In my blog in early 2022, I wrote about retaining your top talent in the midst of the “great resignation”, I’ve invited some of my esteemed colleagues to write about the kinds of things leaders need to pay attention to and this week I’d like to introduce you to Katie Friedman of Gold Mind Neurodiversity Training. Here Katie talks about focusing on strengths, as a way to engage and motivate your existing team members, particularly those who are neurodiverse.
Keisha identifies as Black, working-class, queer, female and has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Society systematically frames Keisha through socially constructed, narrow deficit narratives which cause painful prejudice and undermine Keisha’s opportunities to fulfil her potential. At the same time, illusions of equality and sameness in education, and work, gaslight or downplay her lived experience of being othered.
What would happen if Keisha’s leader or manager focused on developing her many strengths?
This would likely be an impactful way of leading and managing anyone but particularly those people whose intersecting identities have historically been framed negatively. By contrast, focusing on what people struggle with can add to a fairly full bucket of prejudice, criticism and stress. By focusing on scarcity, gold is buried and confidence is undermined.
For those of us who are neurodivergent (ADHD/ Autistic/ Tourettes/ Dyslexic/ Dyspraxic or a combination), our buried strengths are sometimes ‘off the scale’ due to our spikey profiles. When I discovered my own neurodivergence, tests showed my verbal skills came up as 130 where the average is to 95-105 for example. It was good to have concrete evidence of my ‘gold’ which is so often diminished in some situations like written exams and arduous two-day performative interviews.
Post-pandemic realities are forcing leaders to make adaptations in what has recently been described as a “seller’s employment market”. Developing areas of strengths can leverage significantly more performance improvement than focusing on challenges and shortfalls. Reckmeyer and Robison (2015) give the example of a reading recovery program for a class of children which served to improve the stronger readers much more than those struggling to read for whom the program was intended. Developing their area of relative strength led to significant improvement. The idea of focusing on what you struggle with rather than what you are good at is perhaps ‘baked in’ during our school years and follows into our work cultures.
If focusing on strengths development is so powerful, what gets in the way of leaders using this strategy in work?
When I run neurodiversity training for leaders, coaches and HR leads, these are some key responses to this question;
- British culture discourages discussion about feelings about others.
- Performance management focuses on deficits to ensure productivity.
- Cultural inertia can set in.
- Short-termism and crisis trumps strategic planning.
- Negativity bias inclines us to try to fix what is wrong.
- Leaders themselves do not know their own strengths and feel uncomfortable talking about those of others.
- Hierarchy, status and impostor syndrome create fear that acknowledging strengths of those ‘below’ in the hierarchy as it might undermine their position.
As the answers above indicate, knowledge and development of strengths cascades into how we lead others. Many of the above points are informed by fear which inhibits our best thinking. This does not bode well for diversity. If we struggle to identify strengths different to our own, we may create gaps in our teams, and ‘homophony’ (Syed,2019) where we recruit in our own image.
Syed (2019), says that cognitive diversity (different perspectives and ways of thinking) is ‘set to be a key source of competitive advantage and the surest route to reinvention and growth’. If everyone thinks like you, you will keep getting the same results. In my experience, people who have had to overcome deficit framing by society have a lot of drive and tenacity and bring fresh solutions. Neurodivergent thinkers are often problem solvers with a really strong ethic of excellence. If we can accommodate difference, we are going to make way for extraordinary results.
If we harness the potential of people in a way where they can feel so clear on their strengths that they feel safe to take risks, make mistakes and be honest about their challenges, we will improve their wellbeing and consequently, their performance.
Reasonable adjustments
There are lots of workarounds that an individual can use to mitigate their challenges and there are cheap and easy ‘reasonable adjustments’ they can ask for such as communication preferences, sensory sensitivities, flexible working etc. Choudhury (2021) brought the humanity back into this approach by asking ‘who wants to be reasonably adjusted?’. These adjustments and workarounds will have more success when you, the leader and the neurodivergent person have a clear narrative on strengths and potential, as well as challenges and needs. This is not a special way of working with some people, this is ‘systemic inclusion’ which benefits everyone (Doyle, 2022). If everyone gets great leadership and is asked for their communication and sensory and flexible working preferences, we don’t have a deficit model where we are waiting for people to struggle. Any experienced leader will know performance management when things have started to go wrong, is one of the most time consuming and draining aspects of the job. Systemic inclusion could mitigate this strain and may also positively affect the retention of great leaders!
If you want to be a great leader, I recommend that you appreciate, recognise and champion what might be different and brilliant about your employees as well as creating a safe environment for them to be honest about challenges rather than wasting mental energy masking and performing. The best leaders are curious to learn about differences such as Neurodivergence. You need to be secure in yourself, understand and explore your identities (many leaders are likely neurodivergent themselves and may not know). This means you need to understand what narratives on difference you have imbibed over the years and have real clarity on your personal strengths and challenges. If that isn’t being fostered by your manager, then coaching is a great catalyst for this powerful work.
Katie Friedman is the Director of Gold Mind Neurodiversity Training Ltd which provides training and support for leaders, educators, and coaches. She is a Leadership Coach and has Specialist ADHD Coach training. She is also an Associate Coach with Genius Within, providing job coaching through the Government Access to Work Scheme. Katie is and ex-Deputy Headteacher who discovered her and her family’s neurodivergence during her coach training.
Choudhury, A (2021) Neurodiversity at Work D and I Leaders Conference
Doyle, N (2022) Neurodiversity at Work – Opportunity or Exploitation? CASE/ LSE online event
Reckmeyer M and Robison J (2015) ‘ Strengths based parenting: Developing your children’s innate talents’ Gallup
Sayed, M (2019) Rebel Ideas Hachette: UK
