This email in 30 seconds: Neuro-inclusion isn't one person's job. This week I'm sharing something I've been reflecting on for a while - a way of thinking about the different roles that make neuro-inclusive workplaces real. Part 1 covers the organisation, HR, and managers. Part 2 next week focuses on the broader team and the individuals responsibility.
Hello Reader,
I am back - after an amazing holiday (did I mention I was singing on the Disneyland Paris stage?!) followed by a chest infection has meant my newsletter has been dormant for a couple of weeks. But today I am wanted to share something I have been reflecting on for a while.
When people ask me how to build a neuro-inclusive workplace, the conversation often gravitates toward one group. Line managers. Or HR. Or leadership. As if one layer of an organisation holds all the responsibility and everyone else gets to watch.
I don't think that's right. And I don't think it works.
What I do think is that neuro-inclusion is a shared endeavour. Every person in an organisation has a role to play - and when any one of those roles is absent, the whole thing starts to wobble.
So over the next two weeks, I want to walk through how I think about this. Not as a definitive framework, more as a reflection. Something I've been pondering, and something I think is worth saying out loud.
This week: the organisation, HR, and line managers.
The Organisation
Everything starts here.
The values, the culture, the people at the top - they set the tone for whether an organisation is inclusive. Not neuro-inclusive specifically. Inclusive, full stop. And that distinction matters.
Neurodiversity doesn't sit in its own silo. It lives within a broader commitment to inclusion - one that has to be visible in the DEI strategy, the policies, the day-to-day behaviours that are encouraged, and perhaps most importantly, in what leaders actually do.
Not what they say. What they do.
The question an organisation needs to ask itself isn't "do we have a neurodiversity policy?" It's "does the way we work, communicate, and lead make it possible for people with different ways of thinking to genuinely thrive here?" Those are very different questions.
This week's question When did you last look at whether your inclusion commitments are visible in day-to-day behaviour - not just in documents? Who in your organisation would be able to answer that honestly?
HR
HR - and anyone responsible for people processes - carries a dual role when it comes to neuro inclusion.
The first is being a genuine point of support for managers. When a manager is navigating a situation involving a neurodivergent team member and isn't sure what to do, HR should be the place they can go for thoughtful guidance. Not a tick-box exercise. Real, practical coaching on how to have the right conversations and put the right things in place.
The second role is broader. It's about putting an inclusive lens across the people processes themselves. Recruitment. Job descriptions. Performance frameworks. Onboarding. The question at each stage is: does this process work for the range of people we're trying to attract and support, or have we just always done it this way?
Universal design - the idea of building processes that work for as many people as possible - is the goal here. We won't get to 100%. There will always be individuals who need something additional, and that's not a failure. But we can get considerably closer than most organisations currently are.
This week's question Pick one people process. Recruitment, performance, onboarding, it doesn't matter which. Ask yourself honestly: does this work for the broadest possible range of people, or is it just familiar?
Line Managers
Line managers carry more weight in this than they're often given credit for - or more importantly prepared for.
They have two distinct roles.
The first is in how they support the individuals in their team. The starting point here is always curiosity rather than assumption. What does this person need? What would be useful? What small changes - in how you communicate, how you check in, how you structure the work - might make a real difference?
Some of those changes cost nothing. A regular 15-minute check-in on priorities. A clear agenda before a meeting. Written confirmation of what was agreed. These are adjustments that often benefit the whole team, not just one person.
The second role is the one that shapes the culture of the team itself. Managers are the role models. They normalise difference - or they don't. They play to people's strengths - or they flatten them. They create an environment where people feel safe to be honest - or they don't.
I'm often asked about psychological safety in relation to neurodiversity. My honest view is this: psychological safety for a neurodivergent professional isn't primarily about what the organisation says. It's about the team they sit in and the manager they report to. You can claim psychological safety at a corporate level, but if someone doesn't feel it in their immediate team, then it doesn't exist for them.
That's the manager's responsibility. It's significant. And it's worth saying clearly.
One of the exercises I use in my manager training asks people to think about how they work at their best - considering three areas: the environment they work in, how they prefer to be communicated with, and how they do their best work. They identify one preference in each area, then mark whether their manager knows it, their team knows it, or nobody knows it at all. It's a simple exercise, and it's consistently one of the most quietly revealing moments in a room. Because for many people, the answer to that last category is longer than they expected.
And if you manage a team, it's worth sitting with the flip side of that question too. How well could you answer those questions about the people you manage?
This week's question When did you last ask someone in your team what would actually help them - and genuinely listen to the answer, rather than assuming you already knew?
Next week, I'll focus on the team, and the individual themselves. Including something that doesn't get said enough about the role the neurodivergent professional plays in all of this.
If any of this is resonating - or if you're sitting with questions about how this plays out in your organisation - you're welcome to book a call to discuss further.
Until next week,
Tania
Founder
PegSquared
P.S. If someone in your world needs to read this, please do forward it on.
P.P.S. Did you see the tech toolkit for neurodivergent professionals that I have recently shared on social media? Read more here: The Tech Toolkit for Neurodivergent Professionals | PegSquared
