Neurodiversity Could Be Your Productivity Advantage. Lee Explains Why | SHRM '26

[00:00:00] The 20% of our workplace that we know today is neurodivergent, but folks from other generations didn't necessarily get tested. And so when I started work, I didn't understand why I couldn't communicate well with the people in my workplace. I learned that companies who have neurodiverse teams, meaning neurotypical and neurodivergent, have a higher ROI and have 30% more productivity. What are the goals and objectives? How do you break down?

[00:00:30] The goal for them. Because if you can't be clear about what you want, how do you tell them what to give you? So it's how do we do meetings better? How do we listen better? How do we do that first one-on-one better? So that you ask people, what is your style? We're great because we increase your ROI, right? It's not just great because we're great people. We increase your ROI.

[00:01:04] We have Lee Judson here from Bridge to Work Coaching. And Lee has a brand new book out. I do. It came out in October. Okay. Tell us about it.

[00:01:15] So it's a book that helps folks that are leaving college and going into the workplace, but it also helps managers that are onboarding their team who are neurodivergent so that they can understand how to communicate, how to work together, and how to talk to each other so they can advocate for themselves without necessarily disclosing that they're neurodivergent.

[00:01:43] It was 20% of our workplace that we know today is neurodivergent, but folks from other generations didn't necessarily get tested. It wasn't a thing. Well, the test didn't exist. And so I am of Gen X. Mm-hmm. And I found out a year ago. Okay. If I were to get tested for something, I am sure. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. So I knew I was neurodivergent because when my daughter got tested, they said, don't worry, honey, you got it from your mom.

[00:02:13] So you knew right then and there, like, my fault. My fault. My bad. Right. And my husband is a mechanical engineer and my son is autistic. So, you know. Your fault. His fault. His fault. Hold on. Yeah. His fault. And so we knew that there's a different way of talking to people. And so when I started work, I didn't understand why I couldn't communicate well with the people in my workplace. Right. I had friends because birds of a feather flock together. Right.

[00:02:44] But I couldn't understand why I couldn't communicate the workplace. And my husband was struggling as well. And our friends were having similar experiences. And it hasn't gotten any better for this new generation. They are struggling as well. And I think with COVID and now remote work, you're out of sight, out of mind. So it's just as bad or if not worse. So it's how do we do meetings better? How do we listen better?

[00:03:14] How do we do that first one-on-one better? So that you ask people, what is your style? Do you like Slack? Do you like Teams? Do you like text messages? How do we better communicate? Yeah, I see. And I'd be curious to get your thoughts on this in retail stores, like Walmart or something like that, who have a history of hiring people, right? And which is great. But I noticed some of them have headphones on.

[00:03:42] Some of them have earpieces and some of them have like over-the-head headphones. And I can remember one of my kids saying, I don't understand. I can't ask them a question. They don't hear me. And I knew because of what we do, what was going on. But I actually had a hard time explaining it to them. Every brain, you have to be able to explain every brain works differently. Yeah. And so noise-canceling headphones, it doesn't mean that he can't hear you.

[00:04:07] But he's blocking out all the extraneous noise that's there. Yeah. My daughter works in a lab. She keeps a podcast going in her earbuds so she's able to focus on... That's like this guy right here. When I talk to him, he's listening to all the... Look, you're not listening to me, are you? I work in my office all day long and I have movies going in the background.

[00:04:37] And my husband will go, what are you watching? I have no idea. I don't know. See, I'm the opposite on that. I need... I want to have... Like I have an extra monitor that I put the news on, let it run or music. And I find myself distracted by it. And I don't know why I can do it for a little bit. And then I'm like, I can't. Nope. It's usually an old sitcom. It's usually something that is white noise. But he'll go, what are you listening to?

[00:05:06] Golden Girls. I have no idea. Just let it run in the background. Big Bang Theory. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's... I have no idea. He'll be like, what is it? I'm like, I don't know. And so if there's a TV show that he and I want to watch together, I'm like, oh, I think I played that in the background. He's like, so you don't want to watch it? I'm like, oh, no. I have no idea what happened. But I'm like, sure, we can watch it together. So I've got one question on the book.

[00:05:33] In the research for the book, as you're writing the book, what did you find? What did you learn that you weren't really expecting to learn? I learned that companies who have neurodiverse teams, meaning neurotypical and neurodivergent, have a higher ROI and have 30% more productivity because you have a more entrepreneurial team. Well, that's interesting. Okay.

[00:05:59] So now when I look at it and I go, it's great to have us, us meaning, you know, folks like me on a team, right? I always knew we were great. But now when I look at it and I go, we're great because we increase your ROI, right? It's not just great because we're great people. We increase your ROI. So now I think, how do you bring them onto a team? How do you convince folks that these are not the people you want to pick?

[00:06:29] Because when I read the news articles about this new generation coming on board and everybody's like, they don't want to work. They don't want to this. Yeah. They're hard to work with. They're not hard to work with. It's that the generation of managers that are out there don't know how to communicate with them. They're much more dictatorial. They're like, get stuff done. Right. Right. I told you to do X. And they're like, well, I didn't understand what that meant. Right. Right. Well, it meant X. Well, what does X mean? It's nothing in process.

[00:06:59] Should you break it down for me a little bit more? Right. And I don't always know that my manager always understood what X was to break it down. Well, no. Most managers don't. Right. They don't actually know what it is to be able to break it down, let alone be able to communicate. That's sort of their problem. Right. They need to be able to break it down for their staff a little bit in order to give a clear goal. And that's what I talk about in the book. What are the goals and objectives?

[00:07:28] How do you break down the goal for them? Because if you can't be clear about what you want, how do you tell them what to give you? Right. Right. Right. So. All right. What's the name of the book again? Let's give the name of the book again, because I think this is important. Is this the book right here? Bridging the gap. Bridging the gap. Bridging the gap. I know. A field guide for neurodiversity. You can't really see that on the camera. For managers, employees, and colleagues, and anybody wondering, is it just me? And this, is this a bookmark? It is a bookmark.

[00:07:58] I love it. And it's got five tips for working while neurodivergent. Yep. I love it. And it has my website on it. Beautiful. And if you go on my website, there's a freebie on there for onboarding that walks you through tips for employees, how to onboard, and tips for managers for how to onboard. And for employees, it's as simple as, have you gone to Waze? And do you know how to get there? Yeah. And how long it's going to take during traffic. We're going to have to have you back on after Sherm and go through the onboarding process.

[00:08:27] I think there's a lot to talk about. It would be lovely. I'd love to do it. Lee, thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy the rest of your show. I will. Thank you. Bye.