Dario Nardi

This post shares recent insights from neuroscience, neurodiversity and the ABC TV show, Employable Me, about the importance of valuing cognitive diversity.

Insights from neuroscience and neurodiversity show us there are many ways to approach tasks, teamwork, workplace projects, and recruitment solutions. Valuing cognitive diversity in personality type, cognitive preferences, and brain makeup is an area that has had limited attention in the past. Enlightened workplaces, leaders and human resources practitioners are realizing there is much to be gained from considering these issues and strategies that embrace cognitive diversity.

Recent insights from neuroscience and neurodiversity help inform these approaches. Case studies of job seekers and employer perspectives in the ABC’s Employable Me series also highlight the valuable outcomes when cognitive strengths rather than weaknesses are the focus.

In this post, I share:

• insights from my recent WorkSearch guest post exploring this issue
• learning from neuroscience workshops with UCLA professor and author, Dario Nardi, including the experience of brain-imaging via EEG
• the experience of watching ABC’s Employable Me series and reflecting on jobseeker experiences and employer attitudes.

WorkSearch guest post on cognitive diversity

I’ve recently explored these issues in detail in a guest post over at WorkSearch. In This is how to be more aware of the superior value of neurodiversity in the workplace, I discuss the following:

• difference as a source of strength and heterogeneity in the workforce as a value to be embraced rather than a challenge to be overcome;
• the value of cognitively diverse and inclusive workplaces;
• insights from neuroscience about the value of recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of different cognitive functions;
• insights from neurodiversity about valuing the diversity of different brain types and the special gifts they can bring;
• some of the ways diversity based on personality and cognitive preference can work for us and for organizations; and
• ways to identify your “team’s brain” to see the natural cognitive terrain it covers and whether it is diverse or not.

Here is the article – so head over to WorkSearch and have a read. Welcome your thoughts and feedback here!

This Is How To Be More Aware Of The Superior Value Of Neurodiversity In The Workplace

Learnings from neuroscience workshops with Dr Dario Nardi

I had the pleasure of attending two workshops with award-winning UCLA professor and author, Dario Nardi, as part of the proceedings of the Australian Association for Psychological Type Conference in Sydney in October 2017. Dario Nardi’s work focuses on the neuroscience of personality and using brain imaging via EEG technology to see how the brain works as it undertakes different activities. I had the opportunity to see brain imaging in action and also to undergo my own brain imaging session. Here is a picture of my brain in action!

The EEG and aligned computer analysis help to show the relationship between the brain and tasks. It shows the brain regions that link together as networks and which regions of the brain we favour. The research also shows the links between brain activity and personality type, especially the eight cognitive functions described by Carl Jung in the 1920’s.

It’s fascinating to see how the rich framework that Jung developed on the basis of conversations with patients is now borne out in ways we can directly observe via technology.

As Dario Nardi says in his book, Our Brains in Colour:

The brain is like an orchestra that usually plays our favourite songs.

Through the workshops, we worked to identify:

• the regions of the brain we personally rely on most
• how this links to personality type and cognitive preferences
• cognitive diversity within our workshop group and different ways to process information
• insights from learning other ways to process information
• brain-savvy coaching approaches for ourselves and others to embrace cognitive diversity
• the value of drawing on non-preferences to strengthen cognitive resources and new habits
• how we can ‘prime’ ourselves to learn new ways of extending into unfamiliar cognitive areas
• how this conscious development of cognitive diversity is a form of self-leadership.

The value of cognitive diversity in workplace approaches

An underlying theme in all of this is the value of cognitive diversity. A driving issue for me based on my own workplace experiences is that a focus on the neurotypical or dominant paradigm can disadvantage some people.

An example is the typical approaches to recruitment and talent acquisition that favour interviews as a dominant mode of selection. As any introvert knows, this type of approach is unlikely to bring out the best in them as an applicant. In two posts for WorkSearch, I’ve explored this issue from the perspective of both applicants and recruiters:

How to make the most of the right recruitment opportunities as an introvert

This is what happens when recruiters make inclusion mistakes (and how to avoid it)

In these pieces, I’ve encouraged a more inclusive approach to recruitment processes to enable all people to bring their best skills to bear. This also means recruiters are more likely to get the best person for the job without the recruitment process itself being a barrier or filter.

Neurodiversity and perspectives from Employable Me

It’s been fascinating to watch the first two episodes of the ABC’s excellent Employable Me series in this light. This series focuses on job seekers with disabilities and how they seek to show their capabilities. It follows people with neuro-diverse conditions such as autism, OCD & Tourette syndrome in their search for meaningful work. Drawing on science and insights from experts, the extraordinary and unique skills of the job seekers are explored.

It makes insightful viewing as the jobseekers’ deeper strengths are identified and as they seek to find a place in society where they can contribute. This is enhanced by employers taking an approach that values the individual and diversity. It means looking at options like removing barriers such as irrelevant interviews in favour of the hands-on demonstration of skills.

With the support of workplaces and employers that value cognitive diversity, the job seekers showcase their exceptional skills. This includes incredible short-term memory skills such as remembering 15 random words in sequence after hearing them once, forensic ability to identify errors in computer games coding and encyclopaedic geographical knowledge. Matching these outstanding skills to the right workplace means working positively through potential barriers.

It was refreshing to hear job seeker Tim’s new employer say that a number of their computer games analysts are autistic as they have a special gift for the task. Fabulous also that as an employer they have shifted from interviews to the practical demonstration of skills. This is because interviews are not helpful for understanding the strengths of job seekers with autism. Job seeker Tim, who found it incredibly hard to travel to work because of the practical and sensory challenges, can do this work from home.

More than one way to do it

As Larry Wall, creator of the Perl open software program, quoted in Steve Silberman’s history of autism, Neurotribes says:

There is more than one way to do it.

This has been my learning as I have taken a deeper dive into cognitive diversity from a neuroscience and neurodiversity perspective. It’s easy to think our way is the best or the only way. Easy also to view traditional approaches to problems or situations as the only options.

I have found from these experiences that being open to cognitive diversity in ourselves and in others can be:

• a form of personal growth and self-leadership
• an insight into our strengths and gifts and those of others
• a way of developing our non-preferred cognitive functions so we can be more well-rounded
• a way of being more open-hearted and mindful of the skills and experiences of others
• a deeper way to see our interactions, teams and workplaces as rich sources of cognitive and interpersonal learning.

This enables us and others to contribute more fully to society as we personally grow and develop. And this means richer and more cognitively diverse experiences and outcomes for us all.

I hope you enjoy the insights from reading this piece and also the links within it. I look forward to sharing my deep-dive personality type offerings with you soon to enrich your self-knowledge and cognitive diversity.

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