#motivation – Dr. Stephanie Diana Eubank DBA Remote Team Research (AKA Dr. Bear)

By Stephaie Diana Eubank

After working for eleven years in a remote modality (which means I have been remote before; remote was cool), I get a lot of questions from friends, colleagues, faculty members, students, and online followers asking how do I stay productive? These questions grow when people learn of my Dyslexia and ADHD diagnosis. To be fair, it has been a long journey to get a diagnosis of ADHD, like many women in our 30’s, as we do not present the same way as men or boys. (Women and girls must emotionally mask symptoms to fit in as a natural defense mechanism). There are also helpful tools that I have gained from my work within the disabled community, nonprofit sectors, and the college educational sector. One of those tricks to helping to increase my motivation and productivity remotely is body doubling.

Body doubling, in a nutshell, is being able to double where you choose to work with one or more people in the room. This is further explained as a motivation tool (Washington, 2023) and how it helps workers and students function more effectively. For many ADHD people, it is the feeling of accountability as there are others in the room to give that vibe of people counting on you or people watching you.

For me, I do what is called audio processing (Gomez & Condon, 1999); in essence, I talk it out even when there is only me listening. I find it funny when working from home, and my husband hears me talking and goes, “Huh?” thinking I am talking to him. Although he is used to my symptoms and my imaginative responses of, “staff meeting, sorry.” Thinking out loud is a normal part of ADHD and Dyslexic adaptations to address complex information I am working with, especially in data analysis and qualitative results.

However, when working from home and it’s just me and the fur babies, especially post-COVID, I use the same method we use for the fur babies when no humans are home. I turn on the TV or leave an Amazon music station on. I am a wicked B of the West. I own that I need background sounds, so I trick myself into not being alone so that I have a faux body doubling.

Although it is a warning to people wanting to implement this trick for themselves. Please be sure to be in meetings to mute yourself. Sometimes, your musical stylings are not welcome. One of my mentors who recently passed had forgotten to mute himself using this skill and was singing Snoop Dog’s “Gin and Juice” and only realized everyone heard him because they all sang together the song’s hook. I have been caught belting Lin Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece “Hamilton” songs. Or, when singing with my kids while working, we sing Eminem and Dr Dre’s song, “Forgot About Dre,” as it has been a good tool with my son’s speech delay to help with the E sounds they used to get stuck on. The moral of the story if body doubling in whatever method works for you. Be sure your audience is suitable to your plans of audio processing and your ability to carry a tune.

I have had participants in my dissertation research detail getting into joint Microsoft Teams Meetings to help give a remote feeling of being back in the office to help spark more creative problem-solving. When they feel like they need to body double, they all get into a Teams meeting and chat together while they work. I find it a creative method for addressing social isolation that often affects remote workers.

These ADHD tools can be helpful for business leadership managing a remote and hybrid workforce but require more understanding and an evolution in organizational culture that welcomes new ways of thinking, along with a culture of inclusivity. We can’t afford as business leaders to not grow and change, which means tossing to the side old methods that don’t serve us anymore and embracing new ways to enhance the work experience.

If you enjoyed this content, like and subscribe. Also, if you are interested in consulting services, please reach out through my social media. Remember, remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Work Cited

Washington, N. (2023, August 24). Body doubling for ADHD: Definition, how it works, and more. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/body-doubling-adhd

Gomez, R., & Condon, M. (1999). Central auditory processing ability in children with ADHD with and without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32(2), 150–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221949903200205

By: Stephanie Diana Eubank

The movement towards the future of work being remote is still going strong and is still fraught with controversy. However, transitioning to remote work becoming part of the business norm has some added benefits. Today we will explore the fact that remote work has been increasing diversity in the workplace. Specifically, remote work has increased the number of neurodivergent people in the workplace.

First let’s work on our vocabulary. The dictionary defines neurodivergent as “differing in mental or neurological function from what is considered typical or normal (frequently used with reference to autistic spectrum disorders); not neurotypical.” Although, it should be noted that this term also includes those who are diagnosed with ADHD.

Now that we have the term clarified let’s focus on the fact that diversity in the workplace has been researched to be a massive benefit to an organization’s creative problem-solving and production. When you have a diverse population coming at a problem from different angles, you get an inspired answer. The disabled community since COVID, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), has entered the workforce from 9% of the workforce in 2019 to over 20% of the workforce as of 2023, which in large part has been because of the growing use of remote work as a modality. According to the article by Gonzales (2023), the BLS federal statistics show disabled workers are becoming a growing population in the workforce and the fact that traditionally disabled workers suffer a higher rate of unemployment compared to their neurotypical counterparts. In the article Gonzales (2023) also went on to detail that in the disabled community, over half of that population are 65+ and traditionally have a higher rate of unemployment and workplace discrimination than their counterparts. Further to the article, Gonzales (2023) comments on how the disabled community is also one of the fastest-growing demographics of entrepreneurs. The BLS notes that neurodivergent workers of the disabled community are the most likely to start their own businesses. Especially those with ADHD.

Many of you may have seen Connor De Wolfe’s YouTube videos on ADHD neurodivergent content, where he speaks about social and scientific differences neurodivergent people have as part of their lived experiences. As he has displayed on his channel, ADHD people learn skills quickly, are very creative, and have unique problem-solving abilities. However, managing workers that are neurodivergent is not the same as managing a neurotypical worker. Their motivations are also vastly different. Ok, money is a common motivator for both groups; there is nothing wrong with that. However, motivation styles must change on the part of leadership. Remote work is also an excellent tool when leading remote teams in a diverse workplace that includes neurodivergent team members. It allows room for the neurodivergent person to not be overwhelmed as easily and to engage in ways that give freedom to not have to emotionally mask their symptoms.

There are also YouTube influencers on the topic of ADHD and neurodivergence that have great ways to help your teams stay focused and successful. Influencers like @olivialutfallah, Olivia Lutfallah, and Ludovico Saint Amour Di Chanaz, a Ph.D. who studies ADHD as a researcher. My personal ADHD motivational and memory tool is to use music. Such as, when I run 5k’s or go hiking with my kids, I play a specific playlist, so I memorize where I am based on the timing of the song, and over time the location makes the song play in my head, and I remember where I am. As I get better at remembering, I set a playlist that is faster to set a pace to help me speed up production. I do the same work in my workplace, and the benefit is when I start singing along with the music in remote work, only my seven-year-old is bothered. (Although a word to the wise, always make sure you are on mute before you belt out songs cause that can turn into an awkward moment). This is yet again another opportunity afforded by remote work so that I don’t have to emotionally mask and I can be my authentic self as a business leader.

If you would like to learn more about how you can train your teams to better balance the changes to leadership that the remote work revolution is creating for the future of work, please check out my social media and my consulting practice for ways to help develop more comfort levels for remote work. Remember sharing is caring, so like and subscribe. As always, remember, that remote is here to stay.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wickedbofthewest

Website: wickedbofthewestremoteconsulting.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WickedBoftheWestBusinessConsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wickedbofthewestconsulting/

Twitter: @SDEubank

Blog: drstephaniebeardbaremoteresearch.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-diana-eubank-dba/

Work Cited

Gonzales, M. (2023, March 9). Employment rate rising for people with disabilities. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/employment-rate-rising-for-people-with-disabilities.aspx