An argument for neurodivergent product teams
How hiring and supporting neurodivergent individuals can help to build better products and teams.
About 1 in 4 adults have a diagnosable mental disorder or “neurodivergence.” While the exact definition of neurodivergence can vary depending on who you ask, generally, it can be defined as any variation from “normal” mental functioning. To some, it can represent those with sensory processing issues, like Autism and ADHD, to others, it encompasses all mental health diagnoses from Depression to Schizophrenia to BPD.
Diversity in hiring
Regardless of your exact definition of the word, one thing is indisputable: with up to 1 in 4 adults falling into the neurodivergent umbrella term, people who fall outside the social norm exist, and you’re likely to have worked with (or are soon to work with) a neurodivergent person. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’s Job Outlook 2021 report, 90% of companies are seeking more diverse hiring strategies. 46.5% of companies are looking to hire disabled workers, which includes many neurodivergent populations.
Statistics like these, as well as equal opportunity hiring questions on applications, can scare some people away — after all, if we’re trying to hire people more fairly and independent of their identity, why do we ask? The truth is that you’re not going to get denied a job if you select male, Caucasian, straight, and not disabled. The same is (hopefully) true if you select non-binary, Native American, queer, and disabled. These statistics aren’t meant to be paired 1:1 with the rest of your application data and should not be used to weed out applicants.
“No matter what, NO ONE should ever be looking at your demographic information prior to selecting you for an interview, interviewing you, or hiring you.”
Rather, equal opportunity employment statistics act as a benchmark for companies to make informed recruitment decisions in the future: it identifies how diverse an incoming applicant pool is, and what percentage of minority groups are moving on to further rounds. If it is identified that 50% of applicants are POC, but only 10% of POC move on to an interview, the hiring team should step back and re-examine their hiring practices.
How neurodivergent people build better products
Aside from having appealing statistics and contributing to subjective social good, what’s the point of having a diverse product team? There are multiple reasons to hire neurodivergent people on your team:
- Diversity of any kind on a product team can help to account for more user perspectives. By creating a team with multiple perspectives at the table — including diversity in race, sexuality, gender, (dis)ability, experience, education, and neurodivergence — you start to represent more of the general population on your internal team. These perspectives can be leveraged to build better products from the start, rather than waiting until late-stage user testing to find that a group of people is negatively affected by your product.
- Diverse ways of thinking continuously push your product. If you sit down in a room with all like-minded people with similar backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, you’re setting yourself up for a really boring conversation and a sub-par output. By diversifying your product team, you’re openly inviting the challenge and collaboration that breaks teams out of echo chambers and pushes them towards more unique and well-defined solutions.
- Neurodiversity can act as a personal superpower. While yes, many neurodivergent people require accommodations, many times these accommodations are minimal and are far outweighed by the value they can present to their teams. People with ADHD, for example, might request written summaries of meetings and present massive value to teams by using their fast-moving brains to imagine entire user journey simulations in the blink of an eye. People on the Autism spectrum might prefer headphones to block out ambient noise and provide incredible amounts of skill, passion, and focus to any job that appeals to their special interests. Neurodivergent people aren’t just unique in their perspective — they present skillsets neurotypical can’t.
“You’re not hiring neurodiverse people as a charitable act; you’re hiring them because if you’re not, you’re leaving money on the table.”
How you can support neurodivergent coworkers
If you haven’t already worked with an openly neurodivergent person, I have good news for you — one of the greatest things you can do is to treat your neurodivergent coworkers like humans. We aren’t looking to be babied, to be belittled, or to be doubted. Just like anyone else, when we think about interpersonal relationships, we’re usually just seeking people who are willing to take time to stop and understand who we are. Like anyone else, we want to work with people who have and use empathy.
Another great tool for building relationships with your neurodivergent coworkers is to talk with them (and not just about the weather). A lot of times, our neurodiversity makes us interesting, and we’d love to share our interests with you! Additionally, most neurodivergent people encourage others to just ask if they have a question about their divergence or disability. We’re usually much happier to explain to you why we wear headphones in meetings than we are to hear that you’ve been talking about us behind our backs.
Finally, as you understand your neurodivergent coworkers, we ask that you grant us flexibility. A lot of times, our asks and accommodations aren’t that big and rely more on other’s open-mindedness than it does an actual change to anyone else’s day-to-day operations. When neurodivergent people are given the space to thrive, we tend to do so with flying colors.
I’m a product leader who partners with startup teams to help define their path to product success through sustainable, innovative, and empowering product strategies. I extend my passion through coaching and consultation services to build skills, processes, and products, applying my knowledge proven by dozens of launches and product awards. Let’s talk — you can reach out via my website or LinkedIn profile.
