FACTS — Executive Functioning at Work
“Executive functioning differences can affect everyday work tasks.”
Executive functioning helps us plan, organise, prioritise, remember, start, stop and switch between tasks. It also helps us estimate time and keep track of several pieces of information at once.
For some neurodivergent employees, difficulties may include:
- Knowing where to start when a task feels large
- Prioritising when everything feels equally important
- Remembering verbal instructions
- Moving from one task to another
- Returning to a task after being interrupted
- Estimating how long something will take
- Managing several deadlines at once
- Keeping track of emails, paperwork or appointments
- Starting tasks despite knowing exactly what needs doing
- Becoming deeply focused and losing awareness of time
It isn't laziness or lack of intelligence
A person may fully understand a task and be highly capable of completing it, while still experiencing difficulty initiating, organising or sequencing the steps needed to get there.
Executive functioning can also become harder when someone is tired, stressed, overwhelmed, experiencing sensory overload or managing too many demands at once.
Workplace support can reduce the load
Helpful approaches can include written instructions, visual planners, checklists, reminders, breaking larger projects into smaller steps, clear priorities, realistic deadlines and protected periods of uninterrupted work.
Managers can also help by being specific. Instead of saying:
“Get this done when you can,”
it may be more useful to say:
“Please complete this first and send it to me by 2pm Thursday.”
The goal isn't to make someone more neurotypical. It is to provide the structure that allows them to work effectively in the way their brain works best.
Space to Breathe Therapy
