A question that comes up from business and their hr or manager executives is how do we apply Neurodiversity strategies where we can measure adequate outcomes that are a win-win for both us and the employee?

This is a fair and justifiable question and my answer to this is to be “Be People-Centric” where the employee is the priority with the support and accommodations needed.

The Be People-Centric approach can be applied from two pre-existing systems, which of course requires some understanding and adjustments. Let’s examine these two systems and see how we can apply them in the workplace to neurodiverse employees.

Let’s first explore the education system

For neurodiverse children, they develop and implement an “Individual Educational Plan,” or IEP. An IEP comes in two formats, one focused on challenges and the other focused on strengths. This tool ensures there is a plan with a set number of goals and targets to help the student achieve. It is all centre on making sure there are both accommodations and support for the student. This also includes an academic coach, who helps the student with this plan.

I want to clarify; an academic coach is not a tutor who helps a student with challenges in a particular subject. Rather, an academic coach is someone who helps them develop learning and productivity strategies.

When we look at a strength base IEP, it performs in the same matter but in opposition to a challenge based IEP. The goals are not on trying to improve individual challenges because the focus is to highlight and further develop their strengths towards greater progress.

An IEP has 7 steps where each of these milestones is designed to help the success of the student.

Step 1 Pre-evaluation – What are the challenges that the teacher has noticed?

Step 2 Referred by Special Needs Education psychologies

Step 3 Diagnosis of a Neurodiversity

 

Step 4 Meeting with parents to discuss this diagnosis.

Step 5 Development of an IEP

Step 6 Implantation

Step 7 Review and evaluation

Let’s now look at the workplace

In the workplace, there is something to know as ‘Individual Work Plan,’ or IWP. The purpose of this is to bring clarity to a task, set expectations and generate a plan for how this will be achieved. An IWP can make for an individual and it can be made for a team.

In either case, you want to break down the task into chunks to make it more manageable. With this tool, the team member (s) will ensure they understand what is being asked of them and outline how they will move forward to tackle the deliverable.

How can we combine these two tools?

Well, the first thing we need is some ground rules:

1. This is a Neurodiversity IWP, so this will need adequate considerations.
2. identify the challenges and the strengths
3. The two primary focuses are to ensure there are support and accommodations for their challenges and to build on their strengths.

In both scenarios, it’s important to ensure there is the ease of access to the resource that is required.

Employees, HR and managers need training on Neurodiversity awareness, communication and how to manage Neurodiversity team members.

1. Set goals and targets that is a win-win for both employers, managers and employees. Describe what that win-win situation would be like. Set a path of how they can move forward, which will lead to future promotions and pay raises. Of course, what does the employer want to see for deliverables.
2. Have a job coach. The job coach is there to help provide productivity strategies, self-esteem building and additional support to the individual.
   
   
3. Apply the SOMIT Goals
   • Specific
   • Observation
   • Measure
   • Interactional
   • Time Related

The above is like SMART Goal with a unique philosophy. I took this from my friend and mentor, Andrew Gibson, who is from a Solution Focus approach and the author of two books, “What is your URP?” and “Make Life Simple“. As you can see, there are two major differences, O, for Observation and I, for Interactional.

Why this change? Well, observation is about noticing what is working, where are the connections that lead to a desired successful outcome. It is, of course, noted what is working and understanding why. This relates to Interactional, which is about seeing the connections and how they influence one another.

1. Review and re-evaluate every quarter.

Each of these steps is designed to create a plan where both the employer and employee can understand what is needed as well as expected from both parties. The IWP not only outlines this expectation, it also brings in a more clear understanding and empathy to that employee who may have felt overwhelmed, stressed and alone, as there was no support.

With an IWP, you are creating a plan filled with reachable goals that change the mindset of all parties and deliver real targeted results. Most of all, when we centre on people where you adjust to their needs and their strengths, they will have a greater opportunity to triumph because they have a team and a leader that believes in them.

Business knows that when you invest in people, in particular Neurodiversity individuals, they are more loyal to that organization and as a result, the return is greater.

Would you or your business do well with an IWP?

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Looking to make a change of diversity and inclusion for the neurodiverse in your company?  then click here for a consultations

Listen to this topic and others like it on my podcast Take A Leap & Transform: A Neurodiversity Journey

 

Are you facing an unbearable wall with no one to turn to? Or are you told to move on, take a pill and just deal with it?

Let’s be honest, mental health in the workplace is not a new topic. We know it is an issue that will not go away and it faces resistance in environments where co-workers, managers and employers do not want to acknowledge mental health because it is ‘taboo’. What makes this more challenging is the lack of understanding that the mind and body are connected, which means poor mental health can and does affect the body. Yet, many individuals who deal with these issues daily are afraid to be open up to what they face, both with their family or on the job.

Now, let’s throw Neurodiversity on top of mental health.

When we put the two side by side, we see there are quite a few similarities: No one wants to acknowledge that the two exist in the workplace; there is an unwillingness to talk about the two; the work environment may not be safe to mention it and both are viewed as ‘taboo’ and no one wants to deal with them.

The combination of the two creates more stress or depression when it is compounded by the challenges that a neurodiverse individual faces on a day-to-day basis. Never mind adding that they may already be in a workplace environment that is not safe and where they don’t find adequate support, such as reasonable accommodations. For example, according to the Attention Deficit Disorder Association of America, a co-worker who has ADHD is 30% more likely to face difficulty in the workplace and 60% more likely to end up in the unemployment line.

Neurodiverse individuals deal with trying to manage themselves in an environment that caters to one type of talent pool. Thus, they deal with the stress of trying to adjust, complete their task, prove they are the right person for the job and deal with the managers, co-workers and employers who see them as difficult to work with. This leads to stress and anxiety, which in turn, means that their job performance will be affected, as well as their communication with team members and physical ability to do the job.

As a result, Neurodiverse employees may take sick days, time off, choose to leave their place of employment for the sake of their mental health or in the worst-case scenario, even consider suicide. In fact, in a UK survey on mental health, those individuals who were dyslexic reported committing self-harm and having suicidal thoughts.

Employers have to understand that their employees spend much of their lives on the job. Let’s do some math: The average employee works 40hrs a week, minus say 4 weeks for vacation and sick days; s/he stays on the job from anywhere between 5 to 10 years, so let’s aim for an average and estimate 5 years. If we take 40 hours times 5 days, multiply that by 48 weeks and multiply that by 5 years, that equals 48,000 hours of their life that an employee will spend in a place of employment.

With these numbers and Neurodiversity, how then can we say that Mental Health is not an issue?

Oh wait, what about the Neurodiverse employee who may have a shorter span in the place of employment? Remember the sample stat of average ADHD employee who struggles in holding a job? What is their mental health like, when they struggle with having no job, trying to pay the bills and putting food on the table, while then having to go through the recruitment process all over again in less than 5 years?

When we put all these into perspective, we can understand why a Neurodiverse individual may suffer both from self-esteem and confidence issues. As this builds up, it can lead to depression, be followed up by showing up late for work, displaying poor performance on the job and distancing themselves from colleagues, or the other way around.

So, what are some practical solutions that we can apply to change the company’s Culture?

For starters, employers should start the conversation by having material such as leaflets around the workplace. This can be followed with workshops and team-building exercises as well as with organising sessions to teach employees stress management techniques like mindfulness.

Like Neurodiversity, we cannot address and offer solutions to mental health if we don’t change the culture and talk about it.

Be People-Centric

Being People-centric is where you put your employees’ needs first. When businesses follow this path, employees are both more committed and engaged. Managers display the understanding and emotional intelligence to ensure they meet the needs of their team on a personal and individual level. In return, they will have more proactive and productive team members.

Provided Incentive

Employers can make available either subsidized schemes or even free medical qualified professionals outside the place of business to encourage staff to attend. Businesses can also offer health insurance to cover private mental health care or alternative therapies such as acupuncture.

Check-in with your managers

Employers and HR need to reach out to Managers individually to ask how their teams are progressing. Are there any issues, red flags and interventions that need to happen? Managers must encourage their teams to ‘take time out during the workday to refresh and recentre themselves.

In some places of work, they have created a quiet room where an employee can destress through actions like mindfulness, looking for silence or even taking a 10min power nap, which science has shown helps to improve memory and productivity.  Is this something you can add to your workplace?

Closing point

Choosing one or two of these suggestions can make an enormous difference in an employee’s life especially when that team member is Neurodiverse and may be dealing with feeling overwhelmed and being stressed.

Many employers realise that there needs to be a balance in work and provide the support that is not just task-focused. They provide team building, mental health and even spiritual workshops. All of these are aimed at developing a happy employee who enjoys going to work, is focused and productive.

 

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Looking to make a change of diversity and inclusion for the neurodiverse in your company?  then click here for a consultations

Listen to this topic and others like it on my podcast Take A Leap & Transform: A Neurodiversity Journey