I have been coaching and facilitating in teams and organisations for 25 years now. Over the years, I have seen how awareness of neurodiversity has grown significantly. It gives me so much hope for the future as two of my children are neurodivergent and, like every parent, I want them to be able to thrive in their chosen careers.
Now, it’s time to develop from awareness to acceptance. We do that by creating inclusive environments where everyone can thrive together. I know a lot of leaders want to be part of the change. They want to support neurodivergent colleagues in the best way possible. They’re just not sure what that is yet.
They are looking for information on what they can do to manage neurodiversity in the workplace and support every single team member in achieving their full potential, to the benefit of the individual, the team and the organisation.
At NeuroWorks, we’re here to provide you with that information and make it actionable so you can start thriving through inclusion. To set you up for success, here is an overview of the skills neuro-inclusive leaders practice to enable everyone to flourish. Which ones are you confident in and already using? Where do you need to build your capabilities next?
The Roadmap for Becoming a Neuro-Inclusive Leader
If you work on each of these five areas, you will be able to deal with differences in a positive way and help everyone on your team to do their best.
Self-awareness
You don’t need to know everything about neurodiversity, but you do need to be aware of how your assumptions shape your decisions. There are so many myths and misconceptions around neurodiversity. Become aware of your stereotypes and unconscious bias so it doesn’t determine your decision-making. It can be unassuming things like valuing social ease over technical depth. As a result, you overlook the true value in your team. Shift from perceiving differences as a problem to focusing on the potential in each person.
Curiosity
Neurodivergent talent doesn’t always come across in the way we expect. For example, we often value quick thinking or assume the loudest person in the room to be the most capable and overlook people who don’t abide by these norms. Instead, we should be curious about everyone, their potential and the unique way we can harness their talent. Curiosity overrides judgment so we aren’t led by assumptions and everyone feels safe speaking honestly. This takes the form of simple changes in communication. Switch your response from “That’s not how we do things here” to “What helps you to work at your best?”
Strengths
Neurodiversity is a natural difference in the human brain. Different ways of thinking, processing information and working vary the strengths within your team which is great for creativity and innovation. Neurodivergent individuals may need help seeing their strengths because they have received a lot of negative feedback about their differences over the years. Be the person who acknowledges where they excel, helping them to see the positive in themselves. Together, spot their strengths and leverage them to elevate their performance.
Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is when people feel able to take interpersonal risks in the workplace. They don’t fear sharing ideas, being honest or even admitting mistakes because they trust they will be supported. This is important for everyone but particularly for neurodivergent people who may carry shame and stigma. If they don’t feel comfortable sharing what’s getting in the way of their best work, you may never know and never be able to address it. As the leader, you provide data on what’s acceptable and what’s safe so it’s up to you to instil trust through your responses. If a leader responds well, safety grows. If a leader responds poorly, silence grows.
Adaptability
This is the idea that we fix the friction, not the person. Instead of trying to make people adapt to the system, as the leader, you adapt the system to support each person’s performance. There is no one way things are done. People can work in the way that produces their best output. This can look like supporting different communication styles by giving both written and verbal feedback and offering different meeting formats. As this is so personalised, review individual support needs regularly to help you identify friction points and make the necessary adjustments.
Focus on these five areas and you’ll see your confidence and capability in managing neurodiverse teams grow. The one question I’d encourage you to ask each team member this week is ‘What conditions help you to do your best work and what gets in the way?’ You will get so much useful information from this single question which you can utilise as you start practising neuro-inclusive leadership skills.
For more details on each area of the roadmap and the five steps you can take to start fostering a neuro-inclusive workplace in the next 30 days, register to receive the recording of the webinar I did on this topic. Sign up here and I’ll send you the 30-minute video talking you through Managing Neurodiversity at Work: Building Leader Confidence and Capability. It’s free, informative and ends with a 30-day challenge for beginning to make practical changes.
Watch the Webinar