ADHD at work: the question that mattered more than any fix

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 and autism at 6. I’ve never known work without them.

This October, for ADHD Awareness Month, I shared a short post on LinkedIn about the one thing that actually made a difference to how I work. It wasn’t a programme, a policy or a diagnosis. It was a question. I want to unpack it properly here.

For 15 years, people tried to fix me

At school, the labels came with low expectations. Then came medication, behaviour plans, and being told to sit still, make eye contact and fit in. I spent my whole childhood trying to be someone else.

It didn’t stop when I left school. Growing up, I was expelled and fired a few times. I never blamed my neurodivergence for that, and I still don’t. A good old boss of mine once said, “Jack, just because you’re autistic doesn’t mean you can’t be ‘difficult’,” and that stuck with me. Being neurodivergent isn’t an excuse. But the world we live in isn’t built for people like me either, and for a long time I was trying to squeeze into spaces that were never designed for how my brain works.

(This is my story, not medical advice. Decisions about medication belong with you and your doctor.)

What ADHD at work actually looks like for me

Here’s the part people don’t expect. At work, the same traits that came with low expectations at school have turned out to be part of why I built a company:

• Hyperfocus that gets whole projects done overnight

• Pattern-spotting that sees what others miss

• Directness that cuts through noise

None of those showed up on a school report as strengths. In the right environment, they’re exactly what a team needs. In the wrong one, the same traits get written up as “intense”, “all over the place” or “blunt”.

That’s the thing about ADHD at work. The brain doesn’t change when you walk into a different office. The environment does.

The question that made the difference

When I stopped trying to conform, everything changed. I stopped asking “how do I fix myself?” and started asking “how do I work best?”

That question built Neuropool.

What made the difference in my career was never being “fixed”. It was the people who asked me, “How do you work best?” Not the people who assumed they already knew.

I learned that the hard way. In one job, I told my employer I was autistic at interview and they asked if I needed any adjustments. I said no. Then in my first two weeks, my manager left an A4 sheet on my desk with instructions printed in capitals, in size 42 font. I know she was trying to be nice. But she’d made an adjustment for me without ever talking to me, and I felt singled out. Why didn’t she do that for everyone? Why didn’t she just ask me, or even send an email? I ended up leaving that company.

Good intentions aren’t the same as a good conversation.

How to ask “How do you work best?” as a manager

If you manage people, try asking that question this week. You might be surprised by the answer. A few things that help it land:

1. Ask everyone, not just the people you think are neurodivergent. Lots of people never disclose, and many of the answers will help your whole team.

2. Ask early, then ask again. The first week of a job is a good time. Three months in is a good time too, because people often don’t know what they need until they’ve been in the role for a while.

3. Offer options rather than guessing. Flexible hours so people can focus when they’re most productive. Written instructions or a short summary after a meeting. A quiet space to step away from noise. These cost little or nothing, and they tend to help everyone.

4. Listen to the answer, even if it’s not what you expected. Someone might tell you they do their best work late at night, or that they’d rather get feedback in writing than in a one-to-one. That’s useful information, not a problem to manage.

5. Don’t box people in. Not everyone with ADHD struggles with deadlines, and not every autistic person is a coder. Ask about strengths as well as challenges.

If you want a solid starting point on the practical and legal side, Acas has guidance on neurodiversity at work for employers and employees.

I wasn’t broken

I wasn’t broken. I was in the wrong environment. Most of the neurodivergent people I’ve met through Neuropool would say the same about themselves. They don’t need fixing. They need someone to ask the right question and then act on the answer.

That’s what we’re building at Neuropool: a place where neurodivergent people can find employers who want to get this right, and where employers can learn how.

Want to get ADHD at work right in your team?

If you’re an employer and you want to hire and support neurodivergent talent properly, book a demo with the Neuropool team. If you’re neurodivergent and looking for an employer that will ask how you work best, browse jobs on the Neuropool jobs board.

Originally shared on LinkedIn: read Jack’s original post.