Helping Organisations Understand ADHD, Autism & Different Ways of Thinking at Work
Supporting better fit between people, work demands and organisational design.
The diagnosis is only part of the picture.
The more useful workplace question is how the individual, the demands of the role and the organisation interact.
Dr Akuh Adaji
Psychiatry at the intersection of people, work and organisations
I am a Mayo Clinic trained consultant psychiatrist working at the intersection of neurodivergence, executive function, occupational functioning and organisational systems.
My clinical work includes ADHD, autism, executive-function difficulties and psychiatric comorbidity. My occupational psychiatry work focuses on how mental-health and neurodevelopmental conditions affect work capacity, functional performance and the ability to meet the requirements of a role.
My postgraduate training in Organisational Psychiatry and Psychology at King's College London and subsequent research in complex healthcare systems provide an additional lens: understanding how organisational structures and the design of work can either support or burden human functioning.
This is the foundation of my work in Executive Function at Work.
Understand the Person. Understand the Work. Improve the Fit.
ADHD and autism do not determine whether someone can do a job. What matters is how the person's cognitive and functional profile interacts with the actual demands of the role and the environment in which the work occurs.
How does this person function?
Attention • working memory • planning • time management • task initiation • flexibility • communication • emotional regulation • sensory needs
What does the role actually require?
Deadlines • sustained attention • task switching • independent organisation • social interaction • decision-making • uncertainty • reliability
How is the work designed?
Priorities • roles • interruptions • meetings • communication • authority • information systems • supervision • flexibility • workplace environment
Does your organisation help people think?
Executive function is how we organise our thinking and behaviour to get things done. Neurodivergent employees can make visible cognitive demands that organisations often take for granted. Good work design can support these abilities — and frequently improves work for everyone.
Can people concentrate without unnecessary interruption?
Do people know what matters when demands compete?
Is work structured sufficiently to become manageable?
Can objectives be translated into organised action?
Do people know what they are authorised to decide?
Can people respond to change and pressure without unnecessary overload?
What can neurodivergence mean at work?
The aim is not to reduce individuals to diagnostic labels. It is to understand functional patterns and how they interact with real work.
ADHD at Work
ADHD may affect how an individual manages attention, working memory, initiation, time, competing priorities, interruptions and emotional regulation.
- Why can someone focus intensely sometimes but struggle at others?
- Why can starting a task be harder than doing it?
- Why don't reminders and diaries always solve the problem?
- Why can constant interruption disproportionately affect performance?
Autism at Work
Autism may affect communication, cognitive flexibility, responses to uncertainty, sensory processing and the way workplace expectations are interpreted.
- Why can vague instructions create unnecessary difficulty?
- Why can sudden change be cognitively expensive?
- Why can a highly capable employee struggle in some environments?
- Why can clear expectations improve both function and performance?
Support does not mean lowering the standard.
Executive function is not itself an inherent requirement of a role. It is one of the sets of mental capacities that may help a person perform the essential requirements of work.
Areas of Practice
Specialist psychiatric input for organisations seeking to understand neurodivergence, executive function, work demands and organisational design.
Neurodivergence at Work Review
Review how ADHD, autism and related functional differences interact with work demands and organisational systems.
Executive Function at Work Review
Examine cognitive load, attention, prioritisation, decision-making, workflow and organisational conditions affecting performance.
Adjustment & Work Design Advisory
Guidance on supporting individual function while maintaining role requirements, organisational needs and appropriate standards.
Complex Organisational Advisory
Specialist consultation where neurodivergence, mental health, work design, team dynamics and organisational complexity intersect.
Clinical. Occupational. Organisational.
Neurodivergence at work sits at the intersection of the person, the role and the organisation.
Clinical Psychiatry
Understanding ADHD, autism, executive functioning, psychiatric comorbidity and treatment.
Occupational Psychiatry
Understanding function, work capacity, inherent requirements, risk, adjustments and return to work.
Organisational Psychiatry
Understanding how work design and organisational systems can support or unnecessarily burden different ways of thinking.
Organisational Engagements
Executive Advisory
Focused specialist consultation regarding a defined neurodivergence, workplace-function or work-design issue.
Neurodivergence & Work Design Review
Structured review of person-work fit, executive demands, organisational barriers and opportunities for better work design.
Strategic Advisory
Ongoing support for organisations developing a more mature approach to neurodivergence, executive function and work design.
Better fit between people, work and organisations.
I work with organisations and leaders seeking specialist psychiatric input into neurodivergence, executive functioning, work design and complex workplace-functioning questions.
Independent occupational and medico-legal psychiatric assessments are undertaken through established medico-legal referral organisations.