How I Work (Neurodivergently) - Gerard Atkinson

By popular demand, this week, it's me! If you don't know already, I've started this series to raise the visibility of #neurodivergent people and particularly how they go about work. And as an #ActuallyAutistic person it only makes sense that people wanted to know how I juggle multiple leadership roles and responsibilities while still finding time to post on LinkedIn. Hopefully there's something in here that you find useful.

As always, if there's someone you'd love to see featured, or you're interested in sharing how you work, please let me know! We all have something to share.

Name: Gerard Atkinson

Location: Warrnambool, Gunditjmara Country, Victoria (just up the road from Wenn Lawson )

Current gig(s):

• Director, ARTD Consultants ;
• Chairperson, Reframing Autism ;
• Director, Social Impact Measurement Network Australia ( SIMNA );
• Member, Australasian Autism Research Council ( Autism CRC )

One word that best describes how you work: Caffeinated.

Neurodivergent? Autistic; I was formally diagnosed back in 2019 after reading about the experience of an Autistic friend ( Ryan P. O'Donnell ) and finding that it resonated far more than I expected. After research and discussions with my partner I sought out a neuropsychologist for a formal assessment. I write this because it's important that people talk about their stories, as it may be a prompt for others.

First of all, tell us a little about your work background and how you got to where you are today.

So my work background is all over the place, which turns out to be surprisingly normal in my field. My main job is as a consultant specialising in program and policy evaluation. Easiest way to explain what I do is that someone (usually the government) spends money and resources to try and achieve some social objective, and my job is to figure out if they actually achieved it. What I've learned is that the key skill in this work is critical thinking, and so we have people in my team with all sorts of degrees and career backgrounds. In my case, that's having been a physicist and materials researcher out of university, before taking up a career with IP Australia as a patent examiner. I then worked with AusIndustry for a bit before deciding to sell all my stuff and move to Dallas, Texas in 2013 to get an MBA at SMU Cox School of Business , after which I went into consulting before moving back to Australia to lead evaluation work for the Creative Australia before moving to ARTD Consultants in 2018.

But this really oversimplifies my career, as along the way I have done a whole range of jobs, from market research, to DJ, to opera singer, to cook, to voice and stage acting and much else besides.

And then there's all the work I do with boards and governance, which is about making sure that organisations are achieving their goals and staying sustainable. I feel like I fall into careers more than I have a set path. I had one career goal when I left high school (working at a nuclear reactor) and I achieved it by age 20. So after that I guess I've felt at liberty to pursue different things.?

What are your job responsibilities?

For ARTD, I'm a Director, which means that I oversee a portfolio of projects managed by different consulting teams (and sometimes I manage projects directly). Right now I oversee 13 projects, and provide expert advice on a few others. In reality that means making sure that those 13 projects are on track, supporting my managers to deliver what they need to, and sometimes stepping in when extra support is needed. I also head up learning and development for the company and help deliver our training programs, and provide coaching and mentoring to staff on their personal and professional development.

For Reframing Autism and SIMNA my job is work with the executive team and the rest of the board to make sure that the company is on track strategically, and that we are meeting our legal, financial and social obligations. Where a CEO might be thinking about the day-to-day operations, my job as a board member is to stand back and look at the bigger picture and what we need to do to be thriving 1, 3, 5 or more years ahead.?

Take us through a typical workday.

So I'm going to do this as a schedule because that's more like how I run my life haha:

• 0530: I'm up and out of bed, either for a 7-9km run by the seaside with a local group of runners, or to my garage for a weights session (because I can't deal with most gyms and the sensory overload of noises, smells and hidden social obligations).
• 0730: coffee and breakfast, and catch up on overnight news before heading into my home office and starting the work day proper by reviewing and responding to emails. It's nice being able to work from home as I can concentrate, and I have a giant whiteboard for brainstorming. I commute to Melbourne or Sydney once a month to meet staff in person and get out from behind the webcam. I'd do it more, but it's a 3.5 hour train ride to Melbourne, and then a 1.5 hour plane trip from there to Sydney, so not something I can do too regularly.
• 0900: Usually by now I'm in project meetings with teams. I have oversight over at least 10 projects at a given time, so I need to make sure I can help the teams get the job done by facilitating access to resources, being a sounding board for ideas and reflections, or adding my expertise and experience to help solve problems. If I'm not doing that I am usually taking care of urgent tasks for projects.
• 1230: Time for a quick lunch and if I'm not too busy, a break from the office. I usually cook my lunches ahead of time so that I'm not spending my break cooking food or walking to the nearest shops for a takeaway.
• 1300: By afternoon I'm either doing client engagement (meeting with them or facilitating interviews and workshops), or working on analyses and reports. It really depends on what projects we have on and what's needed on a given day. One day it could be building a complex financial and resource model in Excel, the next it could be virtually leading a workshop with 30 people on program design, and then the next it's writing a proposal for a new piece of work.
• 1700: With any luck I am finished my main job by this time, and if I am really lucky, I might sneak off to the beach for a surf or a walk with my partner before coming back and starting dinner.
• 1900: Most nights I get to relax, but sometimes there'll be board meetings or papers to read through, or some urgent consulting work that needs to get done. Consulting has a bad reputation as a job that eats up your every waking moment, but we try to avoid that at ARTD because when it comes to really heavy thinking, there's only so much you can do before your brain turns to mush and that's when mistakes happen (which require more hours to fix). Better to keep everyone fresh as possible.
• 2200: I'm usually in bed by this time - getting a good amount of rest is really important for my mood and cognitive ability, so late nights are rare these days (19 year old me, who at 2200 may only have been 2 hours into a 5 hour DJ set, would be shocked).

What’s your workspace setup like?

ALL THE MONITORS (See photo).

Seriously though, in my home office I have three monitors which I legitimately use for work with the main one usually being used for meetings while the side monitors bring up useful information or notes. When I'm writing reports it's also good to be able to refer to documents and analyses across monitors. There are a few quirks to the setup - the electronic piano and microphone are for music-making and my computer is set up as a recording system. The big white thing above the main monitor is an LED lamp for video work, and the keyboard and mouse are on articulating arms so that they can move around to the perfect spot. I used to have a regular office chair but I switched to an ergonomic chair to improve my posture while working.?There's also a flashing doorbell so that my partner can let me know that they need to come into the office while I am listening to music.

I've also got a portable workspace for travelling or nice days where I want to be outside. iPad, keyboard, mouse and accessories, all designed to fit into a portfolio folder that I can carry around the place. It's got less screen space, but it's enough to get most stuff done when I am on the road.

Oh, and the phrenology head is not there because I am into that stuff, it's more as a memento mori for established norms - phrenology used to be pervasive but was eventually and rightly debunked; its presence reminds me that no established norm is above being tested and questioned, which is a vital element of doing good evaluation work.

What apps, gadgets, or tools can’t you live without?

My Nuraphone - noise-cancelling headphones were a must in every office I worked in, but as a music lover I also need good headphones. I also have a lot of sensory difficulties around hearing and have chronic tinnitus in both ears, so music helps manage that.

An electronic calendar - I live by my calendars (a mix of Google, Apple and Outlook depending on whose organisation it is). It's how I know what I should be doing, plan ahead for things, and manage tasks. I make sure where possible that my teams can see it as well so that they know the best time to get in touch. I've had to become better at labelling events as "free" time in my calendar so that I am more available for my team when they need me, which has been a challenge, but that brings me to the next tool.

Microsoft Bookings - So I had played around with Calendly and a few others, but this one is integrated with my other platforms so it won out. It's great because I am averse to unsolicited phone calls (receiving or making them), so this tool just allows me to put a link in my signature and people can book a time with me when we are mutually available. It also saves a lot of email back and forth trying to figure out schedules, which is such a timesaver.

NetNewsWire RSS Reader - So this is old school tech, using RSS news feeds, but I consume a lot of information on any given day so being able to streamline it is a must. I keep hopping from app to app as the technology dies out, but nobody has found a better solution (and don't say Twitter).

Do you stim? If so, how and when?

My biggest stim is music - I'm often humming or singing or making up parody lyrics to songs as I work, and not even realising it until somebody points it out. I've been known to sing to the cats as well, to the point that one time we recorded it and released it as a single with a music video . If it's not vocal stimming, it's tapping away with rhythms on the nearest surface. If I'm getting stressed, I usually have some fidgety stuff at my desk to help manage and stop me from dismantling and rebuilding the nearest object (i've gone through a LOT of pens that way). My favourite is the grip trainer, since it helps absorb stress and builds muscle strength - it's a 2-for-1!?

How do you align your neurodivergence with your work environment? (e.g. planning, supports, environmental)

My calendar is really helpful in allowing me to keep track of what I need to do as well as provide structure and stability to manage transitions. My work can be pretty chaotic at times so having some degree of control is really helpful. Having my own office is also really helpful (and I realise that's a big privilege) as I can control temperature and noises, though I still wear headphones a lot of the time to block out noise and play music.

One of the other things that I find helpful is using my email signature to point out that I don't like unscheduled phone calls, to give people the option to book something in, and most of all to say that because of my neurodivergence I may have downtime or respond to messages at odd hours and that there's no obligation for them to respond immediately to something I sent at 5am.

Are there any challenges or misconceptions that you've faced in your work? How have you addressed them?

I'm lucky to work with some really amazing and understanding people, many of whom are neurodivergent and/or ascribe to the human rights model of disability. We're also critical thinkers by training, meaning that we spend a lot of time questioning our conceptions. It's meant that it's rare that I've encountered misinformation or stereotypes in my work, and even then it's from a place of genuine inquiry and willingness to learn.?

What’s your favourite shortcut or hack?

It's not immediately applicable to most work, but in kitchens the best thing I learned was "if you can be leaning, you can be cleaning", the idea that you should actively try to get ahead on tasks, to save time later. It's obviously useful in cooking where you can clean as you go and have far less dishes post-meal, but even in consulting if I have the chance to get ahead on designing analyses or drafting reports, it'll save a lot of time later.

How do you keep track of what you have to do?

The calendar! I need to get better at making checklists and task lists, but at least with the calendar I am able to log something and estimate the time needed, even if I have to move that task around later. And I can set alerts for it as well, which is good if I get into a flow state and forget about time.

How do you recharge or take a break?

Given a lot of my work involves social contact, I usually tend to recharge with alone time and low-cognitive stuff. For me that's usually playing videogames (currently No Man's Sky for the slow, chilled out experience, but also Diablo III for mindless clicking and reward centre activation), but also listening to music (any genre) and exercising. I've recently taken up surfing regularly, and my only regret is that I didn't do it earlier!

What’s your favourite passion/interest/side project?

I love music. People are surprised when they find out that I'm a trained opera singer, and more surprised when they hear me playing heavy metal or deep techno. But they're not mutually exclusive (and I can nerd out on showing the musicological links between, say, Rammstein and Wagner). Genre isn't important. I keep meaning to make more music, whether it's singing or composing, but usually don't have enough time.

My partner and I also have cats, so they force their way into my life as an interest whether I want to or not. But they do enliven meetings...

What are you currently reading/listening to, or what do you recommend?

I'm currently reading Yvon Chouinard's "Let My People Go Surfing" , which is essentially the manifesto for the company Patagonia. Some really interesting business insights in it. I've become terrible at getting through books in a timely fashion, have an ever-growing pile of books to read, and multiple magazine subscriptions (The Economist, HBR, Company Director) that are underutilised. Unfortunately I really struggle with audiobooks as they are too distracting.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

It's probably the advice that I dish out to people in my company, especially new starters:

"Always try to do yourself out of a job."

That may seem counterintuitive, but it's actually really good sense. The world is changing and innovating, and if you're still doing the same thing the same way in five years time then you haven't grown, and you're likely to be behind everyone else. It's better to critically analyse what you do and ask how you can make this easier/quicker/more fun/less boring. If you can do that you'll usually enjoy your work more, and free up time to do the stuff that's less easy to innovate (like deep thinking).

I hate the pervasive idea that new starters lack experience and so need to not question the status quo. I see new starters as having fresh perspectives and potentially more up to date knowledge from being exposed to different systems - they have the most potential to identify and initiate change, so I try to give them license to do so.

Anything else you'd like to tell us?

Don't expect that what your career is like at age 25 will be what your career is like at age 35. The world changes, and so can you. Zach Weinersmith made a great comic on this idea that's worth reading.

Also, we need to address the systematic underemployment of neurodivergent and disabled people (not to mention other marginalised and historically underrepresented groups). The way hiring and retention is done in companies is excluding vast numbers of talented people, and everybody is losing out from it. We can and should do better.