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Neurodiversity in the workplace isn’t an accommodation issue.

It’s a design issue.

Paula Brockwell returns to The Elephant in the Org — following her Season 1 appearance, which remains one of our most downloaded episodes — to go deeper into the structural realities of neurodiversity at work.

In this conversation, we move beyond awareness and compliance to examine workplace architecture itself.

If your neurodivergent employees are masking, burning out, or underperforming, the issue is rarely capability.

It’s rigid processes.
It’s behavioural conformity.
It’s systems optimised for predictability instead of outcomes.

We explore:

• Why “reasonable adjustments” are tolerance — not enablement
• How workplace systems unintentionally create disability
• The cost of masking for neurodivergent employees
• Why outcome-based management improves psychological safety
• How inclusive workplace design drives retention and performance

This episode is a practical, systems-level conversation about neurodiversity in the workplace, inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and employee experience.

If you lead teams or design organisational systems, this conversation will stretch you.

—

About Paula Brockwell

Paula Brockwell is an organisational psychologist and founder of The Employee Experience Project, where she helps organisations redesign work to support neurodiversity, psychological safety, and high performance.

Connect with Paula:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulabrockwell/

The Employee Experience Project: https://theexproject.com

If you missed her original appearance in Season 1 (one of our most downloaded episodes), it’s worth revisiting after this conversation.

📩 Got a hot take or a workplace horror story? Email us at elephant@thefearlesspx.com

🚀 Your Hosts on LinkedIn

• 🐘 Marion Anderson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionandersonpx
  
  
• 🐘 Danny Gluch — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgluch
  
  
• 🐘 Cacha Dora — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachadora
  
  

💬 Like what you hear?
Follow/subscribe so you don’t miss an episode — and if this one hit home, leave a ★★★★★ review to help more people find the show.

🎙️ About the Show
The Elephant in the Org drops new episodes every two weeks starting April 2024 — fearless conversations about leadership, psychological safety, and the future of work.

🎵 Music & Production Credits
🎶 Opening and closing theme music by The Toros
🎙️ Produced by The Fearless PX
✂️ Edited by Marion Anderson

⚠️ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations' official policy or position.

Topics: employee surveys, listening culture, trust, people analytics, psychological safety, employee voice, ...

Send us Fan Mail

Your team isn’t maybe neurodivergent.
It already is.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tara May, CEO of Aspiritech, to explore what it actually looks like to design workplaces that are welcoming by default—not just compliant when someone asks for help.

Tara leads a tech services company where more than 90% of the workforce is autistic, and she brings a deeply practical perspective on psychological safety, workplace design, return-to-office policies, and the real ROI of kindness.

This is not a conversation about awareness.
It’s about systems, trust, choice, and why most organisations are already behind the reality of their workforce.

If your organisation is redesigning offices, mandating returns, or struggling with retention and engagement—this episode matters.

Key takeaway:
Neurodivergence isn’t an edge case. It’s a design reality.

👤 About Our Guest

Tara May is CEO of Aspiritech, a mission-driven tech services company creating meaningful employment for autistic adults while delivering high-quality QA testing, accessibility testing, and data services. She is a recognised leader in the neurodiversity-at-work movement, serving as Co-Director of Neurowrx and on the strategic committee for HAAPE, advocating for neurodiversity and employment nationally and internationally.

With more than two decades of experience leading large-scale digital and cultural transformations across media and technology, Tara brings a rare combination of business rigour and human-centred leadership. She is also a parent of an autistic child and a vocal champion of the belief that when people thrive, business growth follows.

Aspiritech

Tara May (LinkedIn)

Link to Show Notes

📩 Got a hot take or a workplace horror story? Email us at elephant@thefearlesspx.com

🚀 Your Hosts on LinkedIn

• 🐘 Marion Anderson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionandersonpx
  
  
• 🐘 Danny Gluch — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgluch
  
  
• 🐘 Cacha Dora — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachadora
  
  

💬 Like what you hear?
Follow/subscribe so you don’t miss an episode — and if this one hit home, leave a ★★★★★ review to help more people find the show.

🎙️ About the Show
The Elephant in the Org drops new episodes every two weeks starting April 2024 — fearless conversations about leadership, psychological safety, and the future of work.

🎵 Music & Production Credits
🎶 Opening and closing theme music by The Toros
🎙️ Produced by The Fearless PX
✂️ Edited by Marion Anderson

⚠️ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations' official policy or position.

Topics: employee surveys, listening culture, trust, people analytics, psychological safety, employee voice, ...

Send us Fan Mail

We say we want innovation.
We reward compliance.
And then we wonder why nothing changes.

In this episode of The Elephant in the Org, we dig into a quiet but damaging contradiction inside modern organisations: the employees leaders like most are often the least innovative.

Our guest, Mark Murphy—New York Times bestselling author, Forbes senior contributor, and founder of Leadership IQ—shares research showing how “dependable,” low-friction behaviour gets mistaken for high performance, while challenge, dissent, and original thinking are subtly discouraged.

This conversation isn’t about bad managers or difficult employees. It’s about systems, incentives, and the unintended consequences of prioritising harmony over progress.

We explore:

• Why compliance often gets rewarded as “performance”
• How toxic harmony quietly shuts down innovation
• The structural pressure middle managers face around risk
• Why psychological safety doesn’t happen by accident
• How meeting design determines who gets heard—and who doesn’t
• Practical ways leaders can surface better thinking without chaos

If your organisation talks a big game about innovation but struggles to hear uncomfortable ideas, this episode will hit close to home.

About Our Guest

Mark Murphy is a New York Times bestselling author, Forbes senior contributor, and founder of Leadership IQ. His research on leadership, performance, and team dynamics has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Washington Post. Mark has advised organisations ranging from Harvard Business School to the United Nations and is the author of Team Players, Hiring for Attitude, Hundred Percenters, and HARD Goals.

🔗 Leadership IQ: https://www.leadershipiq.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markamurphy/

Link to Show notes

📩 Got a hot take or a workplace horror story? Email us at elephant@thefearlesspx.com

🚀 Your Hosts on LinkedIn

• 🐘 Marion Anderson — https://www.linkedin.com/in/marionandersonpx
  
  
• 🐘 Danny Gluch — https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgluch
  
  
• 🐘 Cacha Dora — https://www.linkedin.com/in/cachadora
  
  

💬 Like what you hear?
Follow/subscribe so you don’t miss an episode — and if this one hit home, leave a ★★★★★ review to help more people find the show.

🎙️ About the Show
The Elephant in the Org drops new episodes every two weeks starting April 2024 — fearless conversations about leadership, psychological safety, and the future of work.

🎵 Music & Production Credits
🎶 Opening and closing theme music by The Toros
🎙️ Produced by The Fearless PX
✂️ Edited by Marion Anderson

⚠️ Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily reflect any affiliated organizations' official policy or position.

Topics: employee surveys, listening culture, trust, people analytics, psychological safety, employee voice, ...