Over the last month or so, I have been writing about a number of neurodivergent conditions like Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and more. What I discovered each week was that what I had faulty assumptions. The Spectrum of Autism isn’t a straight line of severity, it’s about multiple different ways Autism can affect people. Dyslexia is much more than just reversing letters and words. ADHD isn’t a deficit of attention; it’s a dysregulation of where attention goes. The surprises kept coming week after week. It’s somewhat alarming considering the fact that I think about differences in the way brains work every single week. I can’t imagine how many misconceptions there must be for people who don’t focus on this topic.

When our conception of these conditions is wrong, the trouble cascades to how we judge performance, how we label people and how we try to adapt.

Wrong Model, Wrong Conclusions – And Women Pay the Most

When we misunderstand what these conditions are, we misread the behaviors we are seeing. A dyslexic team member who struggles to keep up with the reading isn’t slow. The ADHD employee who forgets verbal instructions isn’t being inattentive. The Autistic colleague who gives blunt feedback isn’t being rude. In every case, the person is trying their best while struggling in a system that wasn’t built for the way their brains work.

If men struggle, it’s even harder for women, who tend to be far better at masking symptoms in order to fit in. Hiding their challenges and trying to assimilate drains even more energy. Young women are far more likely to go undiagnosed for all these conditions. If they do eventually get diagnosed, it is much later in life. Because of this, women are less likely to have been given the tools they need to succeed – or even an explanation of why some things are a challenge for them.

In every case, when a condition is undiagnosed or misunderstood, people get labelled as slow, rude or inattentive. The incredible strengths they bring to the table go unnoticed.

The Strengths That Get Overlooked

The characteristics of people with ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and other neurodivergences are dual sided. Hyperfocus, pattern recognition and creative innovation are traits that any business leader wants on their team. They are also the traits that make so many neurodivergent people entrepreneurs and inventors. When the characteristics are looked at one way, they cause challenges. When looked at another, they provide great benefit. The leaders who can alleviate the one and maximize the other are the ones with teams that flourish.

Strategies that Work for All

There are two strategies that show up in all of my articles and are effective across all neuro-types. Provide information in multiple formats and confirm understanding.

Multiple Formats

For some people verbal information is easy but reading is hard, and for others, it’s the opposite. For some people pure numbers make sense and for some, visuals and graphics work better. Implicit vs explicit information, big picture story or minute detail – everyone receives information in their own way. Lean into that and provide information in multiple formats. Send emails to confirm verbal conversations. Send a video and the transcript. Allow people to use speech to text and text to speech tools. Provide information in as many formats as you reasonably can and provide tools to make information exchange easier.

This isn’t just useful for people who are neurodivergent. This article by Aston Carter shows that multimodal learning is beneficial for all employees.

Confirm Understanding

We all make assumptions about how to best communicate with others. We think it is obvious that they understand what we meant. Leave that assumption at the door and double check that you were understood.

• “What questions do you have” rather than “Do you understand?” Assume that communication was not absolute, let them know that asking questions is encouraged. Signal that any misunderstanding is as likely to be caused by the way you gave the information as it is from them “not getting it.”
• Play it back. “Can you explain that back to me to make sure we are on the same page?” Asking them to confirm understanding isn’t a test of their comprehension, it’s a test of the information transfer.
• Ask them what works for them. If you can confirm that before sharing information, that would be ideal. That way you can adapt your communication to their needs. If you couldn’t do so up front, close with it. “In what format would you like me to provide the summary of this conversation?”

Reframe your questions so they don’t sound like accusations. Make it clear that any gap in understanding is shared.

The Bottom Line

These strategies are great for the neurodivergent minds on your team. They are also great for the neurotypical people on your team. Just because a person doesn’t have a named diagnosis, does not mean that they process information the same way you do. In fact, you can just about guarantee that they don’t. Provide information in multiple formats, confirm understanding and don’t make assumptions about people’s capabilities based on certain challenges. Do this and it benefits all of the members of your team.

These are not accommodations to people who don’t fit in. They are strategies that will improve communication on any team.

Does your organization have neurodivergent talent that isn’t being fully utilized? These patterns show up on every team. As a speaker and facilitator, this is exactly what I help organizations address. Let’s talk about what that could look like for your next event or leadership session.