Barriers to promotion for ADHDers

This post is an early instalment of the data from phase 1 of my research 'What barriers do ADHDers face to promotion, and what factors mitigate them?'. Here I list the barriers identified in phase 1. The purpose is to help ADHDers and the organisations that employ them to understand where reasonable adjustments are likely to be required. This list is by no means exhaustive of the barriers an ADHDer could face. However everything on this list has been validated during my research, either coming from literature review, survey responses or from interviews.

I have grouped the barriers to facilitate discussion - the groups can be expanded or collapsed via the arrows. Some barriers appear in more than one group.

The second stage of this research involved exploring ways to reduce or remove these barriers. If you would like to participate in the focus group please register for a ticket (free) at https://www.grantacoaching.com/event-details/overcoming-barriers-to-adhd-promotions-research-focus-group

Executive Function Barriers

Time

• Problems with getting work done efficiently

• Problems with attendance

• Being late

• Procrastination

• Increased risk of burnout

• Expectation to collect evidence consistently over a long period of time

• Lack of flexibility about when promotions are applied for (perhaps because opportunities are only available when someone leaves)

• Requirements to stay motivated for the promotion over a long time period, e.g. because opportunities to gain evidence/experience required are infrequent.

• Inflexible time frames around interview tasks

• Lack of time to think through answers to questions in interviews

Other Executive Function Barriers

• Problems performing required duties

• Problems taking on new tasks

• Problems working to ones potential

• Poor performance evaluations

• Stress sensitivity

• Disorganisation

• Poor social skills

• Difficulty following instructions

• Difficulty paying attention in meetings

• Difficulty responding to feedback

• Large amounts of writing/evidence collection

• Complex multipart interview questions that aren’t broken into chunks

• Requirements to be a great ‘all rounder’ including a focus on skills that are not in the job description

• Requirements for formal education that may not have been accommodating to ADHD needs

• Requirements for professional membership/qualifications

• Expectations to engage in ongoing training which is not provided in an accessible way (e.g. conferences, written training, in person training…)

• Explicitly testing for attention to detail with interview/promotion tasks

• Requirements to regularly collect feedback/expose yourself to negative feedback

Cultural Factors

Implicit Information

Problems performing required duties

• Problems taking on new tasks

• Poor social skills

• Difficulty following instructions

• Lack of clarity in how much evidence to provide for applications

• Lack of clarity in how to phrase evidence for promotions

• Lack of explicit hierarchy

• Unwritten expectations, e.g. to be visible/attend conferences

Bias

• Problems working to ones potential

• Poor performance evaluations

• Needing experienced management (when many managers are inexperienced)

• Lack of appreciation for different styles of thinking

• Bias against neurodifferences

• Promotions processes that favour people who fit a mould

• Promotions processes that rely on your manager being willing to go to bat for you/liking you/seeing you as easy/worth their time

• Additional unrecognised labour related to being and advocating for ADHD

Behavioural Expectations

• Problems with ones supervisor

• Problems keeping a job

• Problems working in a team

• Poor performance evaluations

• Poor social skills

• Increased risk of burnout

• Increased interpersonal conflict

• Difficulty paying attention in meetings

• Difficulty responding to feedback

• Difficulty setting boundaries

• Being unaware of ones ADHD or co-occuring conditions (RSD, anxiety OCD etc)

• Mismatched jobs, that don’t meet needs (e.g. physical activity)

• Performance systems not set up to reward excellent performance at a narrow set of tasks

• Additional unrecognised labour related to being and advocating for ADHD

• Behavioural expectations around how to sit

• Behavioural expectations around eye contact

• Behavioural expectations around presentation/timeliness/dress/hair…

• Expectations to be good at ‘politics’ or ‘sales’

• Requirements to regularly collect feedback/expose yourself to negative feedback

• Especially 360 degree feedback/peer feedback or other feedback generated by untrained staff

• Especially feedback about personality traits rather than outcomes

• Lack of constructive feedback where promotions are not given

• Promotions processes where there is a lack of justice or transparen

Internal Barriers

Past Experiences

• Stress sensitivity

• Difficulty responding to feedback

• Difficulty setting boundaries

• Being unaware of ones ADHD or co-occuring conditions (RSD, anxiety OCD etc)

• RSD and not asking for raises successfully

• Lack of meaningful feedback from previous promotions processes leading to a lack of motivation

• Lack of constructive feedback where promotions are not given

• Promotions processes where there is a lack of justice or transparency