Innovation and creativity are the lifeblood of business. To get to both of those, you need different perspectives and ways of thinking. That is why companies hire consultants and agencies.
A more effective way for businesses to gain different perspectives and divergent thinking is to hire a diverse team. Neurodiversity is just as important as other forms of diversity. A neurodiverse person’s brain is wired differently. They experience the world differently than neurotypical people and often have entirely different perspectives.
People with OCD or autism may be frustrated with systems or processes and, consequently, find ways to make them more efficient. People with sensory processing disorders may help workplaces rethink how they communicate to keep employees happy and increase productivity.
Recently, I spoke with Gregg Gregory on his podcast The Teamwork Advantage about the importance of neurodiverse teams. We discussed the challenges of neurodiversity in the workplace and its advantages.
So why is neurodiversity important in business environments?
Neurodivergence Leads to Creativity
Some of the world’s greatest minds are neurodivergent. Elon Musk and Bill Gates have Asperger’s, and Richard Branson and Charles Schwab have dyslexia. All of them credit their neurodivergence for their success. It allowed them to see the world differently and approach problems from a different angle.
Did you know the late founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad, was dyslexic? It was the reason behind the unique Swedish names of all their products. He struggled with inventory numbers, so he decided to name the products.
The corporate world often gets bogged down in “the ways things are done” and fails to acknowledge that there may be better ways to do things. All it takes is a little bit of frustration and determination to find a solution. For example, businesses shifted to an open-plan office layout to encourage collaboration and create a sense of team unity. At the time, a lot of data showed that it would positively affect employee productivity. However, many thought leaders and researchers believe that the challenges outweigh the benefits for employees that dislike open-plan office space.
Rather than convert processes and spaces for one-size-fits-all solutions, consider multiple options for using the workspace. I call this Dynamic Workspace Design.
Neurodivergence Leads Us to Rethink Talent
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses in a role. One employee may be skilled at presenting and public speaking but does not have the attention to detail required to manage a project. One employee may be good at coding but constantly falls behind on their admin work. We are already aware that people have strengths and weaknesses and that a good “all-rounder” is rare to find. Yet, we still expect employees to work on their shortcomings as if they are more critical than the strengths and skills for which they were hired.
Workplaces are already familiar with the concept of fitting together different disciplines and talents to create a product or finish a project. Marketing agencies will form small groups to create a campaign; writers, designers, project managers, and lawyers will all work on a new marketing campaign to ensure each aspect of the project is completed to the highest standard. It is unreasonable to expect one person to be able to research, write, design, and check a campaign for compliance to achieve a high standard.
People with OCD or those on the autism spectrum have shown remarkable talent, especially in technical fields like software development. But many have historically failed the traditional interview test because their behavior doesn’t follow social protocols. Or worse, they are hired for their exceptional talent but leave when they are bullied or ostracized in their teams because people feel uncomfortable around them. Why? Because they are odd or quirky or don’t make eye contact.
Neurodiverse teams offer an opportunity to rethink the way businesses do things. The scope of roles could be narrowed to better fit employees’ talents. What if job-related tasks were always done by the person who was the most talented at that particular task? A Dynamic Workplace Design approach would consider what works best for the employee or team in a given situation.
Would sales increase if a business always sent the salesperson that was most knowledgeable about that particular type of client? Would technology improve if the person doing the coding was the best at that specific coding language and kind of project? Instead of forcing employees to spread their efforts over various tasks, we could laser focus them on getting the most out of their aptitudes.
Opportunity to Innovate
Neurodiverse teams offer a prime opportunity to rethink corporate culture. It forces businesses to recognize that no two employees are the same; therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. When you rework the standard operating procedures to get the most out of neurodiverse employees, it leads to getting the most out of all employees. A better way to support productivity and promote loyalty amongst employees is Dynamic Workplace Design — the opposite of one-size-fits-all!
Neurodiversity Definition
Neurodiversity: this term refers to a general diversity of minds. It includes people who are neurotypical and neurodivergent. When I talk about promoting neurodiversity in the workplace, for example, I am referring to creating a diverse workforce representative of the broad spectrum that exists when it comes to ways of thinking, processing information, communication, and learning. Some employees may be “normal” or neurotypical while others may have ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism, or trauma impacted ways of thinking. I am not referring to any particular label or diagnosis, but rather, the concept of an environment where a diversity of minds coexist.
Neurodiverse: This word is pretty much the same as neurodiversity, but should be used as an adjective. You can say, for example, that your workplace is neurodiverse.
Be careful though, because you should never describe a person as being neurodiverse. Individual people should be described as neurodivergent.
Neurodivergent: This word describes an individual whose way of thinking falls outside of society’s defined version of normal. Oftentimes you will see it abbreviated as ND.
Many times, neurodivergent people will have a diagnosis or label you may recognize, like autism, dyslexia, or ADHD. But neurodivergent people are also those with epilepsy, different kinds of brain trauma, or simply a unique way of thinking that may not have a specific diagnosis.
Photo by Amauri Mejía on Unsplash
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