The Ideal Office – Does that Exist? 5th City & Guilds ND Index: Progress not Perfection

Professor Amanda Kirby, Founder of Do-IT Solutions., Campaigner for Neurodiversity, Medic, Knowledge Translator, researcher.

Originally published as part of The Neurodiversity 101 LinkedIn Newsletter.

In this week in which we are launching the 5th City and Guilds Neurodiversity Index in partnership with the City and Guilds Foundation and I have been thinking a lot about what we have learned across the last few years and what work there is to do.

We need to hear from you what IS working and WHY… I want the ingredients for lasting success..

We talk a lot about creating the ideal neuroinclusive workplaces and I visit and speak to designers and architects and speak at events who are trying to achieve this.

I hear providing quiet rooms and places to seek alternative sensory experiences; along with adjustable lighting; standing desks; variable seating, and acoustic panels

They are all useful if available and don’t make you stand out for asking for adjustments… if there is only one ‘special’ chair.. then you can become the ‘special one!’

But there is a danger that we start to believe we can build a neuroinclusive office, photograph it, put it on the website and tick the box. We are done!

People don’t work like that.

Think about what YOU do when you sit down at your desk.You probably move your chair slightly to get into the right position… this may be different if you have shoes with heels or trainers for example. Perhaps you raise it, lower it or pull it closer to the desk. You move the screen up or down. You put your mug on the right rather than the left. You take your jacket off. Ten minutes later you put it back on.

None of this requires a diagnosis but they are small adjustments that can help you be more comfortable and able to complete tasks..We are constantly adjusting our environment to help ourselves function.

And what works today may not work tomorrow

I sometimes want music when I am writing.On another day, doing exactly the same task, I want complete silence.

Why?

• Perhaps I slept badly.
• Perhaps I have three deadlines to complete today and not enough time to focus on any properly!
• Perhaps something happened at home that morning and I have taken my thoughts with me into work..
• Perhaps I have just had a difficult conversation.
• Perhaps the office is busier than usual and I have had to hot desk and sitting somewhere I don’t usually .. and don’t have my things around me…
• Perhaps today I simply have less capacity to filter everything around me.

Human functioning is dynamic!

Yet workplace adjustments are sometimes treated as if we can assess someone once and produce a permanent prescription:

Amanda needs A + B + C… done ….

Actually, Amanda on Monday morning may need something quite different from Amanda on Friday afternoon or in one office to another; or visiting someone for a meeting; or working at home… this is not complicated but it does need to be accepted…

The workplace is also social

The chair, lighting and noise are only part of our environment.Other people change how we behave.Imagine you have a good relationship with your manager. You may ask:

“Can I work somewhere quieter this afternoon? I really need to finish this.”

Now imagine your relationship with your manager has become strained.The physical environment hasn’t changed.But your willingness to ask may have changed completely. You have lost confidence and it has impacted your work outputs… you are worried to ask about anything..

The same applies to relationships with colleagues. They are resentful of you getting your own desk in the corner when they still have to move around all the time. Them v Us!

If we feel trusted, we may experiment, ask questions and say when something isn’t working.If we feel watched or judged, we may start trying to look perfect especially if there is pressure keeping your job .. we don’t want to ask.. just in case we are seen as less than!

If a promotion opportunity and behaviour may change again.We might stay later.

Speak up a little more in meetings.Stop using headphones so we look like others around us even though it may impact on our outputs.Avoid asking for flexibility.Say yes to something when ‘our buckets’ full when we really need to say no.

We may start performing an image of the “ideal employee”.

Then there is everything outside work

Nobody leaves the rest of their life at reception.Caring responsibilities ( up and down), relationships, sleep, money worries, illness, commuting, bereavement and hundreds of small events can change the resources we bring to work on a particular day.That doesn’t mean standards disappear.

It means context matters when we are trying to understand performance.

The part of neuroinclusion you cannot photograph

I increasingly see organisations proudly showcasing their neuroinclusive workplaces.

And many appear excellent on the surface… it’s a bit like the window to a shop… we show the best off to others.But the things that may matter most are much harder to photograph.

Flexibility. Curiosity. Respect. Trust. Continuing dialogue.

Can somebody say:

“This worked for me last month, but it isn’t working now.”

Can a manager say:

“I can see you’re struggling with this part of the role. Can we work out what is getting in the way?”

Can both sides experiment without every conversation immediately becoming labelled as a reasonable adjustment, performance issue, grievance or failure?That requires psychological safety as well as physical design.

CIPD research illustrates the gap. Only 38% of employees surveyed felt their organisation provided meaningful support to neurodivergent people, despite the increasingly visible organisational focus on neuroinclusion. We saw this last year in the City and Guilds Index too..Perhaps we need to ask a different question where we saw the gap in expressed awareness and actual reality..

Instead of asking:

“Have we created a neuroinclusive office?”

ask:

“How easy is it for people here to change how they work when circumstances change?”

Because the best chair, perfect lighting and quietest room cannot create inclusion on their own.

An inclusive workplace isn’t a perfect place.It is a continuing conversation between people, tasks and environments — with enough flexibility to recognise that all three keep changing.

What works in your workplace… let’s share example..

PLEASE, please, please take 5 minutes of your day to complete the survey so you can have your voice and share your experiences

https://survey.censuswide.com/survey/selfserve/53b/g022/2609195?list=6&Link_Status=LIVE&jobno=J18832CWA

Blog Author

I am Amanda Kirby, Founder of Do-IT Solutions a tech-for-good company that delivers thought provoking consultancy and neuroinclusive guidance and training. We have developed cutting edge web-based screening tools that have helped 10s of 1000s of people. We strive to deliver person-centered solutions relating to neurodiversity and wellbeing.

I am a mixed bag of experiences and skills, an odd ball… and have 25+ years of working in the field of neurodiversity.

I am a medical doctor, Professor, and have a Ph.D. in the field of neurodiversity; parent and grandparent to neurodivergent wonderful kids and am neurodivergent myself.

Theo Smith and I wrote the UK award-winning book Neurodiversity at Work Drive Innovation, Performance, and Productivity with a Neurodiverse Workforce. My 10th book came out called Neurodiversity and Education in March this year. Excitingly, Theo and I have another book coming out next year!