labels and boxes

Why labels and boxes can be lies and distractions?

Do more individuals want to identify with neurodivergent labels?

It seems so, some people seem to like labels and boxes!

Now on the surface, this can often be a healthy to access help, resources and money. Where I believe these labels and boxes can be lies and a distraction is when we use them to define who we are. Labels can only ever provide a lens to look at part of who we are, they are never going to fully describe everything about us and as result, they need to be treated with care.

Stereotyping?

I am describing stereotyping of neurodivergent conditions, for example several specific hiring programs focus on particular neurodivergent conditions. Autism has been the focus of hiring programs from SAP, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, JPMorgan, EY, and Google Cloud. This is of course a great step forward but as Churchill said: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”.

The opportunity

There is an opportunity to think more broadly in terms of how we integrate different thinking styles into our organisations. What I mean by this is quite often neurodivergent labels are used to categorise what we think people will be best at, and more often, what we think they will struggle with. This may look like autistic individuals being computer programmers, ADHDers being in sales, and dyslexics being in a blue-sky thinking lab, (meaning brainstorming with no limits). The challenge is that these thinking styles are relevant across our organisations and we need to challenge why they are not able to be present in positions of influence.

The challenge with labels and boxes

The challenge for organisations is to look at roles differently in terms of the skills and competencies needed to fulfil them. There is an opportunity to segment and re-evaluate distinct roles within our organisations giving flexibility to automating and removing tasks that are not core to the requirements of the role. This opens up the possibility of introducing truly great people who can fulfil what is needed as opposed to a wish list of unrealistic requirements.

Conversations

If we genuinely want people to be the very best and their most effective at work, they need permission to remove the human and process barriers that stop them from doing that. This starts with conversations that help us understand what we need in key roles and who are the people we need to deliver them. This goes on to understand the barriers that need to be knocked down and the resources that need to be made available so that they can be successful.

What next for labels and boxes!

As a final thought, I would expand this out to include not only the individuals but also the teams they operate in. The approach is very much the same, assessing what the team is there to do, understanding how they can be brilliant and what the barriers are that need to be removed so they can do that!

The next practical step is to start a different kind of conversation where individuals are listened to, and a plan is formed! – Lets move beyond ‘labels and boxes’.

If you would like to have a conversation about how to facilitate this, please get in contact.

Apple

Neuroinclusive workplace – moving from awareness to action

When I was growing up we had a fruit bowl that was often filled with all sorts of different fruits, oranges, apples, mangoes, pineapples and sometimes even passionfruit. Now imagine a fruit bowl that is just full of apples and no other fruits are allowed. If another fruit wants to come into the fruit bowl it has to look like an apple, taste like an apple and be in the right shape to be considered an apple. Now I would argue many of our workplaces look like the fruit bowl and only have apples. This is true when it comes to the neuroinclusive workplace. I would also argue that we spend a lot of time trying to make oranges look like apples, when actually they make far better oranges!

Welcome to the reality of the homogenous workplace.

Diversity matters and it has a positive impact on the bottom line:

  • A report by Deloitte found that 69 % of executives reported diversity is an important issue.
  • When studying how diversity and employee engagement affected performance Gallup found that, “the combination of [high] employee engagement and gender diversity resulted in 46% to 58% higher financial performance.”
  • In a similar study drawing a connection between performance and diversity, Boston Consulting Group “found that companies with above-average total diversity had both 19% higher innovation revenues and 9% higher EBIT margins, on average.”
  • McKinsey insights found businesses that have more women in executive positions are 25% more likely to earn more.
  • McKinsey found that in their Diversity Wins report “Companies in the top quartile for both gender and ethnic diversity are 12% more likely to outperform all other companies in the data set.”

Much of the research to date has centred around gender and racial diversity within organisations. What is clear from indicative evidence is that neurodiversity matters in solving problems and moving organisations forward in innovation. This has the benefit of also increasing profitability and operational effectiveness.

the neuroinclusive workplace

Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing in a neuroinclusive workplace

I believe we need to accept that making the neuroinclusive workspace a reality involves going through the steps of forming, storming, norming, and performing, like the formation of any team because the neuroinclusive workspace is about forming a team in a different way.

Awareness, I would argue sits at the forming stage. What we now need to do is step forwards into the storming, which can often involve deep and challenging conversations.

What is not always clear is how to go about the storming. Some insight can be gained from neurodiverse hiring programs to attract subsets of neurodivergent individual traits, for example, a focus on autism and the perceived benefits of hyperfocus. These on the surface are often great programs but they can fail to fully realise the benefits of neurodivergent thinking across the organisation. There is also the other resounding issue of individuals who find out about their neurodivergent traits later on in their careers, potentially after changing roles or a reorganisation. This can have a negative impact on the organisation and its effectiveness to achieve its goals.

Where does the neuroinclusive workplace fit within your organisation?

What is often also poorly understood is the reality of different thinking styles intersected with everything else that is going on in an individual’s life and how that can positively affect an organisation’s performance. As you can see throughout this piece we are talking about generalisations of conditions and assumptions. What’s more important is to consider the individuals that are involved. When we consider this it becomes obvious that this is about relationships and understanding. One of the most effective ways to make this happen is by getting individuals who have neurodivergent traits together with leaders so they can have frank and open conversations. The focus of these conversations could be on how to use their skills collaboratively together to help the organisation gain the benefits and innovative potential of neurodivergent thinking.

This is more than just a coffee, it must be a conversation that has structure and ground rules so that both parties can learn from each other and start to form an understanding of the strengths and difficulties that they face.

If this is a conversation that you’d like to start within your organisation and you need help to make it work please contact me.

Forgettory and Neurodiversity

Forgettory and neurodiversity

Imagine a bookshelf that only holds three books, but you have nine books that you need to put on the shelf. Every time you add another book over the first three, the others fall off. You now need to catch the book that has fallen and try and place it back on the shelf – as you do the next book falls. This cycle continues throughout the day! Welcome to forgettory and neurodiversity

For many neurodivergent individuals, this is the reality of how their short-term memory works.

What this looks like in my life. As I wake up in the morning with a bunch of ideas floating around in my head, as soon as I interact with a member of my family those ideas are gone and replaced with the conversations and requirements of the day. This cycle then continues as I move to the next part of the day, be it breakfast, exercise, or work. What seems to happen is a continuous fight to hold on to great ideas and actions. This can be incredibly debilitating as the energy required trying to hold onto the ideas or books that have fallen from the shelf is immense. What is more frustrating is that when you put something back on the shelf you are likely to have pushed something else off and the cycle goes on again.

This doesn’t stop here, we need our short-term memory for our working memory to function effectively. The more restricted our short-term memory is, the more difficult it is to use our working memory effectively to solve problems, hold ideas and work with complicated or sometimes not-so-complicated issues.

Both areas of memory are under the concept of executive function (EF). Executive function is a cluster of skills that are necessary for efficient and effective future behaviours. These skills are the ones that sit outside of what we do automatically.

For example, you may have done the following without even thinking about it:

  • Got out of bed
  • Made a cup of tea
  • Checked your phone
  • Made your porridge
  • Unloaded the dishwasher (not for all of us I know).

Executive function (EF) comes into its own when we attempt to do new things in different situations. These situations don’t always need to be critically complicated, just different from what we expect to do on autopilot and can include things like:

  • Changing the number of people you are making porridge for
  • Meeting someone new for the first time
  • Someone giving you a slot car racing toy (Scalextrics) for your children (that’s in pieces with no instructions).

These are my experiences, it is important to note that there is a ground of evidence showing EF is relevant to a number of neurodivergent conditions including ADHD, ASD/C, developmental coordination disorder DCD (also known as dyspraxia), dyslexia, and dyscalculia.

How these impact you

Getting started:

  • The actual process of starting can be really challenging when you’re not sure you have got everything you need in your memory.
  • Reflecting on what you need can sometimes make it even harder to get moving.
  • Understanding how long something can take has a significant impact as it can feel like an unknown.

Not being kind to yourself:

  • Thinking you are good enough.
  • Focusing on the negatives.
  • Not recognising the things you do well.

Running out of road:

  • Knowing that there are things you have forgotten.
  • Not having enough time to process.
  • Feeling you have to make decisions even though you’re not ready to.
  • Trying to be like everyone else.

Staying in the zone:

  • Staying on task.
  • Moving from one task to another.
  • Finding it hard to get your head around things.

What might happen next:

  • Sometimes when you run out of road (in terms of processing and EF) it’s hard to think about what might happen next based on previous experience.
  • It’s also very challenging to predict what difficulties or challenges you might face in the future.

Being all out all of the time:

  • Perception of time can often be linked.
  • This makes it difficult to remember appointments.
  • Putting the right amount of time aside to complete tasks.
  • Break things down into smaller tasks and understanding what the time indications are.

What can be done?

The executive function often forms the glue that allows us to deploy our skills effectively. I’ve talked before about the fact we need to help neurodivergent individuals amplify their strengths and manage the things that they find difficult. Unfortunately, if they are not able to use their strengths because their executive function doesn’t allow them to be present, they will be unable to thrive. What is often needed is skills and frameworks to help the individual unleash their potential, these could look like:

Checking in on how well things are going.

  • What does the day look like?
  • Have you got enough time to do the things you have set before you?
  • Who do you feel you need to ask about what to do next?
  • Do you need space to put things in perspective?
  • Who are you going to be accountable to?
  • What are you going to do when things go wrong?
  • What is your Banana?

Definition of banana – it is the thing you have in your back pocket. It gives you time and space to reset yourself. My Banana is often around taking a short break to do something completely different, for example skipping.

Lists and processes

Creating a list of activities is a really helpful way to understand what needs to be done.

Don’t treat these like a stick!

Treat them as a way to formulate your plan for the day.

Processes are also useful as once you have done something once:

  • Record it
  • Review it
  • Revisit it – make it better next time!

Once it is written down, you have something to compare it against, removing the need to rethink how you are going to do something again. It is also a great tool to go to when you have run out of road as you have already done your thinking.

Reflect on what is happening, take stock and make sure you ask someone else to check in on your belief of what’s going on. It is worth pre-emptively asking someone to help so when you need support, they already know how to serve you best.

Remove the tat and rubbish to make space for this thinking.

This could be about coming away from your current work environment, tidying up, or turning off your email. What is important is you are not distracted when you are working on your processes.

Think about the team you work with, who loves doing certain tasks? What tasks do you love doing? How can you collaborate to get the most out of both of you and the people you work with? What tasks should be automated or relegated?

Navigating this space is tricky, especially on your own. If this article rings true, I would encourage you to reflect on it with someone you trust at work or reach out to a workplace coach who can help you move through this space.

If you would like to have a conversation with me about this topic for yourself or someone you lead please get in contact.

Book shelf idea credit: Janette Beetham

Person Reading - The Medici effect book review

The Medici effect book review

The name ‘The Medici effect’ is taken from the ‘The House of Medici’ an Italian banking and political family that funded and supported innovations in art, finance, and music. These innovations included ideas ranging from double-entry bookkeeping, Opera to the piano.

What jumped out to me was:

This is an important book that explores why we need to look at the intersections between different siloed disciplines to see breakthroughs. The book goes on to help us explore how looking at the same problem from various places gives new insight and discovery.

I also really enjoyed the way the author brought to light why diversity is essential in this process, as diverse thinkers bring not only themselves to the problem but also their network of contacts and relationships.

There is also some wonderful thinking about the quantity and quality of ideas. My key takeaway is that it’s important to have a good quantity of ideas so you can pick the quality ones. This type of thinking has been used by many successful characters including Alexander Graham Bell and Richard Branson.

Operating at the intersection as the author describes it is a fantastic place though slightly scary at times. What it gives you is the opportunity to create innovative ideas and new spaces with the threshold for success often lower because no one else is operating there.

Think about it, if you want to become the very best in your field you have to compete with everyone who has gone before you and everyone who is trying to do it now. If you want to achieve something at the intersection you may be the only person or team in that field so your bar to success is far lower.

I believe neurodivergent individuals naturally gravitate towards the intersection of different fields and ideas.

Why read this book?

It’s insightful, engaging, has been a bestseller for a number of years and has been included in many academic programs. If you take on board what is written it will change your attitude to innovation and potentially increase your opportunity for success.

This is my take on The Medici Effect. It would be great to hear your thoughts.

System blindness

Why systems blindness impacts neurodiversity

Sam is a middle-aged neurodivergent individual in a small boutique design and consultancy firm with a global reach. Sam is an experienced business development professional with a strong track record. When he started working for this firm, he was effectively employee number three. He joined the two founding partners who had worked together for over 20 years. Sam could not work out why he was unable to perform. He was doing the tasks he thought he was expected to do based on his earlier work experience. Is Sam experiencing systems blindness?

Clear Is Kind. Unclear Is Unkind. Brené Brown

We are often blind to the way systems shape the way we think about ourselves and the environments that we inhabit.

Systems blindness often causes stress, anxiety and lost opportunities to engage and enable individuals to be their most effective at work.

Systems influence the way we perceive the world and the way we perceive others. This can often result in distorted views about relationships with other people because of the way we are bound up in the systems we work in. If we were able to step outside of the systems that we inhabit, step outside our workplaces and the relationships we have within them, it would be very different.

In the workplace we are often in several types of systemic relationships, these include vertical top to bottom, horizontal end to middle to end and internal external supplier to customer relationships. These relationships exist because of the tasks and roles that we carry out. Unfortunately, we are often blind to these relationships and their implications as many of us do not see the world like that. We instead see only from our narrow point of view.

Where we are sitting right now?

These systematic relationships often influence where power sits within our organisations. For example, in the top to bottom relationship, power often moves to the top disenfranchising the bottom.

System blindness can go to a whole new level. If you are unaware of the system and the social rules, this can affect neurodivergent individual as they may have low awareness of these systems and how they work.

In Sam’s case what became clear was that Sam’s expectations were very different from his employers in terms of what he should be doing and how he should be doing it.

This came down to expectations and unwritten rules. The systems that this organisation had been using were perfect for the two founders, but for someone new they were unclear and difficult to negotiate.

Navigating systems blindness

Working with Sam gave him the opportunity to help understand what was important to his employer and how he could shine by delivering the basics first and then adding value later. This started with painting a picture of what the systems within Sam’s organisation looked like. This included positioning where the power sat and what power he had in terms of managing his own workload and responsibilities. There was also an opportunity to explore the unwritten rules of the organisation and how he could engage with them to help him be his most effective at work.

Being clear about the rules and our systems is kind, being unclear is unkind!

If you would like to explore how systems affect your organisation and how to navigate them, please get in contact.

Doing a Handstand - Praxis and Neurodiversity

Why praxis and neurodiversity is essential?

Handstand, crow, double-arm lever, bear, monkey, frogger and crab are just a few of the terms I found out about during lockdown. These are all bodyweight exercises you can perform in your own home or anywhere else you fancy without any equipment. Many of them look easy when you see someone who has practiced them, but often, especially when you first try and undertake them, they prove frustrating and challenging. So what’s that got to do with praxis and neurodiversity?

Praxis – means practice as distinguished from theory!

Praxis and neurodiversity – the why!

Being effective at work is about mastering our strengths and managing things we find difficult. To do this well, we need to practice in a structured way that allows us to perform at our very best. The model that I was fortunate enough to use to learn some of the skills mentioned in the first paragraph works just as well with workplace strategies.

It looks a bit like this:

Prepare

Get yourself in the right place to do the work you need to do. I’m a great believer that we are whole people and that means that we need to put our bodies and our minds in the right place to learn. This could be something as simple as making sure we have downloaded everything we shouldn’t be thinking about. as well as making sure we are not stiff or in an uncomfortable position to start the learning process.

Practice

Amplifying strengths and managing the things that we find difficult is about practice. That practice needs to happen in a safe place where we can experiment with different ways of doing things and build processes that work. What is important here is to practice things that are difficult for us and work out what’s good and what needs to be changed. This is helpful as it allows us to work out where we need to focus.

Push

Once we start to become good at a task, then it is time to push it to see how far we can take it, for example, this might be around planning, using a new tool to write, or about being more confident in a different situation. The key is about finding the limits of what is possible for you because quite often this will go way beyond what you expect.

Play

The serious work now begins. It is time to play with the skills that we’re developing and see where else we can take them and use them, for example, we might be great at planning at home but unable to do this effectively in the workplace.

Ponder

Most importantly (and often the most underrated) for any learning is to reflect on what happened, what worked well and what we would like to work more on next time. This is where we start to set goals for what we are going to do next and how we can push ideas to the next level by reusing the model above.

If you’d like to find out more about how to amplify strengths and manage difficulties in the workplace, please get in contact.

Never forget any progress is progress, any movement forward is movement and that’s why praxis and neurodiversity matter.

So that’s what praxis and neurodiversity is all about!

Get in contact to find out more. Contact me here.

 

Method credit GMB Fitness, possibly the greatest fitness organisation on earth. Take a look

The unfair test - Neurodiversity and Intersectionality

Neurodiversity and intersectionality: lost opportunities and goldfish?

Situation

A considerable number of people are still arriving in adulthood without a diagnosis or understanding of their neurodivergent traits (ASC, DCD, dyslexia, dysgraphia or other neurodivergent traits). There is often an assumption that people know what they need and know how to access it. The reality is not everyone has access to the support and insight that is needed to help them identify their neurodivergent traits. This is why I think it’s so important to consider neurodiversity and intersectionality.

Neurodiversity is all of us. Some individuals are neurodivergent and have traits including strengths and difficulties that are unique to them. Intersectionality is a framework that considers the social and political identity of an individual. When the two are combined it creates the potential for extreme advantage or disadvantage for the individual.

Neurodiversity is a term originally coined by Judy Singer in her bachelor thesis and later explored by Harvey Bloom who Singer corresponded with. When the term was originally introduced it described the autistic community, but since then it has become synonymous with a far broader range of thinking styles. The neurodiversity umbrella has now opened further to include many acquired conditions and medical diagnoses like migraines and PTSD to mention a few.

Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how a person’s social and political identity combines to create discrimination and privilege. This term was first conceptualised by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. The original work was looking at gender and race, but again this term has broadened out to include a much wider spectrum that includes underrepresented groups.

When we look through the lens of intersectionality, neurodivergent individuals can experience huge opportunities while others experience a perfect storm of disadvantages.

For example, a male from a middle-class family with supportive parents is more likely to receive support and opportunities to amplify his strengths and manage his difficulties than a female who has grown up in a deprived area and has a mixed cultural heritage. There are many biases in play including gender, race, language, criminality, and social-economic background. This can put the female mentioned above at a considerable disadvantage before she has even started the race. When we then lay on top neurodivergent conditions for example ASD (Autism), where much of the criteria for diagnosis have been developed around male behaviour and presentation, the female is considerably less likely to be diagnosed and as a result, receive support that would amplify her strengths and help her manage her difficulties.

Task

The task before us is to ensure individuals have access to appropriate screening and diagnostic resources in order that they can be properly identified regardless of their social and economic background. In short we must consider their neurodiversity and intersectionality. This then needs to be followed up with appropriate support and guidance for individuals to understand their strengths and difficulties, allowing for the introduction of co-created interventions that help them be their most effective.

The government this week through Matt Hancock has proposed a blanket policy of screening every child of school age for dyslexia. Though at first, this seems like an excellent policy, what is important to consider is this is a screening of one neurodivergent set of traits. Based on research by Prof Amanda Kirby, co-occurrence of neurodivergent conditions is the norm rather than the exception. So, what will be missed? Is this just creating another silo with partial knowledge that doesn’t allow the individual to fully understand their neurodiversity?

Screening is just the start of the journey. Interventions and reasonable adjustments based on the whole person are essential to help individuals amplify their strengths and manage the things they find difficult.

Playing fields can seem level until you look at where the starting point is!

The challenge is not just to look at the individual as something to be fixed, but to also look to the organisational context that the individual is within. As with this illustration, a goldfish has many strengths, but climbing trees is not one of them, especially if the purpose of the assessment is to find out how well the candidates can swim!

Action on neurodiversity and intersectionality

As we look at how to be truly inclusive, organisations must look beyond the easy silos, considering people as a whole and making sure that we reach out to groups and individuals who have different intersectional backgrounds. We must look at this as a process of changing our organisations instead of fixing individuals to fit in.

As we embark on this process it is important that we engage in constructive dialogue and do not take shortcuts. Quick wins are okay but shortcuts are often detrimental to the overall aims of what we are trying to achieve. Look for evidence-based approaches like work-based strategy coaching that support individuals and teams to deal with their own issues so they can be their most effective at work.

These evidence-based approaches look at supporting the individual with the tools and strategies that are relevant for them to be most effective in the workplace. They also look beyond this and start to consider the organisation or environmental factors that impact the individual while critically reviewing their purpose and their fitness for use with the overall aim of creating workplaces that are better for everyone.

Many adjustments that are put in place to support neurodiversity are person-centric (changing the person, not the problem). Though important they do not address the environmental factors that cause disability. If there are no environmental changes then we run the danger of just putting a sticking plaster on the problem.

How to make neurodiversity and intersectionality work

We talked about insight, environment and impact. The reality is we are all looking for practical measures that can be used to make the neuroinclusive workplaces a reality.

So here are some suggestions on where to start:

  • Understand your colleagues, not just who you think they are, but who they really are. Take time to talk to them, listen to them, and get your head around where they are at.
  • Be compassionate and listen to hear what they’re saying, as opposed to listening to tell them what you think.
  • This is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself for a sustained effort as change is often painful, but the results are extremely worthwhile.
  • Actively seek out and recognise where there is discrimination or practices for disadvantage individuals or groups of people.
  • Record and measure where there are inequalities and start the process of deciding how you are going to measure and record the changes you want to see.
  • Be honest and be ready to own up to the mistakes you have already made and will make in the future.
  • This process is as much about building relationships as changing things.
  • Do not make neurodiversity the ‘charity of the year,’ this is an ongoing effort that needs to be ingrained within your organisation’s culture.
  • Do not be tokenistic, keep it real or it will be worth nothing.
  • Start with people and finish with people (with no campaigns in the middle).

Results to expect from neurodiversity and intersectionality

This all starts with positive power and neutral conversations built on trust. These will open dialogue that enables a more inclusive workplace that considers the intersectionality of the individuals involved. Let’s do this openly, while actively looking to engage others from different backgrounds, cultures and experiences, especially those in the groups identified experiencing a greater level of difficulty and or representation within your organisation and society (looking outside your organisation is also helpful).

Review

What has been described here is a process that enables organisations to become more neuroinclusive especially to those with different intersectional backgrounds. As this is a process it has no endpoint, it is instead something that will constantly need to evolve and adapt based on the greatest resource organisations have – your people.

 

Original article published on FE News here.

Person on bike

Equity and neurodiversity – the right transport to get to the party

Auntie Anne had a problem: her favourite dog Jemima had fallen to the bottom of an old well at the far end of her property. She did not want the dog to stay down there and starve to death so she decided she would get a shovel and cover her up. It would be cruel, but it would not be as cruel as letting the dog starve to death at the bottom of that old well. So, Auntie Anne took a shovel of dirt and threw it into the deep well. Every time that shovel full of dirt hits the dog, she shook it off and stomped on it… shook it off and stomped on it… and it wasn’t long before the dog had shaken off enough dirt and stomped on it so that she was high enough to jump out of the well.

  • Equality is about giving everyone the same resources.

  • Equity is about distributing resources based on the need and choices of the recipients.

This is more than just supplying the same bus, bike, or tightrope for anyone to use.

See blog Equality and Neurodiversity.

Instead, it is about supplying proper transport for the individuals that have been invited. For neurodivergent individuals, this means thinking about the environment, tools supplied, and the way things are done. For example, it could be about creating quiet spaces or supplying assistive technology tools. The key is that places are created where people feel safe and equipped to perform.

Understanding the guidelines (or where the rope is) for your workplace and having it made clear is vital.

Equity is achieved through tools like universal design

Universal design is about creating environments, or in this case workspaces that can be accessed, understood, and used effectively by as many people as possible, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability.

Workplaces must be designed to meet the needs of the people who are going to use them. Not as pin-up spaces or beautiful designs that only help a minority of the population.

Good design is about making workspaces accessible, appropriate, convenient, and great fun to use so that everybody gets the most out of them. By considering the needs and abilities of all the potential users of a workspace, universal design offers us the ability to make truly great places to work.

Universal design for equity and neurodiversity

Case study 1

Microsoft has introduced tools including ‘Read Aloud, Dictate’ and ‘Editor’ into the Microsoft Office 365 suite. These tools are available in theory to everyone in the workplace using this platform. The key element here is choice in terms of how individuals use or don’t use them. They are available on-demand to be explored and played with as needed by the person that knows best.

Equity is not about the availability of the tools but education in terms of their existence and how to use them. Just because something is universally available does not mean individuals know it exists or how to use it.

Case study 2

Carly (this is not her real name), struggled with the way her home office chair felt as it constantly irritated her skin and made her feel uncomfortable when seated. This reduced her concentration and meant that she did not want to use the chair.

Some people who are neurodivergent can be very sensitive to materials and fabrics.

Equality would be to give Carly the same chair as everyone else and say that was fair. Equity is about having a conversation with Carly to find out if she would like to try out a few different chairs to establish which one doesn’t irritate her skin, or she may well have some better ideas based on her own experience and research. For example, she may want to be able to change the covers on the chair based on how she was feeling.

What next for equity and neurodiversity?

Our workplaces will never meet everyone’s needs completely considering equity is something that can be built on and added to.

The goal is excellence, not perfection because this is going to be a changing landscape where employers need to respond to the needs of their workforce appropriately.

See Blog Perfection vs Excellence mixed with neurodiversity.

Lessons

The other lesson here is that if there is more than one choice it is always better to choose the more inclusive one. For example, it is worth considering whether everyone:

  • Can use it easily?
  • Can set it up?
  • Can share its benefits?
  • Finds it fun and engaging to use?
  • While not forgetting does it help make the organisation work better?

Final Thoughts

To achieve equality, equity must be a given I encourage you to think deeply and courageously about what this looks like in your organisation.

  • Sometimes these things are intentional
  • Sometimes they are accidents
  • Sometimes they are discovered
  • We must review and embrace what works and remove and reject what does not.

If you would like to explore this further, please get in contact.

And, if you liked this blog you may also want to read – Why aesthetics matter to neurodivergent people.

Woman talking into a microphone

Nathan Whitbread in conversation with Claire Pendrick

Talking about Intersectionality Podcast

It was the most amazing privilege to join Claire Pendrick MMC for a conversation on her podcast the Coaching Inn. For those of you who do not know, she is the author of simplifying coaching, one of the most inspiring and interesting books on the subject. In the podcast, we talk about all sorts of topics from neurodiversity, intersectionality, the workplace, hopes, dreams and beyond.

Please take a listen here.

PS it is me on the podcast, Nathan Whitbread (not Nathan Whitehead honest).

neurodivergent traits are strengths

What are neurodivergent traits? – How do we retain and empower them?

So what are neurodivergent traits?

Based on statistics from the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) it is estimated that at least 15% of the working population have some neurodivergent traits. Neurodivergent traits are those associated with conditions like dyslexia, ADHD, ASC along with medically diagnosed and acquired conditions like PTSD and migraines. These traits are likely to appear in different combinations in each individual. This is supported by research carried out by Professor Amanda Kirby that shows it is more common for individuals to have co-occurring traits from several different neurodivergent conditions, rather than traits just associated with one.

As we consider these traits, I believe it is essential we take a strengths-based approach looking to understand what the individual is great at, while at the same time helping them to understand the things they find difficult and how to mitigate the impact of these on their effectiveness.

These neurodivergent traits include (this is not an exhaustive list):

Neurodivergent traits (strengths)

Creative, imaginative, energised, solution finders, emotionally intelligent, persistent, inquisitive and have fresh eyes.

Neurodivergent traits (difficulties)

Short-term memory, anxiety, fear, disguise and sensory overload. Screening diagnosis and understanding of these various traits and conditions are improving rapidly, though there is still much more to do.

How these traits impact an individual’s working environment and their effectiveness at work is unique to them. I work with a wide range of individuals across several different sectors. Though their stories are all different the recurring theme is that they have hit difficulties at some point in their working life that has caused them to reach out for support. Some of these individuals have been recently diagnosed, while others have known about their traits since primary school. The challenge is not just to know that you have these traits but how these traits affect an individual’s effectiveness in the workplace.

Some of the ways that common neurodivergent traits impact individuals’ effectiveness in the workplace include:

Memory and concentration

Working in environments where a lot of information is shared orally can be extremely challenging for individuals who have poor short-term memory.

A way to think about this is like a bookshelf. The average person (if they exist), can typically hold around 7 to 9 books on a bookshelf. However, someone who has difficulties with their short-term memory is likely to be only able to hold one to three books on the bookshelf. The implications of this are when a new book is added the first book is pushed off and the individual is forced into a situation of grabbing the book that has fallen, often disrupting the rest of the shelf.

If the culture of the organisation means that this is just the way things are done it can be incredibly challenging for these individuals to keep and recall information.

There are ways to help individuals through coaching and technology that allow them to support their short-term memory. This can enable them to work effectively within their organisation.

Organisational skills

In a workplace being organised and understanding what is going on is an essential skill, especially when collaborating with others. If however your sense of time and your ability to follow processes is challenging, then this can make life very difficult. We often assume that having a calendar allows us to be organised, but what we take for granted is that there are a whole bunch of skills around making that calendar work for us. These include building in time to do post and pre-meeting work, accounting for travel and building in buffers to deal with unexpected situations.

Not being able to organise effectively can be very debilitating but through co-building processes, the individual’s situation can be improved dramatically.

Time management

Having a sense of time and being able to estimate time effectively are again essential skills within our current workplaces. If you are unable to do this effectively it can detract from your credibility in the workplace. For some individuals, this could just be that they have no sense of time, while for others they may be overwhelmed by the sensory inputs from their environment.

There are various solutions to this difficulty, including the use of alarms and wearable technology. It is important to work with the individual to understand their unique working environment and how time management affects them.

Wellbeing

Some individuals feel that they are unable to share or not aware of their neurodivergent traits and as a result, try and mask them. This can often mean that they spend far more time working on tasks than their colleagues. This type of behaviour can generate a considerable amount of anxiety, especially when coupled with change. This is because the individual may well be barely hanging in there when they need to reconsider changing all their strategies.

Spending time assessing an individual to help them understand their traits and how these impact their work is invaluable. It can help them flourish and become their true self at work. This should focus on amplifying their strengths and building strategies to help mitigate their difficulties.

Don’t underestimate the power that these changes can have

Christopher Reeve the actor who played Superman, paralysed in a horse-riding accident in 1995 – put it like this.

“When the first Superman movie came out, I was frequently asked, ‘what is a hero?’ I remember the glib response I repeated so many times. The answer was that a hero is someone who commits the courageous action without considering the consequences – the soldier who crawls out of the foxhole to drag an injured buddy to safety. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”

Unfortunately, overwhelming obstacles are present for many individuals with neurodivergent traits and if we do not change this then our organisations will be poorer for it with implications including:

  • Non-compliance under the equality act 2010.
  • Attrition of staff who can add value to our organisations.
  • Loss of competitive advantage and innovation.

To this point, we have discussed supporting the individual. It is important that changes to support the individual are not sticking plasters, but instead part of an organisational wide environmental support.

The road to success

This journey starts with raising awareness of neurodiversity and specifically neurodivergent traits. This mustn’t be a sheep dip approach, yes neurodiversity training is good, but it needs to be supported by mentoring and coaching for managers and leaders of neurodivergent staff.

This then needs to be supported with high-quality processes that are easy to understand and are embedded across the organisations, (not buried at the bottom of some old filing cabinet).

For example:

  • It should be obvious where to seek support.
  • It should be clear how you will be treated.
  • It should be clear what you can expect to happen and when.

Is there an opportunity to be assessed by a professional who can look at your strengths and difficulties and then be given tailored help and support to amplify your strengths and manage your difficulties?

If you have met one person with neurodivergent traits, you have met one person as we are all uniquely different.

Article originally published on FE News