I offer care-based, compassionate support to ADHD Entrepreneurs.
Some have started businesses. Some have started and/or run non-profit organizations.
The non-profit sector has a certain appeal to people who have ADHD + an entrepreneurial spirit.
Non-profits don’t have shareholder demands of revenue growth, year-over-year.
Non-profits get to - are expected to do good in the community.
Non-profits can act as innovation hubs, without the awkwardness of finding and selling to would-be clients. While writing grants may still activate your rejection sensitivity, the grant writing process puts structure, process and distance between you and the funder.
On the other hand, non-profits can plant some tricky landmines for people who have ADHD, especially people who have marginalized identities.
Although non-profits have different tax structures than businesses, many non-profits have hierarchical business structures and mimic hierarchical business cultures. Sometimes the hierarchies are rigid. Sometimes they are not. Many times it is hard to know, until something happens that people with power don’t like. You may have to spend lots of emotional resources figuring out when the hierarchies matter and when they do not.
When you are doing good through your non-profit, it is very tempting to overuse your personal resources to plug holes inside your (perhaps underfunded) non-profit - even when you intend to hold firm boundaries. Also, even if you pay attention to organization metrics, deciding what is the right amount or too much (for you to do personally) may still be kind of fuzzy. The metrics in the spreadsheet may be different from the metrics people are measuring you by, in their heads.
While non-profits are great for innovation, they are perfect for exhausting someone with ADHD who craves activity. Innovation brings in a world of possibilities and can quickly spill over into uncompensated labor.
This flipside means, my clients from the non-profit sector are:
Tired of being busy, although they are meeting their goals inconsistently.
Ready to get off the pathway to burnout - burnout of themselves and their organizations. They are frustrated because they know all the things, but not the order in which to do them. Everything seems like the most important thing.
The people I work with from the non-profit sector had made efforts before to get off the pathway to burnout. They had spent time and money on development programs. Those programs gave them small gains, gave them no gains or actually set them back - because those programs were not created with people who have ADHD in mind.
Understanding and accepting the needs of ADHD Entrepreneurs shapes everything I do in coaching and consulting.
I turn the big, wide world of things my clients COULD do to solve their problems into a short list of steps that would work specifically for them.
Because I am an empathetic, knowledgeable listener, I get their vision quickly and quickly get to the actual problems that are stalling their vision.
I facilitate the build out of their vision by asking questions and presenting options, not making demands.
I talk openly and in a neutral way about the role(s) ADHD plays in their organization.
I help them perform in ways that get them where they want to be, without draining all their personal resources.
I understand how much they value their autonomy. I give them support, while leaving room for them to make their own decisions.
I support clients in doing well for themselves so they can do good in the world.
Post a comment or email me directly at douglass@drkimberlydouglass.com to discuss how my coaching and consulting will help you do good and do well.