Two years ago I wrote a piece How To Manage Employees With ADD/ADHD. It generated reasonable readership (around 20,000 readers), and quite a number of people corresponded with me about it - as ADD/ADHD is a growing problem that is often ignored from a management standpoint.
After doing research, interviewing a respected ADD/ADHD expert, and thinking back on my own managerial experiences, I offered in that earlier article a number of management suggestions to help keep employees with ADD/ADHD productively focused and on track. These included paying special attention to office configurations, time management and team dynamics, implementing certain kinds of reward systems, plus maintaining generally closer supervision due to the tendency for attention to wander. To which just several days ago a reader signing as "Another Perspective" responded:
"I find this article to contain something that is actually quite detrimental. Although written with good intentions, 'supervision' is a loaded word. As someone who has suffered 29 years without diagnosis, and constantly criticized, this is a pain point. Every time I would start a new job, I would interview great. People would be so happy to have me on board. Then, a few months in, they start to notice. They start to worry. They start to hover. They start to control. They start to give constant, painful, condescending monitoring. Do not impose your supervision on me. You are making me anxious. You are causing me distress. I don’t want to work for you anymore because I am tired of being treated like I am bad or broken.
"This is a mutual conversation. Let the person know that you are here to brainstorm with them and troubleshoot solutions. Don’t get angry or frustrated or controlling. You will drive a good employee away. Remember, people with ADHD often bring a lot of insight that can fill in your talent gap."
I found this perspective from "Another Perspective" to be a good creative one. The notion that effective management should at times be a "mutual conversation" is worth highlighting. Too often, in any circumstances, management becomes a monologue, not a dialogue. The idea that an employee can be actively and productively involved in the management process has implications for all manager-employee relationships, and it's especially relevant for employees with ADD/ADHD-type issues.
This is not to say a manager should in any way ever cede managerial control or responsibility. Not at all. But simply that taking the time to learn more about a particular employee's perspective - especially when there are substantive problems/issues/challenges with that employee - can be a helpful, enlightening (and no cost) step to take.
Returning to the ADD/ADHD situation, national statistics show that in the U.S. some 8 to 9 million adults have this condition, plus up to 10% percent of the school-age population. More importantly, there's widespread consensus that these numbers are only increasing - indicating that the future management challenge will surely continue to grow.
Another Perspective was entirely right when he or she wrote that "people with ADHD often bring a lot of insight that can fill in your talent gap." In my many years in management, I'm quite certain that my most brilliant employee had ADD/ADHD. He wasn't always easy to manage but he was exceptionally valuable to our company. Which is why I believe the words from Another Perspective are well worth keeping in mind.
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Victor is author of The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World (Prentice Hall Press).
