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Introduction to neuroinclusion and its importance to the workplace

Q: What is neuroinclusion?

A: Neuroinclusion is the practice of creating an inclusive environment for everybody, regardless of their neurological differences and conditions.

So, regardless of whether you're neurotypical or neurodivergent, what we're doing here is we're creating a space, workplaces in this context, that is inclusive for everybody. So neurodiversity is just the fact that we're all different. Neuroinclusion is what we all need to do, really, to make sure that everybody is accepted, embraced, and included.

Q: Why is a neuroinclusion strategy important?

A: So I think people sometimes don't realise that there are so many neurodivergent people, so it's estimated now that up to one in five of us are neurodivergent.

There are lots of people, there will be people that you're working with, there will be people who you're friends with, maybe your family members, you might be neurodivergent, often whether you realise it or not. Simply knowing that it affects an awful lot of people is one of the key reasons to try to create an environment that works for everybody.

On top of that, if you start to think about the benefits of neurodiversity, for me it's obvious, why would you not want to create a workplace full of people who think differently and experience the world in a different way?

‍When we bring groups of people together, we challenge each other's thinking and we solve problems. We are more innovative, more creative, simply by the nature of bringing different groups of people together.

So I think that's why it's really important to think about how we include people because you want people to be in an environment in which they're comfortable, they feel safe, and then they can thrive, because crudely, and I don't like talking about this a lot, it's the right thing to do.

Q: And what are some of the main business benefits of neuroinclusion?

A: From a business's perspective, it's also the right thing to do, because it absolutely helps how that business performs. We've seen that in the broader ED& I space for a number of years now. It absolutely exists within neurodiversity as well because it's literally the way that we are doing things that is impacted.

So I think that's why it's really important to start thinking about neuroinclusion and to adopt a strategic approach because a lot of people will think in the short term - what can we do quickly? And there definitely are some things, but having a strategy that kind of takes you from where you're at now, which may be nothing, which is fine, no judgment from me, is only really being talked about as much as it is now in the last couple of years.

‍How do you go from wherever you are now, because no organisation is perfect, to where you want to be, providing that more inclusive space? That has to be through some kind of strategy, some kind of approach that's going to work, that's realistic for you as an organisation.

A study by McKinsey & Company revealed that companies with diverse workforces, including neurodiverse individuals, are 19 per cent more profitable than those without

Accommodating all types of neurodivergence

Q: How can we accommodate all the different types of neurological differences in the most inclusive way possible?

A: This is when I think some people can start to think that it’s very complex because there's so much to think about. Often, I find in organisations, people really want to care and they really want to be inclusive and accommodate people. But they don't really know how to or where to start because there's so much. It's actually most helpful if we start by defining neurodiversity:

We all have unique brains, just like we have unique fingerprints. No two are the same. And what neurodiversity is saying is that that is a fact.

Q: What the best way to start?

A: Really, the way of accommodating neurological differences is by treating people as individuals and try to understand people. The first way that you can do that is to start asking them questions about themselves. It's helpful to know if someone identifies as neurodivergent, but it's not necessary. Actually, we're just trying to understand that individual.

And you can do that for everybody that you work with or everybody in your team if you're a manager. Just start to ask some questions about how they best work. And by understanding how they like to communicate, how they like to operate in meetings, or how they process information, whatever those things might be, you're understanding them as individuals, and then you're able to, where possible, tailor how you're working with them - perhaps alongside sharing those things about you,.

Q: Have you found that sharing your own experiences encourages people to open up?

A: Yes, One of the ways we can make people feel really comfortable to first share ourselves. I think if you do that, it normalises the fact that we're all different and it enables us to have a conversation around what happens when there might be contradiction in those needs, because this is, I think, what people get really scared about.

Well, I can't start asking the question because what if this person needs this and this person needs that, and those two things aren't going to work together. Then I've opened up this can of worms and I don't know where to go. Actually, you can say “I want to understand you, I want to work in the best way as possible with you, but I also have my own needs. I have the needs of the business to consider and the needs of the rest of the team to consider.”

So where possible, I'm going to figure out how we can, accommodate your needs, but it's not always going to be possible. The majority of people are really accepting of that so it's just about understanding people and figuring out what they want in order to thrive, so that we don't get caught up in what do I do if someone's autistic, and what are all of the reasonable adjustments I need to have in place for an ADHD person, because it can all be completely different, so at the heart of this is really understanding the individual.

Securing buy-in from senior leadership

Q: How do we get senior leadership buy-in for neuroinclusion, in a way that has an impact on wider company culture?

A: This is one of the key steps. I've worked with organisations who have done this really well, and I've also worked with organisations who have either thought that it's going to be too difficult, or to just not worry about it. But if you don't have leadership buy in, you're not going to change the culture because they're the people really that are leading the direction of the company, leading how much that culture is then embedded into everything that they do.

Q: Do you have any helpful examples where executive buy-in has been secured successfully?

A: The way that I've seen it done really well is to get leadership talking about it. You really need to get those people in a room and get them talking about neurodiversity.

What will inevitably happen is you will have one person at least in that group of leaders who has some kind of personal connection to the neurodiversity space, whether they have a child, whether they're neurodivergent, whether their cousin is. They will have a connection, someone, it's happened every single time I've led a session with leaders, and that then opens the conversation.

Even if they don't, what we can do is get people talking about it, get them to realise that there's so many of us, that it's really important, that it's not doom and gloom, and it's not all about challenges, we have amazing strengths, we are an amazing asset to organisations, and also to get them to realise that can be really simple.

This is about understanding individuals and catering to their needs, and that will work for everybody. So, I’d say, if you want to do this, if you want to take it seriously, having a facilitated discussion amongst leaders is a really vital step to get them on board with it. They will probably want to get behind it and realise why it's important.

Q: Is there anything else should you bring up to convince senior leadership?

A: You also want to share with them in that session and beyond that this is not overly complicated. It doesn't need to be really complex, it can be quite simple. And the other thing that is vital that they understand, and that everybody understands, is that there are many things that you can do for neurodivergent people that benefit everybody.

There's not that many adjustments that you might want to put in place that are going to negatively impact other people. In fact, often it's really beneficial. So, when I talked before about the information about meetings, who isn't going to want that? I mean, there might be a few, might be some people that like showing up and having no idea what's going to happen, but the majority of people are going to want that structure.

They're going to want that communication and it's going to benefit everybody. So when you get your head around that, this all just becomes so obvious that it's something that you would want to do.

Fertifa's neurodiversity benefit

Discover how Fertifa helps businesses build neuroinclusive workplaces by booking a call with a member of the team.