divergent thinker

Is There a Divergent Thinker on Your Team?

So, you have somebody on your team that other employees are complaining about. That person is not getting key assignments in on time and is holding up a project. You’ve got an under performer, right? Not really. He’s also an engineer who most would say is a high performer when he’s doing what he does best: engineering. What do you do?

One of my clients came to me with this problem. She supervised an engineer who was great at execution, problem solving and collaboration. Yet, he was behind on documentation and metrics reporting, which was another part of his job. Without those pieces, projects couldn’t move forward, and were often delayed.

“He’s one of our top performing engineers,” the manager explained. “He’s analytical; he can look at a problem, sift through all the ambiguity and get the problem solved.” She continued, “He’s great to work with and his team members love him. And he’s fast! If he’d get the documentation in on time, his team would outperform all expectations. Unfortunately, it takes him so long to write up his reports that he loses efficiency.”

I suggested that he use speech-to-text to write the first draft to get his thoughts out.

My client explained that she considered offering that option to him. She did not think it would help. She explained, “When he presents his findings to the team, he is so random that he goes off on tangents. So even when presenting verbally, he struggles to be clear and concise in his explanations.” Consequently, using speech-to-text would not be a viable solution.

My client cares about her people. She wanted a solution that could work and would also be fair to the rest of the team. This talented engineer provided tremendous value to the team. However, his difficulty meeting the writing requirements of his job had become a serious problem.

Understand that this employee was not avoiding a task because he didn’t like doing it. He didn’t have the skill set to complete the task in a timely way. This is not an uncommon problem in engineering departments. Engineers are not known for their excellent writing skills!

Here’s the key: This company hired him for his engineering skills. They did not hire a writer. If they wanted a technical writer, they would have hired a writer. Thirty years ago, he would have had a secretary, and this would have been a non-issue.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

Many people excel in math or English. Few people excel at both. Some who excel at math are not the best communicators, especially if they are neurodivergent and in the autism spectrum. Having worked with divergent thinkers my entire career, I suspected that he may have an expressive language disability.

divergent thinker

So, the question became, “How does a company keep a top-performing engineer (a difficult position to replace), when the task the engineer is struggling with is not where he delivers his greatest ROI to the company?

The standard Human Resources solution was to put the employee on an improvement plan. My client considered this. However, she understood that his ability to write would not improve. Instead, it would probably push him out the door and she’d lose a brilliant, well-liked team member. It was unlikely that an improvement plan would help him if his problem was a learning disability.

Perceptive managers value employees who think differently. They understand the value of divergent thinkers and realize that innovation, problem solving and efficiency improve when they are part of a team. They may have ADHD. They may be on the spectrum. They may have difficulty speaking or explaining things verbally.

Those cognitive differences are the very reason they boost the success of their teams. However, they need accommodations to support their success. These accommodations rarely cost the company money. Rather, they push the limits of outdated corporate policies and adherence to “the way we’ve always done things” in exchange for the benefits of having divergent thinkers in the workplace.

Managers may feel frustrated because they can’t figure out how to help divergent thinkers comply with workplace norms and policies. It’s possible that managers may not have the flexibility or structure in place to provide necessary accommodations.

The Solution: Flexibility and Creative Problem Solving

divergent thinker

Back to my client and her dilemma: I suggested the manager try a buddy system. What if they matched the engineer with someone on his team who writes well? He could be paired up with a teammate who excels at written communication and the required process documentation. His teammate would interview him to help him verbalize his process and write the information down for him. Then, the engineer could review it, make any edits he needed to make, and submit that documentation. The ideal scenario would be one where the writer benefits by learning from the engineer. He mentors his teammate, and his teammate helps him with the documentation. It’s a win-win.

We both realized that such a solution would require “selling” the idea to upper management and the team. It was outside of the parameters of how “things were always done.” Even so, this wise manager realized that the win to the company and the team was worth trying to find a solution that benefited everyone.

Tailor Solutions to the Individual

To get the best out of our divergent thinkers, and our teams, managers must focus on the bigger picture. Sometimes, that means going against the status quo. If companies amplify the talent that a person was hired for by providing accommodations for their challenges, the research shows that they will not only be more innovative, but they will also increase employee retention.

Related Video:

divergent thinker

How to Help An Employee with Poor Written Communication Skills

Definitions as Referenced in this Article:

The following definitions were created by Nick Walker, of neurocosmopolitanism.com.

Neurodiversity is the diversity of human minds, the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.

Neurodivergent, sometimes abbreviated as ND, means having a brain that functions in ways that diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.”

Neurotypical, often abbreviated as NT, means having a style of neurocognitive functioning that falls within the dominant societal standards of “normal.”

Neurominority, any group, such as people with autism*, which differs from the majority of a population in terms of behavioral traits and brain function
*preferred language … such as autistic people, which…

References:

Fitzell, S. A. (2021, January 26). What Is Neurodiversity in the Workplace? | The Learning Strategist IQ. Retrieved February 7, 2021, from https://medium.com/the-learning-strategist-iq/what-is-neurodiversity-in-the-workplace-and-why-do-i-need-to-know-95dfac06cb02

Fostering neurodiversity in teams | Nesta. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2021, from https://www.nesta.org.uk/feature/innovation-squared/fostering-neurodiversity-teams/

Meehan, L. (2020). What is Neurodiversity and How does it Benefit Business · CPL. Retrieved February 7, 2021, from https://www.cpl.com/blog/2020/05/what-is-neurodiversity-and-how-does-it-benefit-business

Neurodiversity at work | Acas. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2021, from https://archive.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5858