Mentra's Head of Data Strategy and CTO share three tips on managing neurodiverse teams!

Whether it’s now or in the future, you may be faced with managing someone who is neurodivergent. Where do you start? How do you ensure your employees feel psychologically safe at work? How do you make sure employees communicate their needs? How do you build a structured environment where they can thrive? We as managers need to be talking about how to build a culture of compassion, kindness, and understanding toward the way everyone’s brains work differently. 💜 As part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, join Shea Belsky, Mentra’s Chief Technology Officer, and Haley Hataway, Mentra’s Head of Product as they sit down to talk about some tips on how to manage #neurodivergent employees

🎬 Key Takeaways:

📝 Tip 1: Define ways of working, work with your employee to see what they require to bring their best selves to work- feel free to tell them about resources your company provides that they were previously unaware of!

📝 Tip 2: Provide explicit guidance and feedback, set clear goals for your employees and while not making assumptions about their knowledge of the tasks, rather all of the information they require should be readily available to them

📝 Tip 3: Provide a structured environment for your employee to be autonomous in, with the help of the previously discussed tips your employee should now have an environment they feel comfortable and in control of- this is where they will do their best work!

More on Mentra: https://www.everythingneurodiversity.com/post/mentra-we-re-on-a-mission-to-activate-the-neurodiverse-workforce-of-tomorrow

Full Transcript:

Mentra's Head of Data Strategy and CTO share three tips on managing neurodiverse teams! - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umf3fxVZaAc

Transcript:

(00:00) I'm Haley mentor's head of data strategy I'm Shea belski mentra's Chief technology officer as someone who's been on both sides as a manager of neurodivergence and neurodivergent themselves we're excited to share three tips on how to really be successful in managing neurodivergent employees [Music] tip number one Define ways of working from the start so you can get a general understanding of the individual's preferences and how you can help enable them to succeed this can be done in

(00:29) meetings in person or over Zoom or it can be written down in a list and sent asynchronously Haley mentioned ways of working now what are these some of their Divergent folks might not be aware of accommodations or adjustments to their environment that will help them be successful it's your job as a manager to help them discover and understand ways in which their environment can be modified or adjusted so they can have the most successful work environment possible that can mean things like headphones low sensory environment

(00:57) private offices remote work or anything else that your company provides to help them have a successful and meaningful work environment tip number two be explicit and clear when providing feedback describe the responsibilities or talking with your employees in any way it's far more helpful to be extremely explicit and clear with them rather than leaving things to be uncommunicated or when dropping the ball neurodivergent folks myself included sometimes Miss on subtext or not being told about certain things explicitly so it's far more

(01:29) helpful to be overly communicative and overly clear than it is to assume what they do or do not know that in mind you also need to balance putting structure in place without micromanaging so frequent check-ins and reminders can be really really helpful for neurodivergent individuals but setting schedules for meetings and reminders and check-ins should really be tailored to the individual's preference and also their specific needs for frequent guidance [Music] number three give your employee a structured environment within which they

(02:02) can be autonomous a big part of being a manager is to enable your employees to be leaders and be autonomous and take ownership over things and the big part of that is to enable them to be successful without micromanaging our day-to-day tasks and helping them discover the scope and the breadth of their work without getting too caught up in the details defining scope of work is important to do with your employees and there are a few things that I like to keep in mind when I do so the first is to be really explicitly clear with any set

(02:30) expectations part of that is providing both verbal and written instructions when possible the second if there are deadlines that need to be met communicating those as far and as in advance as possible is really important and finally protect your employees time you are their Advocate to upper management and you are there to help them maintain a manageable scope of work these were our tips for managing neurodivergent employees we love working in a neurodiverse team at mentra and we are so excited to help you neurodiversify your Workforce

(03:04) [Music]