Embracing neurodiversity in the workplace not only benefits neurodiverse individuals, but creates a more inclusive, flexible, and productive environment for everyone. By understanding and acknowledging different strengths and needs, we can reshape jobs and work cultures to foster a sense of belonging and joy, leading to more effective organisations.

Ludmila Praslova is an organisational psychologist at Vanguard University in Southern California. Her work focuses on embracing neurodiversity in the workplace and promoting a more inclusive, flexible, and productive environment for everyone. She champions the idea of understanding and acknowledging different strengths and needs to foster a sense of belonging and joy in workplace settings.

1. Create flexible social environments that allow people to connect in ways that work for them.
2. Adapt work schedules, information sharing, and learning opportunities to suit individual cognitive strengths.
3. Encourage a non-judgmental environment where people feel comfortable expressing their feelings without fear of criticism or misunderstanding.
4. Cater to individual physical and sensory needs, like temperature preferences, noise levels, and work locations.

• Connect with Ludmila via LinkedIn
• The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work – Ludmila’s book
• Liberating Structures Immersion Workshop

Going from startup to scale-up takes strategic planning and insight, along with a real understanding of employee happiness. Plus, crafting great job descriptions and letting people make their own decisions once they’re in a role are key to developing a team of A players.

Dominic Monkhouse has a distinguished career in scaling up businesses, especially within the IT sector. He successfully built two web hosting businesses from 0 to £30,000,000 within 5 years, and is an author of two books that demonstrate his insight and experience in business growth and people management.

1. Hire great people
2. Show them the destination
3. Get out of the way so they can do their best work

• The Melting Pot – Dominic’s podcast
• Connect with Dominic via LinkedIn
• Mind Your F**King Business: The No-Nonsense Guide to Making Your Good Business Great – Dominic’s book
• The Founder's Survival Guide: Lead your business from start-up to scale-up to grown-up, by Rachel Turner
• The Jolt Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision, by Matthew Dixon
• Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude, by Mark Murphy
• Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down, by Vineet Nayar

Employee happiness makes a big contribution to a company's success, as can self-management. But how do you know what’s really working, driving the business forwards, and helping it meet its targets?

This week's guest is Pieter Jelle de Brue, founder of digital agency Statik, a company that values employee happiness and has adopted a self-managing structure with multiple autonomous teams. They’re continuing to grow and evolve, and one of the metrics they’re currently conducting an experiment to find out if what people say about employee happiness really does have a measurable impact on a company’s bottom line.

• Trust people to organise themselves when the purpose and goals are clear
• Run small experiments to continuously evolve and improve
• Value employee happiness as a measure of success

• 2024 Happy Workplaces Conference
• Connect with Pieter via LinkedIn
• Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness, by Frederic Laloux