Neurodiversity Training and Consultation for the Tech Workplace
Discover how to attract and retain the BEST talent to produce the results you want by leveraging neurodiversity and creating smooth workplace dynamics that make for a happy and effective team.
Neurodiversity Workplace Training and Consultation
Tailored for technology companies.
Is this familiar?
fiAre your best software engineers also the ones who baffle you the most?
They’re brilliant when you let them loose on a project, but “don’t play well with others”?
Are you scratching your head, wondering how to improve team dynamics that have turned sour?
Are they butting heads with management? Complaining about meetings? Saying things that piss people off? (And are they right more often than you’d like to admit? But not sure what to do about it?)
When you promote them to management positions, do they either shine or fizzle out, but either way, their coding suffers?
Are they requesting accommodations you don’t know how to give, or that seem excessive, or that don’t fit into how your company does things?
Do you suspect your hiring process is accidentally filtering out great talent that doesn’t fit neatly into the system, but you also don’t want to hire people who will be difficult to work with?
Do you want to support neurodiversity, but aren’t sure how to make things run smoothly with these diamonds in the rough?
This isn't the problem it seems
Many of these gems are neurodivergent.
They think about things differently (duh, that’s why you love them), and also communicate differently (also duh, they’re constantly making people bristle), because their brains and nervous systems process data differently.
This isn’t a bug. It’s a feature.
Their different brains, and different perspectives, and different communication styles, can be your greatest assets.
I know, because I’m one of them.
I can help your company:
- Attract and retain the BEST talent to produce the results you want by leveraging neurodiversity.
- Improve workplace dynamics through understanding how different brains work, think, and communicate, to create a happy and effective team.
- Work with leadership and HR to tweak meetings, procedures, policies, and hiring to work better for everyone—neurodivergent and not.
- Avoid (or recover from) burnout in neurodivergent team members.
My background
I am both Autistic and ADHD myself, and since 2020 I have been working in neurodiversity advocacy and training, and coaching Autistic, ADHD, and other neurodivergent clients 1:1 and in small group settings.
Before this, I taught college and high school and hold a post-bachelor degree in education and multiple teaching certifications.
Having worked with hundreds of neurodivergent individuals, many of whom work in tech, I have a strong understanding of the difficulties they face in the modern workplace, and what can be done to smooth workplace dynamics so everyone can work better and feel better working together.
I have helped both individuals to improve their work experience through 1:1 coaching, and companies to improve overall team dynamics through understanding and practical guidance.
It doesn’t typically take a lot of changes to make a workplace, and team, work better together, but the small tweaks make a big difference.
The secret life of a neurodivergent in tech
It’s no secret that the tech industry is filled with neurodivergent people. I’ll bet you can think of several off hand.
But there are a lot more of us that you probably realize.
Want me to share a nasty insider secret?
Many of your own employees won’t disclose their autism or ADHD diagnosis at work, because they don’t feel safe telling you.
I know, because they complain to me every day.
They hide their neurodivergence at work as best they can, push themselves to do and say what’s “normal,” but it still leaks out around the edges. You can tell there’s “something” different.
And many others don’t understand why they’ve always felt different. They haven’t yet figured out that they are neurodivergent (of some flavor), but they are.
What you see:
They’re direct. Or scattered. Or interrupt in stand-ups. Or never speak up unless directly asked something. Or they avoid asking for help. Or make a way-too-personal comment on Slack. Or give brutal feedback to colleagues. Or complain about “stupid” things.
There’s a lot going on beneath the surface that you can’t see:
They’re anxious and trying to get it right, afraid of being the weird one (again), or they resent the system, or struggle to comply and push back against policies. They ruminate for weeks about a comment. Or agonize for way too long over how to reach out for help. Or how to give feedback without it being taken the wrong way. Or are overloaded by the sensory stimuli of too many people in a meeting and blurt something out far more directly than intended, and hate themselves afterward.
This is so tiring. They’re exhausted, and constantly flirting with burnout.
They come to me for coaching when it’s so bad they can’t stand it anymore.
But wouldn’t it be great if you could tweak a few things upstream, so they don’t burn out, or rage quit, so their teams work together better, so everyone understands each other better, and so is happier and more productive, and their energy can go into coming up with novel solutions to your projects, and your company can deliver?
Workplace training
Your team are intelligent, thoughtful people who care about justice and doing right by others, even if they are sometimes tired or triggered or unsure or how to show that.
A little training can go a long way towards:
- Understanding themselves and others better.
- Working with different communication styles.
- Reducing anxiety.
- Managing stress.
- Creating a happier and more harmonious team.
This benefits you by:
- Saves money in turnover, sick days, and HR complaints.
- Reduces workplace drama.
- Fewer headaches for leadership.
- Shows your team you are living your corporate values.
- Happy employees are productive employees, who deliver your company’s products better, with fewer bugs, so your customers are happier.
I am open to tailoring the training to your unique needs or current challenges.
Typically, the training will be presented in three parts.
Part 1: What is neurodiversity?
Learn what neurodiversity is, address common misconceptions and stereotypes, look at some ways it shows up in people’s lives, which can look different than you might be expecting, and an intro to being a good ally in a workplace setting.
Part 2: Neurodiversity in the tech workplace
Then we’ll apply that to how it can influence workplace dynamics, how to be a supportive team member without it creating extra work for you, with some practical tips and examples to make it useful. Practical things include understanding different communication styles, giving and receiving feedback, managing stress, easy and meaningful accommodations, and more.
Part 3: For leadership and HR
Some practical advice to make meetings, hiring and onboarding, managing expectations, etc. more neurodivergent friendly. Often these are easy, small tweaks that can make a big difference.
The logistics:
Each part is typically one hour of presentation with 30 minutes of Q&A afterward. That can be delivered either over a series of weeks, or on one day.
Your team will also get handouts and a resource guide (articles, books, etc) if they are interested in learning more.
Consulting
A presentation is great, but even the best presentation cannot address all the issues of your particular situation.
I can help you see what’s going on behind the scenes, and fix the disconnect between people, processes, and performance, so your team can thrive.
This isn’t your typical HR consulting.
It’s systems thinking for leaders who want to go deep and build a truly neurodivergent-inclusive workplace. Who want to foster a team where neurodivergent strengths shine, where people feel safe to bring out their best selves: a team you will be proud to be a part of and to brag about.
We’ll look together at the issues that keep cropping up, what’s really going on under the surface, and what needs to be done to address the root cause, as well as the myriad offshoots, including:
- Create an explicit, detailed, and documented acceptance of neurodivergence in the workplace
- Hiring and onboarding
- Meetings that work better for everyone
- Communicating effectively
- Productivity goals
- Accommodations
- Options for pair-programming
- Clarifying instructions, tasks, and ticketing
- Giving and receiving feedback
Why hire me?
Because I’m a translator—I’m like the Wizard of Oz. I can peek behind the curtain, and I can give you a peek behind the curtain too.
A large percentage of my coaching clients are programmers, software engineers, and developers. They tell me every day about the issues they’re having at work: problems with companies, with their managers, with other team members.
They tell me things that they don’t feel safe telling you—things that they wish you would understand.
They’re unfiltered and uncensored with me, because I get it. I think the same way they do. Even though I didn’t go into tech, the Autistic experience is something we share. The reasons why they’re upset by certain things, and the reasons why certain things matter to them, make absolute perfect sense to me—because they’re the same things that I have trouble with, and the same things that matter to me.
But I also have two big advantages that they don’t have.
Advantage One: Translation Skills
I’m an excellent translator. I speak both Autistic and Neurotypical. I’m really good at explaining to non-autistic people why this stuff matters to us—why certain things bother us, why they’re important, why seemingly small things are actually a big deal.
I can help you understand them better and show you that they’re not just being difficult. I can explain it in a way that makes sense to you, and I can help you come up with ways to work better with them on these issues—solutions that will work for everyone on the team.
In 1:1 coaching, I’m already working with them on understanding you better and doing what they can to improve their own situation. But having you as part of the solution is so much better for everyone. Things become possible that aren’t possible when they’re working on just the parts they can do on their own. Working with the system as a whole becomes much more effective.
Advantage Two: Safety and Perspective
I can tell you what’s going on because my job isn’t at stake. Even those on your team who could explain often don’t feel safe enough to do so.
They don’t want to risk their job or being perceived as “the difficult one” or being labeled as “the complainer.”
Even when they are willing to speak up, I guarantee there’s a lot that they’re not saying—things they don’t know how to explain, or won’t to say to you.
That’s where I come in.
I’ve seen the same patterns coming up over and over with hundreds of tech workers. It’s consistently the same issues, the same challenges, the same complaints, and the same reasons for them.
(And if there are one or two people in your organization who are speaking up, I can guarantee you there are a lot more who are not.)
Individual Coaching
When individual team members may benefit from 1:1 coaching, I can work with them on topics such as communication, performance, anxiety, managing others, working better with their manager or teammates, meeting deadlines, or avoiding exhaustion and burnout.
Don't waste their genius!
We can put together a custom package of training, consulting, and individual coaching, that will best serve your organization’s needs.
Options
Neurodiversity Training
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3 x 1 hour live, remote presentations on neurodiversity in the workplace
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Plus 30 min Q&A each
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Customizable to your team's unique needs
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You can keep the recordings, or I can host them and give your team access
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Handouts & resource guide
Training and Consulting
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Consulting with Leadership / HR
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Covering topics such as:
Hiring and onboarding
Meetings
Communicating effectively
Productivity goals
Accommodations
On-site events
Training
Creating psychological safety -
One-time or ongoing
Add-Ons
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Individual coaching for team members Special rates for 10+/20+ sessions
Support individual team members with 1:1 coaching to work through issues around communication, performance, anxiety, managing others, meeting deadlines, or impending burnout.
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Autistic Burnout Recovery Course Special rate for 3+ people
An on-demand, in-depth course on how to get out of, or avoid, autistic burnout. Make this available to team members you choose.
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Anxiety Reduction for Autistics Course Special rate for 3+ people
An on-demand, in-depth course on managing and reducing anxiety so your team can do the things they want and need to do more efficiently and with less stress. Make this available to team members you choose.
All training and consulting sessions are via Zoom, so we can connect from anywhere in the world.
I am in the Central Time Zone (middle of the USA), so there are compatible business hours with USA, UK, Europe, and Australian time zones.
All trainings will be recorded for those who cannot attend live, or want to rewatch it.
Start the Conversation
Let’s turn ideas into action.
Start by filling out the form below, or reach out directly at:
I will reply, usually within one to three business days.