Make your higher education meetings neurodivergent-friendly

Anyone who has worked in higher education will know that meetings are a core part of the day-to-day job. From team stand-ups and planning meetings to committee meetings and supervision sessions, it is nearly impossible to avoid the need to meet with colleagues and managers. Indeed, collaboration and teamwork are at the heart of many roles within higher education and a prerequisite of required skills within job descriptions. 

However, some neurodivergent staff struggle to engage with meeting formats in a neurotypical world. In the UK, 51 per cent of neurodivergent employees reported that they did not receive consistent and effective support to engage in the work environment, in a recent survey. 

If this is not addressed, it could limit the voices of neurodivergent employees in key meetings, or stifle them for good.

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Here, I’ll explore the challenges faced by neurodivergent employees in meetings in higher education settings and offer meeting chairs, managers and organisers a series of solutions to make your meetings neurodivergent-friendly. Many of these solutions will benefit all those attending meetings.

Agendas and timings

Neurodivergence can impact executive functioning, meaning it may take a neurodivergent employee longer to absorb and process information. Provide agendas in advance and stick to timings as much as possible to support neurodivergent employees to prepare. This is especially important when they need to speak to an agenda item or contribute to a discussion. 

Neurodivergence can also impact on short-term memory, so it can be helpful to ask the neurodivergent employee to make bullet points or brief notes or prompts of the key points they need to make. 

Breaks

Rest, however brief, is an opportunity to get the best out of neurodivergent employees. Breaks during longer meetings are advantageous to all employees, but particularly for those with neurodivergence. A break provides time to gather thoughts and process the information provided during the meeting. 

Keeping on topic

Some neurodivergent employees, particularly those with autism or ADHD (or both), may find it difficult to stay on topic during meetings. Talking at length in great detail about a subject, speaking quickly while jumping from topic to topic, interrupting others and difficulties following a discussion are all obstacles which neurodivergent employees may have to navigate. 

As with agendas, providing or supporting the staff member to create written talking points or prompts can be helpful to keep on topic. Alongside this, it can be helpful to manage who is speaking (such as a “hands up” feature online) and gently moving discussions along where they’ve moved off topic. It can be useful to give a heads-up before a neurodivergent employee is due to speak – for example: “[colleague name], I am coming to your item/going to ask for your thoughts in 10 minutes.”

Time to prepare   

Having time to prepare for meetings can be invaluable to neurodivergent employees, who may find “the unknown” difficult to manage and anxiety-provoking. We can’t always avoid last-minute meetings, but where possible, give adequate notice of meetings, what they are about and who is expected to speak. Supervisions, as with other meetings, should follow an agenda, however rough, with the employee being given the opportunity to add their own talking points. 

Minimising distractions

Mobile phones, instant messenger applications like Teams and Slack and other notifications can cause distraction and sensory overload, preventing neurodivergent employees from focusing on meetings. Where possible, encourage staff to mute notifications during meetings. 

Consider the environment your in-person meeting is taking place in. What is the temperature like? Are there any lights, sounds or smells that could create sensory overload? Creating a comfortable environment supports all attendees.

The cameras on/cameras off debate

Should cameras be on or off during online or hybrid meetings? Some neurodivergent employees find that seeing themselves on screen is distracting or creates anxiety. There’s no hard and fast rule to this, but it’s worth considering whether cameras really need to be on in the meeting. Of course, sometimes it is vital for cameras to be on – for example, when a person is speaking or introducing themselves to a meeting, so this is ultimately a judgement call.

Seeking feedback

You should seek feedback from neurodivergent employees on how meetings are run – their insight may be invaluable. Bear in mind that generic “rules”, niceties and guidelines for meetings may be rooted in the neurotypical world. Negotiating and using your creativity can be key here, supporting neurodivergent employees to meet the key expectations of meetings and supervisions in a way that is mutually beneficial.

Neurodivergent employees in higher education should be supported to fully engage with meetings, with obstacles to engagement removed or reduced as far as is reasonably possible. Every voice counts and these suggestions could make all the difference between a productive meeting and a meeting someone dreads to attend.

Jamie Wilde is a research inclusion manager at the University of Southampton.

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