Rewiring Leadership Behaviours for Neuroinclusion

Leadership Expectations

Leaders are given conflicting messages about what they need to do to be successful. Leaders need to inspire their staff, connect their teams to the organisational purpose whilst achieving demanding targets and objectives amidst constant, often wholesale, organisational change. When faced with these dilemmas, leaders often choose to deliver tangible outcomes since this is what their performance and success is measured against. So, whilst they may want to ensure high staff morale, when faced with the dilemma of supporting all their staff to find their own level to perform and develop at their own pace, leaders revert to expedient means of task completion. This can be requiring a specific process to be followed or reliance on the same few people who can be trusted to deliver in the desired manner, for instance.

What is the impact of this on their teams?

Team members understand that they need to deliver performance first and foremost and that despite their best intentions, leaders pay lip service to change related to organisational culture. For example, there has been a drive in the last few years by organisations to create more diverse teams and develop inclusive practices so that individuals feel better understood, valued and a sense of belonging. Often, these initiatives initially focus on visible differences such as race, culture, gender and religion. Later they extend into less discernible areas including LGTBQ+ and mental health and are addressed through education and the creation of employee resource groups.

Whilst leaders implement different practices to foster inclusion such as recruiting people with non-typical profiles, ensuring quieter team members have an opportunity to contribute, reviewing meeting effectiveness, they tend to address surface-level differences may not create the best conditions for all team members to contribute to their fullest.

Leaders who have limited experience of neurodiversity may be unaware that their neurodivergent colleagues process the world differently from their neurotypical peers. They are more sensitive to sensory stimuli that lead to their strengths (for example, pattern recognition, creativity, special interests) and limitations (such as, poor working memory, transitioning between tasks, planning). Often the different communication styles between neurodivergent and neurotypical people can be misunderstood on both sides. The more direct communication styles often employed by neurodivergent staff can be seen as rudeness, questions as an indicator of incompetence and challenges to decisions and actions as being difficult. Whilst leaders spending the first 10 minutes of a meeting on chit chat to foster connection may seem like empty talk that detracts from the purpose of the meeting and an inefficient use of time by neurodivergent colleagues.

Neurodivergent staff learn to mask their natural behaviours to appear ‘normal’ at a significant emotional and physical cost to themselves. This can lead to inconsistent performance as their available energy can vary day-to-day that can be hard to understand for a leader who is unaware of what is happening at a deeper level for their neurodivergent team member.

How can leaders become more neuroinclusive?

To build more neuroinclusive environments leaders need to build relationships in which each team member feels seen, heard and safe. This requires them to invest time consistently in getting to know how each member of their team ticks irrespective of whether they are neurotypical or neurodivergent. In addition to meetings focused on performance, leaders would do well to schedule individual and team meetings that are designed to build understanding and connection. Showing curiosity in each person and revealing aspects of themselves fosters better relationships between the leader and their staff. This provides the foundation for increased mutual understanding and for neurodivergent individuals to be more open about their likes, dislikes, needs and differences. In turn this opens the possibility for finding new ways of working that takes into account the specific needs of each person to perform at their best.

The leader needs to set the tone for their team by being inquisitive, open and willing to learn. Where the leader is neurodivergent themselves, it takes courage to reveal this to their team and colleagues in the workplace as they may fear being seen as less competent. However, this also gives them the potential to be a role model for others. By extending grace and compassion to themselves and others, leaders create an environment that generates more inclusion as each person realises the differences that exist in the team, how their internal wiring affects how they show up in various spaces, consciously and sub-consciously, and the unintended negative consequences that can arise.

Specific actions that leaders can take include:

• Invest time in learning about neurodivergence and the many forms that it can take.

• Create time for regular 1:1 and team meetings that are designed to build strong relationships.

• Establish team norms that take account of various sensory and communication needs.

• Set a tone of curiosity and grace so that team members feel safe to enquire about differences and to explain how they process information, sensitivities they have, and so on.

• Be courageous and act as a shield for team members against demanding colleagues so that they have the space to deliver in a manner that suits them rather than against neuro-majority norms.

It takes intentional and consistent effort to generate neuroinclusive workplaces. Showing curiosity, respect and a willingness to listen are core attributes that enable leaders to shift their behaviours and create the conditions in which themselves and their team members can thrive and deliver the required results.

It is not easy to create this space whilst running the gauntlet of the demands of senior leaders and executives to deliver results. However, studies, such as this one and ‘Neurodiversity at work: bridging research, practice and policy’ published on 6 March 2025 by Acas, show that organisational culture impacts employee performance and leaders are pivotal in supporting neurodivergent staff. Therefore, taking time to implement the above actions are worthwhile in the medium term.