Do you have a talented executive who isn’t implementing your feedback – no matter how many times it’s delivered?
Your executive may have ADHD. And that’s something that truly matters when you consider how to develop their leadership.
Neurodiverse executives are creative. They’re forward thinking and they have a high tolerance for risk taking. They’re often the charmers in the room, inspiring others and generating excitement about new opportunities.
As an HR professional, you want to make the most out of this neurodivergent talent pool.
You recognize the value these executives bring to the organization. And you want to create an inclusive culture that makes room for the best of what all your executives have to offer.
But how?
What’s the best way for leaders with ADHD to develop?
Executive coaching – with a specialty in Executive Functioning – is a cost-effective investment in your neurodiverse leadership team. Executive Functioning (EF) refers to the brain-based capacities for goal-directed behaviour.
This kind of executive coaching is tailored to the learning style of your executive with ADHD.
It specifically addresses how the brain works, and it’s individualized to the leader’s particular personality and brain profile.
It leverages their strengths to support their challenges, and it empowers the leader with ADHD to show up more strategically – consistently.
Recognize ADHD in Your Executives: The First Step to Developing Leadership Potential
When the heat is on, ADHD leaders thrive. They mobilize faster and more coherently than others. They have high energy. They’re the ones who come up with the most inspired ideas. And when transparency is needed, their poor verbal filter becomes an asset. They say what’s on their mind! They’re likeable, fun and engaged – and that raises the tone for the whole team.
When these leaders have not had the benefit of specific coaching to develop their EF skills, you’ll also see:
- Inconsistent performance – the highs are steep and the lows are anxiety provoking;
- Projects completed late, or not at all;
- High distractibility – everything from talking to colleagues at inappropriate moments, ruminating, or doom scrolling;
- Overwhelm or apparent resistance during periods of sudden change;
- Tangential responses in meetings – they just can’t seem to deliver a coherent response in a fast (or slow) conversation;
- Difficulty implementing your feedback- no matter how many times you deliver it!
- Difficulty taking great ideas and translating them into actionable steps;
- Excessive attention to detail – they lose the main idea;
- A tendency to take on more than they can deliver;
- Difficulty staying on track – managing priorities, emotional dysregulation;
- Interpersonal challenges – impulsive emotional outbursts.
Executive Functions and Self-awareness in Adult ADHD
Executive Functions are at the root of all these behaviours. Your executive is not lazy or undisciplined.
They know what to do, they just can’t do it in the way it needs to be done.
When your executive understands how their EF work, they can alter their behaviour – with coaching support.
Executives with ADHD do well when they have a solid knowledge base about EF, in conjunction with well-developed self-awareness. Self-awareness is the skill for recognizing in the moment which strategy they need, and how best to apply it.
Both of these steps are difficult for executives with untreated ADHD. Without the relevant knowledge and keen self-awareness, they struggle to change what they want to change – even when they know they need to.
Your executive’s challenges with EF are a function of their lower self-awareness, while their lower self-awareness is a product of their weak EF. One impacts the other.
When self-awareness goes up, so do the EF skills. When the EF skills go up, so does self-awareness.
How Executives with ADHD Learn Best:
Insights for HR and Leadership Development
Executives with ADHD learn best when they’re in charge of their learning. When they’re the ones who decide what’s relevant and how they’ll work with it, they’ll be actively engaged throughout.
It can be tempting to offer group training for time management or effective communication. But for group training to be effective, participants must already have strong EF in place.
Neurotypical executives have these skills. They can motivate themselves. They actively use their meta-cognition for self-directed learning, and they need less time to integrate a new skill.
Folks with ADHD need more time and a different structure to bring out their best.
8 Reasons Why Executive Coaching Helps Leaders with ADHD Succeed
Coaching is designed to raise self-awareness. It’s a series of structured conversations that encourage deep reflection, challenges assumptions, and highlights blind spots.
Coaching provides the mirror your executives need to see their behaviour patterns accurately. Every human is wired to not see their patterns. But individuals with EF difficulties have even more barriers to self-awareness.
In a coaching relationship, your executives will be active. They’ll identify the goals, topics and measures for success for themselves. They’ll be invested because they created their own learning! They’ll own it.
Coaching provides the safe space your executives need to be vulnerable and to stretch far beyond what they would do on their own.
Coaching uses real world situations as learning vehicles. Real life is where executive functions tend to break down. Addressing the crisis of the moment to build awareness and new behaviours makes the work inherently relevant and valuable.
Coaching focuses on action. The work is about implementing changes in real time, all along the way.
Expected results can range from higher and more consistent performance to communicating effectively in a variety of settings.
Coaching goes deeply and comprehensively. It’s holistic and it’s individualized. Together, we change the person, not just the brain. They never forget what they learn!
Turning Potential into Performance: Real-World Impact
Gail was run by fear. She was the director of a multimillion-dollar non-profit organization, but her results were inconsistent and mirrored her erratic performance.
In our first coaching session, Gail rated her time management at 0/10. Up until now, she had succeeded based on her stellar personality and the speed with which she could mobilize when she was motivated. But she was exhausted from the near constant scramble to avoid another mistake.
One year later, she was beaming as she told me that her time management was now at 10/10. She’d learned to trust herself and she no longer succumbed to autopilot – dealing only with what was immediately in front of her. She was intentional, planful, reliable and passionate.
The bottom line for her organization was that the donors they relied on now enjoyed a steady relationship with her. (In the past, she would disappear for a year or more.) Her staff came to trust her.
And she actively raised the profile of her organization, bringing in much more money and attracting many more donors than ever before.
As Gail’s story shows us, the real-world impact of executives being coached is as broad as it is deep.
Here are some of the outcomes you and your executives can look forward to:
Consistent productivity: getting started and finishing, on time.
Improved Decision-making: being more deliberate and less impulsive, so all the information is taken into account.
Strategic Stress Management: rolling with stress more easily and relying on personalized systems to reduce overwhelm. Individualized tools to support their nervous systems in staying calm and open.
Accurate Self-Concept: Shame and guilt are replaced with self-regard and self-trust. They no longer identify with failures. They’re more neutral and effective in the face of challenges.
As an HR professional, you’re in the perfect spot to match your executives’ needs with the most relevant support.
Watch them shine! Watch how their win becomes a win for everyone on the team.
With love and gratitude,
Lynda
Self-Awareness in Adult ADHD: The Key to Producing Excellent Work
