Neuro-Diversity

I recently saw an article from Dr Jill Miller, diversity and inclusion adviser at the CIPD, who advised that employers need to consider every element of the employee cycle when it comes to embracing neurodiversity – as often, the focus is on adapting how we recruit. She also highlighted that we need to think about internal progression. Dr Miller identified that we’re quite stuck on expecting certain competencies from our leaders and managers and that we have very traditional views of what a leader should be like. I was asked a question not long ago and perceived that there was a loaded reason. “Do you really want to continue to manage people?”

This prompted me to ask a question to the individuals and employees that I have mentored. I wanted to understand honestly how they felt about me and my methods and if they thought they worked for them, and the reasons behind them feeling like this. I decided to set up a focus group consisting of millennials that I managed between the ages of 12- 15 years old. When I initially met this particular group they were failing to achieve any standing in their school league, however, after we started working together they then went on to win several trophies.

The focus group also consisted of employees I had personally mentored. What came from these three sessions was very interesting. There was one common theme that stood out; that my methods we’re “different” from any other manger they had worked with. To which I remember my reply, identifying how we are all different, but what I was seeking was for them to elaborate what “different” meant in this case.

Their explanations included words like “unconventional” they explained that I was “not in keeping with what they were led to believe the standard characteristic of a leader should be,” and that I was “not afraid to express my own weaknesses” and that I “cared about the whole person and his or her journey to date.” Ground zero was always that they needed to become better than I was and that I truly understood that work was a social system and all past psychological traumas would remain in play until they were dealt with. They could all see that I was brave enough to step out from behind the mask and that I was committed to providing my support for them to do that too. They knew that I’d be there throughout the healing process to help uncover what was stopping them achieving their full potentials.The perception of what a leader should be is sometimes lost in a bureaucratic quagmire. This is one of the reasons why I am very heartened that organisations such as SAP, Microsoft, EY and others are carefully unpicking some of these traditional myths and have dedicated resources to neurodiversity. The following is a very interesting article:

Why employers should be hiring with neurodiversity in mind