Championing Neurodiversity and Emotional Intelligence by Talogy
A link to a very interesting document was sent to me by my business partner last week. I am going to paraphrase parts of the article in support of Unlock Innovation. We will start by picking up on their opening sentence, thus:
‘Broadly speaking, neurodiversity is an umbrella term used to describe those of us who have brains and thinking styles which work in a slightly different way to the norm.'
The article goes on to describe 'neurodiversity as a spectrum that includes extraordinary innovators in diverse fields and storytellers, able to inspire and inject meaning into the mundane. Who would not want such talents in their teams? Importantly however, the strengths of the neurodivergent can be accompanied by specific difficulties; in other words, two sides of the same coin.
A paradigm shift:
The article makes a clarion call for the redesign of practices and habits that are likely to help everyone in an organisation.
An individualized approach:
The fast-changing world that we inhabit puts continued pressure on businesses to maintain their edge. With innovation a top priority, the importance in recognizing, respecting, and leveraging diverse talents within the work force has never been more important. The richer the diversity of thinking styles, the greater the contributions and the more extraordinary the results.
In conclusion:
There is a growing recognition in organisations that to compete for the best talent, they should embrace neurodiversity within their workforce, and in doing so provide the appropriate adjustment and support to utlise the best of individual differences.’
Whilst I've picked through this article to defend our proposition, it does reinforce a growing awareness that innovation practice requires a mixture of skillsets- a clash of thinking types. We contend that organisations have an opportunity to do more with what they have hiding in plain sight.
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