Episode 103: ADHD and neurodivergence at work with Skye Waterson

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April 1st, 2025

42 mins 45 secs

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About this Episode

Welcome Skye Waterson, coach for people working with neurodiverse teams and partners helping them to excel in the workplace. Skye is the founder of Unconventional Organisation and the ADHD Skills Lab Podcast, and she has dedicated her career to helping neurodiverse professionals manage their challenges and bring their superpowers into focus while at work.

We thank Magic Mind for their support and help with clarity, focus, and sleep. Our friends at Magic Mind are giving our listeners 20% off their products (they have both clarity and sleep). If you want to try it, get 20% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: https://www.magicmind.com/REALJOBTALK20 There’s a money-back guarantee, so try it if you’re curious.

Diagnosed as a young adult, Skye had dedicated her life to teaching about ADHD and coaching business owners and leaders how to manage and grow without the burnout. She looks at what is happening and where people are feeling stuck and she helps them build systems to move forward and avoid burnout. Results happen quickly after that.

The most common challenges Skye sees in professionals with ADHD are difficulty with time management, inability to “knock things out” without help, trouble with transition times, and more. That said, there are super powers around creativity.

We asked why someone would want to have a boss with ADHD if they aren’t great at time and task management. Skye said that ADHD bosses are great for navigating choppy waters because they can think creatively out of choppy waters.

If you don’t want to talk about your ADHD, make sure you share your preferences of how you work best with your boss and colleagues. If you don’t know what you need, how can you help people to best work with you?

To understand how to staff around someone with ADHD is to understand the bottlenecks and make sure there are people who can fix them. Often with ADHD there isn’t a lot of process, so Skye will build it in, and they need help with administrative pieces and delegating.

Another key to managing up with ADHD is to ask about prioritization. If they want to change direction, ask what you can drop. Be very specific with what needs to get done to meet company goals and how changes will affect the bottom line. ADHD folks do well with data-driven questions and this-or-that choices.

ChatGPT is an amazing tool to come to your boss with 3 ideas and 1 suggestion to make sure you’re doing a good job and helping them prioritize. Confirming solutions and direction can be helpful in successfully navigating each others’ strengths and weaknesses.

We discuss how brilliant neurodiverse minds can be. It’s so important to focus on the super powers and what is working vs what isn’t to remember the value add to a business, a community, and the world. People with ADHD are world-changers, so getting strategies that work help support their strengths.

Another key to success with ADHD is to make sure you’re supported in a way that you won’t be overwhelmed. Folks with ADHD need to set themselves up for success with supportive structures in place and tools that work for them so that they don’t get overwhelmed and burnt out.

We discussed managing up when the leader “sees squirrels”. Skye said to start acknowledging the squirrel. Then, show the timeline you’re under and what would have to be dropped in order to switch direction to follow the squirrel. Sometimes folks with ADHD haven’t thought about the consequences or step of a pivot, so pointing it out and showing the resources needed is a key to success. Coming straight in with negativity will backfire, but giving it a minute and doing some research to show the gives and takes and data around “following the squirrel” will help make informed decisions.

Ultimately, if a leader isn’t able to delegate or prioritize, they are going to lose the employees who could be deployed to support them. Skye supports those leaders so that they can keep their teams and their companies can flourish.

We give Skye a scenario where a performance review is due and the boss hasn’t gotten it done meaning the person’s bonus is at risk. Skye has a number of suggestions: 1. Book a meeting to get it done. Body doubling works wonders for folks with ADHD. 2. Write it for them- make a template. 3. Remind them of your concern that you will lose your bonus.

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