ADHD at Work: Here's how I talk about my with my bosses to help them understand and accommodate my needs without causing any stigma.
If you're not comfortable disclosing you have ADHD, here is a post on how to ask for the same accommodations without disclosing it!
*These things are true for me, they may not be true for everyone so adjust accordingly.*
Starting the Meeting
"I scheduled this meeting to talk about my work style and what environment I perform best in."
"I have ADHD, which when well managed, ADHD is a major asset. People with ADHD are creative, excellent problem solvers, and are some of the most successful people throughout history: Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Charles Schwab, etc."
"Some people with ADHD can also tap into something called hyperfocus where nothing can distract us, our productivity and efficiency are through the roof, and we can concentrate on complex problems for extremely long periods of time."
"We can't do this on command, though. So, in order for me to get into hyperfocus, I need my environment to meet these conditions:" [insert conditions]
Example Conditions
I need to be in a quiet place and have long blocks of uninterrupted time. So if it gets too loud in the office or people keep trying to chat with me, I'll need to move to a focus booth for a few hours.
I need large blocks of time to be productive. It's difficult for me to be productive if my day is broken up by meetings frequently. Would it be alright if I blocked off a few hours a day on my calendar to be my uninterrupted focus time?
As a remote team, we don't get as many opportunities to check in. It would be helpful for me if I could message you my priorities for the day every morning to check and make sure we're aligned.
It's hard for me to focus without background music. Would it be alright if I wear headphones?
If what I'm working on is new, urgent, or interesting to me, it's much easier for me to tap into hyperfocus. I understand we can't always work on the things we want to, but if you're dividing up work and you know other people on the team don't like change, throw it my way!
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