ADHD Client Coaching Story
Joan was a hotshot in Boston’s financial industry. She had recently moved to a larger firm with a fancier job title, and unfortunately, things were not going well.
At Joan’s old job, she worked with a highly collaborative team. The projects required each member to perform focused analysis with quick deadlines, and the whole group meshed well and kept each other on track.
When Joan applied for a new job, the firm was impressed by her analytical skills and how much she had accomplished in her career. She was hired, put through a quick training program, and sent to work.
In her new position, Joan’s work process was very different. Her projects were self-directed, with long deadlines. Gone were the days of the collaborative team. Unsure of the details of her new company’s workflow, Joan began a damaging pattern of bluffing, underperforming and apologizing. To avoid asking for help, Joan forced herself to learn every part of her new role through trial and error – much to the frustration of everyone involved.
After six months, Joan knew her job was on the line. Her boss had given her a negative performance review, and her coworkers were visibly frustrated. Everyone assumed that Joan would shine in her new role, and felt confused by her lackluster performance. Likewise, Joan encouraged her new colleagues to expect the best from her, because she was desperately afraid of being considered a fraud.
In my work with Joan, there were many changes oriented around scheduling, organization and self-image, but nothing was more important for her transformation than building a support system.
Joan’s network of cheerleaders started with her husband, who was worried for his bright wife and made the initial contact with me. From there, we sought out allies in the office, and Joan pushed herself out of her comfort zone to befriend the most sympathetic of her coworkers. Gaining a friendly face made going to work a much more pleasant experience. The next step was to work with her human resources representative to outline a performance improvement plan. It was difficult for Joan to reveal her shortcomings, and she and her HR rep had clashing personalities, but in the end they both worked hard to put Joan’s success first. Eventually, Joan’s boss was looped in, to provide further guidance where her initial training had lacked. He agreed to waive the performance review, and instead set her up with a new series of deadlines to improve her productivity at work.
Like so many with ADHD, Joan’s coping mechanisms had gone overboard. She was so worried about admitting confusion that she overcompensated by pushing help away, which only made the situation worse. She was never taught how to reach out for assistance and integrate feedback into her life. It was a challenging lesson to learn as a middle-aged woman, but Joan did her best. A year after she started at her new job, everyone started to see her game-changing talents on a much more consistent basis.
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