Kia ora Chris,

Thanks for being game enough to come check this out and I’m hoping this page is helpful for you.

It’s meant just for you so whether it is helpful or not, please let me know – it’s a bit of a novel way to try to help you out within MBIE to raise awareness, acceptance and to harness Neurodiversity in the workplace.  I’ve created this page with some links as a starter for helping your people think differently about different thinking …. at least, that’s the subtitle for me next book called Tilt.

Without further ado …

Firstly, here’s a wander through my website so you don’t have to. It’s a quick overview of some things that might pique your interest for a further chat. You’ll note the section on ‘Harnessing Neurodiversity’. But, feel free to skip it – the helpful stuff is further below.

Where to start?

I’m not exactly quiet about being Dyslexic and ADHD+, yet I still devour books – audiobooks. It seems a lot of leaders are only as good as their last book, so here are some of my favourites from the last 12 months that literally speak to my work with diverse thinking groups. I’m really fascinated by the way people think and how they behave when required to ‘think together’, hence the following collection. I’ve tried to find videos about each book so you can get a sneak-peak so as to not waste your time if it’s not your thing.

Check these out:

The title below is a real beauty and covers cognitive diversity by Matthew Syed:

Talking to Strangers – Malcolm Gladwell

The Power of Others – Michael Bond

Upstream – Dan Heath

Heath’s written a couple of other beauties – like Switch - with his brother Chip. They’re quite different characters so compliment each other really well and as a result their books are super-useful in helping leaders hack the systems and behaviours at play in workplace cultures.

PODCASTS

If you find yourself in the mode of listening, here are some of my favourite podcasts which you might like. I like a good long-form interview pod (i.e. a couple of hours) to dip in and out of when driving, but there are some good 20-30min shows too. Check these out:

BTW I listen to podcasts on Spotify (episodes seem to get uploaded earlier than on other platforms) or Stitcher and listen to them on my phone while doing other tasks. Download your App of choice.

Now then ……

On an organisational front, I reckon we’ve made a massive mistake spending the last couple of decades recruiting for cultural fit in many roles and functions that would be better served with a bit more diversity – in particular diversity of thought and thinking (a big hint was in the Rebel Ideas book reference).  So, I’ve developed a few resources for leaders to look at how their people-management processes might be excluded a valuable but hidden cohort of employees.

People Management processes checklist:

Given the numbers game, MBIE undoubtedly has a many neurodiverse staff (and likely some more you don’t necessarily know about - perhaps they themselves don’t either?!). Here’s a simple checklist you might want to have a quick glance at, which I developed to help answer this question:

What might be hindering their entry to, and performance in, your organisation? My own research shows there’s upwards of 20% of entire workplace populations that are forced to hide themselves because they feel different or that they don’t fit in - in effect self-limiting their potential because of fear, shame, stigma or misunderstanding. That’s madness (not mention a complete waste of money and potential). As I mentioned on our panel discussion, a lot of these people initially showed huge potential but then plateaued; others are seen as problem children. Others still flourish - as we discussed, the manager is pivotal and the leader/staff dynamic is crucial.

Speaker reel

Here’s a cheeky video of me speaking ….. just to fill up space.

Whitepapers

Download any of these if they pique your interest:

 Again, if you want me to look into anything for you and post it here, please sing out - we’re here to help!

Take care,
Callum