|
|
|
Balancing Technology, Management, and Leadership
"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to
preserve change amid order." -- Alfred North Whitehead, 19th
century British mathematician and philosopher
As Achieve (my first consulting company) was working with our
Clients to...
Clearing Office Clutter
The Oxford Canadian Dictionary defines clutter as "a crowded and untidy collection of things" or "an untidy state." When we don't have designated places for all our belongings, clutter is often the result. Even if you have established organizational...
Economics - Psychology's Neglected Branch
"It is impossible to describe any human action if one does not refer to the meaning the actor sees in the stimulus as well as in the end his response is aiming at."
Ludwig von Mises
Economics - to the great dismay of economists - is merely...
Investors: Avoid These 5 Common Tax Mistakes
For many investors, and even some tax professionals, sorting through the complex IRS rules on investment taxes can be a nightmare. Pitfalls abound, and the penalties for even simple mistakes can be severe. As April 15 rolls around, keep the...
Managing the Income Portfolio
The reason people assume the risks of investing in the first
place is the prospect of achieving a higher rate of return than
is attainable in a risk free environment...i.e., an FDIC insured
bank account. Risk comes in various forms, but the...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
To all Managers: How does ADD affect your workplace?
Tent caterpillars create a cocoon for an entire colony. Within one colony there are two types of caterpillar. One type, pioneers, weave long threads forming the skeleton of the tent. The others, the workers, weave cross threads filling in the structure. If there are too many pioneers, the tent is too big and collapses. If there are not enough pioneers, the tent is too dense and the colony suffocates. Viva la difference.
Within the colony of human beings we can find similar differences. Some are explorers, entrepreneurs extending the boundaries of our environment in art, science, or business. The rest fill in the details as accountants or managers.
As a manager you know that creativity is the quality which enables your company to expand and improve products, services and processes. The best salespeople, strategic planners and inventors are creative people who generate a steady flow of ideas. However, creativity may come with other features which are not so desirable such as impulsiveness, lack of organization of ideas, paper, and time, and social problems in communication and relationships at work or at home.
SAM WAS THE BEST SALESMAN the company had ever seen, but his boss was about to fire him because he couldn't get the paper work done.
MARY WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIC PLANNER at work, but at home she couldn't clear up after dinner, her husband had to teach her how to put things away.
ANDREW WAS AN EXPERT IN HIS FIELD, but in his head he felt like a fraud. The dissonance between his expert status and his mental image of himself led him to a severe depression and two years of lost work.
OR MAYBE YOU HAD TO FIRE MICHEL. He was just too argumentative. He was always antagonizing someone. No one would work with him in a team. Too bad because his work was excellent.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)* is a neurological difference in the brain which causes difficulties with the executive functions of planning, prioritizing, decision making, organizing, time management and more. It touches from 3 to 5% of the adult population ( Kevin Murphy, associate professor of psychiatry and chief adult :ADHD clinician at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester) and appears frequently in the fields where creativity is required. To state this another way: the positive asset of creativity and the negative problems are two sides of one coin.
We all feel disorganized, forgetful, or at odds with the world some of the time, but for those affected, ADD is a quality of life issue which is of long duration. One of their most common complaints is a feeling of being out of joint with their surroundings. They may feel frustrated by their own failure to achieve and deceived because they can't make effective use of their potential. They have great difficulty harnessing their many ideas and bringing them to completion.
From your point of view, as a manager, ADD can be a question of lost productivity and accidents. You probably hired them because they were passionate, intelligent, full of ideas, and had great energy (all typical qualities of ADD), but once on the job the difficulties appear. Now you may consider
them lazy or irresponsible due to frequent absenteeism, lateness, below average productivity, missed deadlines, or senseless conflict.
Or you may see another picture, a person whose work is excellent, but is working exceptionally long hours for the work done, seems overly sensitive to comments, may be having difficulty in his private life due to poorly managed finances or friction with his spouse, or appears to have a problem with alcohol or even drugs.
The first step for such a person (and it may be you, the manager) is a medical diagnoses by a doctor who is knowledgeable in ADD. If the diagnoses is for ADD, the doctor will prescribe one of several medications. Medication helps the brain to function effectively, but it may not be sufficient. The second step is to seek the help of a coach trained in ADD who can help him see where and how ADD is affecting his life and guide him in developing strategies for managing the issues and using his strengths.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS for dealing with employees who may be affected by ADD.
*--Recognize that the problem is not willful disobedience or moral failure but of neurological origin.
*--Provide lots of positive encouragement and guidance; negative criticism they give themselves.
*--Help them adapt their working environment to their personal needs.
*--Provide support systems to help with the paper work and other detail tasks which are stifling for people with ADD.
*--Provide a coach knowledgeable in the problems of ADD. Coaching for ADD focuses on understanding how ADD affects the client and on building structures to manage daily tasks.
To conclude, Mr. or Ms. Manager, if you are concerned about your productivity level or bottom line, look for your employees' strengths and help each one to do what he/she is good at and they will reward you richly.
________________________________________
* Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD) is not a helpful name. It is not about a deficit of attention but about an inconsistency of attention. A person with ADD can pay attention very well to things that are interesting and therefore stimulating, but they have difficulty controlling their attention in situations in which they find no stimulation.
Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is the current term as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) of the American Psychiatric Association. The current understanding of researchers is that there are two different problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity which may occur together or separately. Hyperactivity is well known as a problem in boys, but it usually subsides in adolescence; problems of attention tend to persist in adults.
About the Author
Sarah Jane Keyser is an ADHD coach with an international practice who helps adults and adolescents find joy and fulfillment with ADHD. Feel free to use this article as long as you include author's bio and a live link to her website.
Learn more about ADHD at http://www.CoachingKeytoADD.comor sign up for Zebra Stripes, a free E-zine for ADHD at http://www.coachingkeytoadd.com/newsletter/newsarchive.html
|
|
|
|
|
| Online Organizing.com |
| Welcome to OnlineOrganizing.com!. Get Organized! Find the best organizing products, free tips on taming your clutter, an online newsletter, ... |
| www.onlineorganizing.com |
|
| organizetips.com - organized, time management, planners,tips,Tips ... |
| Get Organized,Organizing ideas, Tips, daily,chore lists,planners. |
| www.organizetips.com |
|
| At Home : Organizing : Take This Stuff and Store It! : Home ... |
| Our guide to the simple life, where everything has its place. |
| www.hgtv.com |
|
| Home Organizing Tips - Bathroom, Bedroom & Garage Organizing ... |
| Learn about home organizing tips for bathroom, bedroom, and garages from Home & Garden Television. |
| www.hgtv.com |
|
| Christmas Organizing | Creating J.O.Y. for Christmas |
| Offers a community of resources and support to help people get organized for Christmas throughout the entire year by creating and organizing a Christmas ... |
| www.christmasorganizing.com |
|
| Organizing - HUD |
| Organizing. [Vea la versión en español de esta página] · [Display the text version of this page] ... Organizing · Economic development. Working with HUD ... |
| www.hud.gov |
|
| Get Organized - Organizing Tips and Ideas to help you get ... |
| Free tips, ideas and articles to help you get organized. |
| www.getorganizednow.com |
|
| Management Function of Organizing: Overview of Methods |
| Organizing can be viewed as the activities to collect and configure resources in ... The following are some of the major types of organizing required in a ... |
| www.managementhelp.org |
|
| Organizing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| In that sense, organizing can also be defined as the act to place different ... Organizing, in companies point of view, is the management function that ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Amazon.com: Organizing from the Inside Out: Books: Julie Morgenstern |
| Amazon.com: Organizing from the Inside Out: Books: Julie Morgenstern by Julie Morgenstern. |
| www.amazon.com |
|
| Organized-Living.com - Get organized, Professional Organizer tips ... |
| Articles and tips to help individuals organize their home or work life better. |
| www.organized-living.com |
|
| How to organize your home and office, organizing tips, articles on ... |
| LifeOrganizers.com is a rich resource of office and home organizing articles, tips, and fresh, easy ideas on how to get rid of clutter from every part of ... |
| www.lifeorganizers.com |
|
| The Virginia Organizing Project |
| VOP, racism, social justice, community organizing, leadership development, living wage, grassroots organizing, sexual orientation . |
| www.virginia-organizing.org |
|
| Center for Third World Organizing |
| A training and resource center dedicated to building a social justice movement led by people of color. |
| www.ctwo.org |
|
| Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition |
| WROC of Olympia, Washington, organizes groups of women and men who are current or former TANF recipients to watch how welfare and family policy is ... |
| www.wroc.org |
|
| Self-Organizing Systems FAQ for Usenet newsgroup comp.theory.self ... |
| Frequently Asked Questions about self-organized systems. |
| www.calresco.org |
|
| Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web |
| Beyond Bookmarks: Schemes for Organizing the Web is a clearinghouse of World Wide Web sites that have applied or adopted standard classification schemes or ... |
| www.public.iastate.edu |
|
| Organizing Institute |
| Program by the AFL-CIO to train union organizers and put them in the field. |
| www.aflcio.org |
|
| SouthWest Organizing Project |
| A statewide multi-racial, multi-issue, community based membership organization. Includes information on history, campaigns, and volunteer opportunities. |
| www.swop.net |
|
| Farm Labor Organizing Committee |
| The historic contract in North Carolina opens up a new chapter in the FLOC struggle for justice and ushers in a new era in farmworker organizing. ... |
| www.floc.com |
|
|