Read how Cadent Gas celebrates their employee Mark Berry's dyslexia super power
Thursday 1 April 2021
Cadent Gas not only supports but celebrates its neurodiverse employees. Read how they shine a light on Mark Berry, embracing his ADHD and dyslexia as a super power that brings great qualities to his role as Head of Customer Operations.
鈥淗e鈥檚 helping us unlock similar talent and potential we know exists across our organisation, that may otherwise go unseen and underutilised.鈥�
Mark Berry has ADHD and dyslexia, or as he likes to call them, his superpowers.
What he brings to our party are extraordinary abilities to grasp an issue quickly, find the solution and keep incredibly calm while doing so. And, as a head of customer operations in our North West network, leading teams of hundreds of engineers, that鈥檚 exactly the skills we need.
Now, he鈥檚 helping us unlock similar talent and potential we know exists across our organisation, that may otherwise go unseen and underutilised.
Like us, Mark is keen to support the Cadent family overcome things that 鈥� rightly or wrongly 鈥� may be seen as obstacles to progressing their careers. He鈥檚 one of the founder members of a new community at Cadent, called 鈥楾hrive鈥�, which aims to help everyone do just that, thrive.
On a recent Teams call attended by hundreds of colleagues, Mark shared how the 鈥榬ead aloud鈥� function in Microsoft applications has been an absolute revelation, enabling him to interact with email and other documents like never before. 鈥淚鈥檝e since had so many engineers tell me that was really helpful to them. Such a small thing really, but it鈥檚 made a huge difference.鈥�
Mark, 36, and from Chorley, was diagnosed as living with dyslexia and ADHD last year, which finally made everything fall into place. 鈥淚鈥檝e always known I鈥檓 different, but it was only after I was supported by my manager last year to look into it further that the diagnosis was made.
鈥淭he way I look at it, I鈥檝e got superpowers. According to my diagnosis, my brain works 98 per cent faster than most other people and I know I can think quickly under pressure,鈥� says Mark. 鈥淲hen dealing with an incident, when the fight or flight thinking kicks in, that鈥檚 when I thrive.
鈥淢y brain needs that buzz and it鈥檚 no good hiding that. I do lots of things 鈥� like mountain biking, trail running, and Iron Man challenges 鈥� to get the adrenalin I need, but I know I need to balance the risk and reward. Getting that diagnosis has helped me see that, and I want to help others work towards understanding it too.
鈥淵ou have got to make a choice 鈥� do you want this to be a barrier, or do you want to see it as a strength. I chose to be open about it and I can stop hiding my struggles.
鈥淚 am in a lucky position, leading a big team, to support, even inspire, others to realise it鈥檚 not a disability but an ability. Sometimes, just a few simple adjustments could be the key to unlocking someone鈥檚 potential.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I鈥檓 happy to share my story. If it can inspire or help others, brilliant.鈥�