background.
Working with distractions
Distractions are the biggest stumbling block that faces people with ADHD. The distractions can either be external or internal. External distractions are those coming from the office environment. Internal distractions are those coming from disoriented thoughts. Flexi-time arrangements can work by putting sufferers during hours where there are less people at the office. You can also help people with ADHD work in an area where there is less people traffic. Toning down the noise usually coming from the phones would help. Telecommuting can also help people with ADHD work beautifully.
Working with impulsivity
Impulsivity has many forms but the common thing that brings all of these together is the absence of thought in executing things. Learn not to be attracted to do things without plan and even careful thought. Energy and enthusiasm can wither away when you are not careful in doing stuff. This may cost the company more and can take away the efficiency of the enterprise. Always think about the consequences of your action especially if you are working with a person with ADHD.
Working with hyperactivity
A lot of jobs today are poorly suited to people with ADHD because it is sedentary. When a person with ADHD is not active his mind tends to wander and could result to poor motivation and boredom. Always engage with the people with ADHD when there are idle times especially during meetings where it tends to be boring. Put the people with ADHD in areas of the enterprise where movement is a requirement like moving from one site to another or to be assigned in the field. This way, you are helping them reduce their tendency to be suffering from much stress and anxiety while at work.
Working with time
Time management is important to people with ADHD. They tend to over-commit which can severely affect their ability to finish the jobs they took. They also have a propensity to procrastinate. ADHD sufferers should work on jobs that would reward them if they are able to complete it promptly. It is best to have closer supervision of people with ADHD.
Some businesses would give a lot of freedom in the workplace to become friendlier for people with ADHD. Some sufferers may opt for more stimulating environment like becoming a police officer. If you can start by lowering the potential for external distractions and make the workplace truly engaging you can help ADHD sufferers to have a better future.
ADHD or personality type?
A final point to consider is that people with energetic and spontaneous personalities are sometimes misdiagnosed with ADHD. Within the normal personality spectrum, people differ in their preferences for novelty, and not all people who grow restless when spending too much time concentrating on the same task have ADHD. Some people simply prefer a greater variety of tasks and thrive on switching things up and having no two days be alike. If this sounds like you, consider taking this MBTI test to learn more about your personality type. Once you have obtained your result, the website shows you which famous people are like you. If you are one of the four EP types (ESTP, ESFP, ENTP or ENFP), then you naturally have a large appetite for new input and experiences, and this pattern of seeking novelty may be confused with ADHD when in fact you simply prefer a highly stimulating lifestyle. If he were alive today, President Theodore Roosevelt (ESTP) might have been pegged as having ADHD, as would Peter the Great (ESFP), Benjamin Franklin (ENTP) and Oscar Wilde (ENFP), and yet these restless extroverts all went on to do great things. This point should be kept in mind when considering whether ADHD is the cause of someone having trouble fitting into a routinized and predictable office environment. Perhaps the same individual who is performing poorly in a typical office job would thrive in a role allowing for with more spontaneity.
