Neurodiversity 101: Building a talent pipeline for innovation in academic and educational settings
Prof. Amanda Kirby MBBS MRCGP PhD FCGI
Honorary/Emeritus Professor; Doctor | PhD, Multi award winning;Neurodivergent; CEO of tech/good company
In the past I have spoken about how to create neuroinclusuve workplaces and what we need to consider if we want to create the leaders of tomorrow. But as a cross breed- academic, researcher, and tech entrepreneur running a business, I think I can take some learning from each of these settings to discuss how we can all learn more how we can create innovative academic settings.
I have certainly had a 'squiggly career". I became a professor and then did my PhD.. not a traditional pathway. My Dad was the first person in his family ever to go to university and became a professor in Anaesthetics, and an internationally recognised leader in his field.He had to hand write his research papers as he could never type and his writing was impossible for anyone else to read! We both discussed in the past how we had been fortunate to have mentors who had provided us with opportunities and the settings to allow us to thrive.
I believe strongly that intrapreneurship is as important as entrepreneurship to drive innovation in our organisations and we need to especially consider this in educational and research settings.
"Intrapreneurship is a system within an organisation that allows employees to act like entrepreneurs by developing innovative ideas and products or services. Intrapreneurs are often self-motivated, proactive, and action-oriented, and they may think and act differently than other employees."
What stops neurodivergent academics and researchers thrive and become our next leaders?
I recently wrote about neurodiversity and leadership but wanted to focus this time more on universities and research settings.
Universities often base promotions on traditional markers of success, such as publication records, administrative leadership, and teaching evaluations. While these metrics have value, they can inadvertently exclude significant contributors, particularly those whose strengths lie outside conventional academic expectations. They can result in stifling creativity and intrapreneurship qualities.
Below are key groups of people who may be overlooked under this approach:
Who do we lose with this approach?
As it happens these are the leaders we hear spoken about by Leinwand et al in the Harvard Business Review in 2022(https://hbr.org/2022/01/reinventing-your-leadership-team) about reinventing your leadership team.
Expanding criteria to include alternative progression paths
If we are to create a more inclusive and effective academic environment, promotion criteria should be expanded to acknowledge innovative research, technological integration, and curriculum development.
This shift would provide neurodivergent academics and other non-traditional contributors with alternative paths for advancement. It also means we need to reconsider current metrics in students as well as our people working within the organisations.
Below are some approaches to achieve this:
Step outside and learn..
If we look to hugely successful companies like Apple, Meta, Google, and Microsoft I wonder if we can consider what are their successful themes and see how these could be relevant to research and academic settings too and also having an added dimension which is considering this through a neuroinclusive lens. This is important as it is not an accident that Zuckerberg who has described himself as 'mildly autistic'; Bill Gates described himself having Dyslexia and ADHD; and Steve Jobs was also diagnosed with Dyslexia.These companies also have many neurodivergent people working in them including some of their leaders.
Stepping up or falling down?
The challenge comes when we are doing well we then and progress in an organisation we are expected to take on roles such as management positions that don't always fit with the skills that we has been doing well in. Ironically this was the reason someone thought we should progress. We then are expected to be good communicators ( which may have had nothing to do with our previous job), sit in long meetings( something that may be hard for some people to maintain focus) or even present to others ( when previously this was not a part of the job description or skill set at all!). This can also often mean an increasing need to mask to fit into these current structures and practices leading to an added layer of stress.
Faltering steps can sometimes result loss of confidence, lack of competence and people getting 'stuck' in the middle and not progressing and thriving to become leaders.We can e see a glass ceiling occurring (with a view from others that says 'never again' reducing the chance for others to progress). Alternatively, we can get stuck in middle management,'burn out' or quietly quit the organisation all together. This can have a damaging impact on the person and stifle their true potential. Some, if lucky, will find an entrepreneurial route to success with fewer restrictions on how, where and when to work and enable them to be their 'authentic self'.
领英推荐
So what do some of these organisations they do?
What do the companies do and how could this be translated into academic, research, training settings for neurodiversity to thrive?
1. Innovation and continuous learning:
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit" — Harry S Truman
2. Data-driven decision making:
3. Talent acquisition and development:
4. Scalability and flexibility:
5. Strategic partnerships and ecosystems:
"Cross-boundary teaming, within and across organizations, is an increasingly popular strategy for innovation.In a growing number of cases, teams span organizational boundaries, not just functional ones, to pursue innovation".Amy Edmondson
6. User-centric approaches:
Blog author
I am the CEO of Do-IT Solutions, a tech-for-good company, and a Professor in the field of Neurodiversity.
Do-IT provides web-based tools to help understand neurodiverse spiky profiles and help with wellbeing as well as undertaking training and consultancy with organizations.
I come from a very neurodivergent pathway that has found different routes to leadership positions.
*Views are all my own!
OK Bo?tjan Dolin?ek
Teacher ESE / English at Pace Center for Girls
3 周Love this
re Innovation Higher Education 1980s and now: Managing innovation/intrapreneurship in Higher Education is a really complex political skill. Whereas the environment in the 1980s was challenging but not impossible, for those prepared to make the sacrifices, the reports of trying to follow one's bent and to innovate to meet the needs affecting one's discipline today are universally negative. 'Enterprise Culture' has captured the sector, managers make the decisions and funding follows those decisions. The needs these decisions meet are resource-related: more funding, fewer cuts, etc. This is a toxic ecology, for authentic innovation. Even the most outstanding figures in their field - if they can afford to - leave/get pushed. E.g. Marina Warner, Why I left the University London Review of Books https://www.lrb.co.uk 11 Sept 2014 Amanda, you are to be congratulated on your achievements, which are undeniable. What I feel is missing from most of your accounts is how natural selection, the logic of survival, operates in academic institutions. From what one hears, it's no different from any other jungle. Desmond Ryan
2). There were 4-5 interesting exceptions that proved the rule. These were the ones that grew so fast that they were impossible to keep under the control of one/a few innovators in a single department. They so neatly hit the spot of market need that they were rapidly inflated to key status and value in their industry/profession. The Helicopter Underwater Escape Training centre in Aberdeen was developed by a team in Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology. It was rewarded by such a large surge in demand that it became impossible to keep the activity in-house and it was spun out to become an independent unit, now part of a global firm. The second example was the Hazardous Cargo Handling Unit at Leith Nautical College. While being flown around the world as consultants to the global enerby companies handling LPG tankers, they were still subject to the Scottish Office's accounting rules, e.g. "Every pencil..., etc. They too were spun out and are now part of The Centre for Maritime & Industrial Safety Technology Limited, based on Heriot-Watt Campus. Managing innovation/intrapreneurship in Higher Education is a really complex political skill. Whereas the environment in the 1980s was challenging but not impossible, (to be concl.
Hi Amanda, a note on innovating in universities. In 1981-84 I did some research, sponsored by the then Department of Education of the Scottish Executive, on how to increase the amount of innovation in teaching methods. I interviewed about 100 HE teachers in the non-university HE sector (all institutions are now part of universities). Re factors affecting success, the two most relevant to you were these: 1). The successful innovator kept control of the innovation, primarily to stop the innovation spilling over into the work-sphere of colleagues, who refused to take on extra burdens unless it was recognised by management. This provided a natural inhibitor to innovations - Truman's adage could be extended: "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you make sure that you do all the work AND take all the blame." Very few innovators found their careers much advanced by their innovation. And very few innovations spread (or survived) beyond the point where they were under the management of the originator. And in some cases I discovered significant innovations that college managements did not know about. 2). There were some interesting exceptions that proved the rule. (contd. in another comment.)