Neurodiverse inclusion – the next frontier of organisational design and culture

For me, having Rosie and Adam on this weeks’ podcast really shone a light on where organisational culture is in 2023.

 Diversity, equity and inclusion have been on many organisational scorecards for the past decade and more, and the complexity of how businesses think and act around DEI seems to expand each and every year.

 Some will argue the scorecard approach drives authentic, people-focused initiatives that truly bring the whole of the workforce, their backgrounds, differences and beliefs to the table. Others will say businesses still aren’t doing enough to include, energise and accelerate the potential fully available to them.

 Now I’m not going to sit here and say either is right or wrong. I’m instead going to share my reactions to some interesting reading I’ve been doing of late that proposes neurodiversity as being the next frontier for organisations to consider encouraging and leveraging the benefits of.

 Adam and Rosie share examples of where leaders have been surprised when they have to take time to step back and think around a question that’s been asked of them, rather than give an immediate answer.

 In his book The Pattern Seekers, Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of psychology and psychiatry and Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University offers from his research the idea that autistic people demonstrate a similar set of characteristics and ways of thinking to people who are hyper-systemisers – people with a highly refined approach to life using if-and-then experiments, with an unquenchable thirst for the answers such experiments can give in their everyday lives. He uses the term Systemising Mechanism as the descriptor for this set of brain processes.

He also proposes that we also have an Empathy Circuit – a loop of neurological-centred processes that ‘allow us think about the thoughts and feelings of others and to think about our own thoughts and feelings, rapidly, second by second, in real time in a dynamic social context.’

His research has found humans tend to operate with both the Systemising Mechanism and Empathy Circuit, with each happening to a lesser or greater degree in everyone. Repeatable patterns of behaviour can be observed in those high on Systemising Mechanism and low on Empathy Circuit, and vice versa. Baron-Cohen observed that there is a strong correlation in the observable behaviours of hyper-systemisers and those diagnosed with autism.

 What fascinated me from reading his research is the potential this could offer businesses if they pivot away from seeing an extremely niched set of behaviours as being limiting for organisational growth, and instead took a stance where they are going to continually make it safe and trusted for neurodiverse people to show up as their full selves.

A few examples spring to mind of steps that could be taken by leaders, the first being an offering to leaders facing a situation like Rosie proposes.

 The answers to questions being asked in team meetings have a short and long response horizon. A leader (or a team member) asks a question or proposes a situation that requires the team to access their creative thought space to be able to successfully move forwards. A way-of-working the leader brings to the team is the practice that all such answers can be answered right there, right then AND they can also be answered on a Team communication channel within 72 hours of the meeting.

By endorsing this, the leader creates feelings that all opinions are welcome, in a time horizon that suits more members of the team because it allows them to think, process and propose.

Baron-Cohen talks about systems where the workforce is invited to follow and adopt the ‘corporate way’, meaning there is an expectation that everyone adapts and works in the way a senior leader or founder decides.

What if leaders shifted the narrative away from ‘do it my way’ to ‘understanding and endorsing your way’, and uses their time together to curiously explore the approach an individual prefers to take, looking for ways to nurture their confidence in experimenting and adopting their approach.

Yes, this tailoring of approach might feel like it takes more effort, compassion and resources from a leader, but is that not what their role is for – creating and nurturing a working environment that allows their people resources to shine?

 Particularly for newer leaders, why not take this step to orchestration of the workspace, allowing the instruments and their players to release all of their brilliant, creative performance energy. I’ve had it reported from these leaders that the control of it can be both daunting and intimidating, especially if under the pressure of achieving certain results from senior leadership. Rather than be in the grip of that control, be in control and create an environment built around your teams’ strengths and attributes.

Moments like these for leaders might be the time to adopt a trick from the hyper-systemisers out there – take an if-and-then approach to your leadership – testing, reviewing and adapting the levers you pull to nurture your teams’ performance in the context of the organisational goals you are responsible for fulfilling.

Thinking for leaders like you to venture into potentially.

Graham

If you’re interested to read yourself, here you go:

The Pattern Seekers by Simon Baron-Cohen (2022), published by Penguin Books