Executives with ADHD: Leverage your Promotion

You’re about to launch into a new position and you’re wondering if you’ll fall flat on your face. Your current set of tools to manage your ADHD symptoms have worked so far, but just barely. You know they may not be enough for you to succeed in a role that has higher expectations. The demands will be higher. The time frames shorter. And the interpersonal relationships require more emotional agility. I work with skilled executives who have accomplished a great deal in their careers. But when they’re about to transition from one role to another, that’s when imposter syndrome, poor ability to meet deadlines and struggle to self-manage loom large. These executives know that they have the capacity to succeed in their role. But they also know that their success means they must finally bring into the light all those struggles they’ve kept hidden for so long. Can you relate to this? This is the grand paradox of ADHD among professionals and executives: You can be a top earner in your firm, or the surgeon with the best outcomes, or the executive with the most inspiring vision – but none of that makes up for the challenges ADHD can present. If you’re working towards a promotion, do it. Keep that goal in mind. Nothing about ADHD means you can’t succeed at a higher level or a different level. The determining factor for success is not what you know, but what you do. When you work with ADHD strategically, you turn ideas into actions. You show what you know. And you lead by example.

Promotion as Motivation

Your intellectual abilities and aspirations matter. You matter. Listen to that voice inside of you that doubts you can manage yourself. The voice that whispers: “Keep all the chaos behind closed doors.” Instead, use the light of your promotion to motivate you to learn about yourself.

How to leverage your promotion to improve your self-management

Listen to your inner voice

What are you telling yourself? “Well, they must think I can do it because they want to promote me.” Then go more deeply. Ask yourself:

• What am I observing in myself that makes me doubt myself?
• What am I afraid of?
• What patterns am I aware of in my behaviour that I don’t really want to look at?
• What patterns and behaviour am I most proud of?

Get it all outside of your mind

Make a list of all these behaviours and patterns. Look at the ones you want to improve. Now turn them into a positive statement to work toward. Your list may read something like this: I want to:

• Trust that I can turn my vision into actionable steps
• Be confident that I can execute what I know to do
• Rely on myself to pause before speaking
• Enjoy being consistent and planful

Recognize the Executive Functions Impaired by ADHD

Executive functions (EF) are the brain-based capacities that support goal-directed behaviour. Simply put, EF explains everything you do or don’t do in a day. Not meeting deadlines? This may signal an EF challenge with inhibition (resisting the impulse to act before thinking), time blindness, challenges getting started, emotional regulation, prioritizing. Struggling to find the steps to execute on your vision? This may signal a challenge breaking down tasks into smaller pieces (planning), sustaining motivation (emotional regulation), managing distractions (Inhibition).

trouble pausing before speaking or acting? This may signal challenges with inhibition (literally being able to stop yourself), emotional regulation (when you’re activated it’s more difficult to stop), self-monitoring (you don’t notice yourself until it’s too late.)

Identify your Executive Function Challenges  

Identify specifically which of your executive functioning challenges will matter in the new role you’ll be placed in. Don’t worry if it seems like the list is long. Executive functions work in concert with each other. You don’t have 10 separate problems. You have one: self-management.

Anticipate

What administrative support will you have access to? What kind of support would you most need to function well? When it’s possible to delegate to a trusted support, use that support. But be prepared to monitor your support to ensure they’re doing what you need them to do.

Embrace the Learning

Now that you have a clear picture of your learning opportunities, choose to remember that you are by definition a learner. ADHD doesn’t mean you can’t learn executive functioning skills. You can. Brains are plastic. They do rewire based on the choices we make every day. You’ll always have ADHD, but it doesn’t have to impair your life. ADHD Executive Coaching Use your promotion as a starting point for making the changes you most want to experience. Leverage this motivation. Recognize that learning these deeper skills requires a sherpa. Choose to work with a coach to support you in developing muscular skills for executing consistently. Give yourself the gift of having someone in your corner who understands the challenge, is prepared to work with your resistance, and who you count on to be there through all of it.