Line Managers: The Key to Neuroinclusion
An estimated one in seven adults in the UK is neurodivergent. Most organisations now recognise the value that different ways of thinking bring to a team. Yet good intentions don’t always translate into a workplace where neurodivergent employees can thrive. A new report from Brain in Hand, Neuroinclusion in Practice* published with TrainingZone, explores where support breaks down. Its conclusion will be familiar to anyone who has read my earlier article on
management training and neuroinclusive workplaces
. Line managers sit at the centre of whether neuroinclusion works in practice. In this article, I want to share what stood out for me and what organisations can do about it.
Why Line Managers Matter Most
The report found that 75% of organisations are concerned that line managers feel overwhelmed by the complexity of supporting neurodivergent staff. Yet only 15% of employers named manager training as their main priority going forward, and it remains one of the least commonly adopted neuroinclusion practices. That’s striking when a third of the neurodivergent employees in the report’s diary study ranked a supportive line manager as the single most important part of a neuroinclusive workplace.
That doesn’t surprise me. When I deliver Neurodiversity in the Workplace training, the managers in the room almost always want to do the right thing. What they lack is confidence. They worry about saying the wrong thing, asking an intrusive question or getting an adjustment wrong.
Yet line managers are the people who make neuroinclusion happen day to day. They agree reasonable adjustments, plan workloads and run one-to-ones. They notice when something isn’t working and they set the tone for how the rest of the team responds. A well-written Diversity Policy is important, but it is the everyday interactions with a manager that decide whether someone feels supported.
When managers are left to work it out alone, alongside every other pressure of the role, overwhelm is the predictable result.
The Disclosure Gap
The statistic that has stayed with me most is this. 84% of senior HR professionals agree that some neurodivergent staff choose not to disclose because they fear being judged or don’t feel supported. When people don’t feel safe to share, they don’t ask for the support that would help them. Instead, they mask, they push through and they exhaust themselves trying to fit a one-size-fits-all approach. Some will quietly leave, and the organisation never learns why.
The report makes an important point here. Disclosure only helps when it is followed by effective support. Encouraging people to share, without the follow-through, can leave them more vulnerable rather than less. That puts the manager’s response at the heart of it. This is where psychological safety becomes essential. Team members need to know that sharing what they need will be met with curiosity rather than assumptions.
It’s also worth repeating that nobody needs a formal diagnosis, or to disclose one, to request a reasonable adjustment. Asking for information in writing, a quieter desk or questions in advance of a meeting is no different to requesting a wrist rest or back support. Universal policies, such as flexible working and workstation assessments, mean everyone can ask without having to explain themselves.
What Closes the Gap?
The report found that effective neuroinclusion needs action at three levels at once, and that most organisations only address one or two of them consistently. Here is what each level involves, and how I see it in practice.
- Support for the individual. Neurodivergent employees need practical, personalised support and a safe way to communicate what they need. Useful tools such as wellbeing passports and ‘Working With Me’ documents, which work best when they are voluntary and owned by the employee. Two people with the same diagnosis can need very different things, so the starting point is always a conversation.
- Capability for managers. Awareness alone isn’t enough. Managers need practical, scenario-based training, specific preparation for disclosure conversations and somewhere to turn when they’re unsure. The neurodivergent employees in the diary study described good management as a set of behaviours: adapting style to the individual, avoiding micromanagement, being proactive, following through on agreed adjustments and creating psychological safety. These are skills that can be learned and practised.
- Consistent systems. The support someone receives shouldn’t depend on which manager they happen to have. The organisations in the report’s case studies introduced central budgets for reasonable adjustments, cross-functional working groups and neuroinclusion built into onboarding, learning and appraisals. In one charity, support requests that had taken months were being fulfilled within days.
The report also highlights a perception gap – 41% of senior HR professionals described their organisation’s support for neurodivergent employees as fully sufficient, compared with only 31% of neurodivergent employees in earlier research. If you’re responsible for manager development, the full report and its ten recommendations are well worth a read.
Training Is the Start, Not the Finish
I’ve long believed that training only delivers value when it’s applied. A manager can leave a neurodiversity session with a notebook full of ideas, then return to a full inbox and the same pressures as before. That’s why I recommend pairing training with ongoing support. A few one-to-one coaching sessions give a manager space to talk through a real situation, plan a conversation and reflect on how it went. It is often this follow-up that turns awareness into confident, everyday practice.
The report makes the same case. It recommends pairing manager training with ongoing, in-the-moment support, because training fades quickly and rarely covers the exact situation a manager is facing. Without somewhere to turn, managers tend to avoid or delay the conversation.
Organisations also need to recognise that leading a neurodiverse team may require more time and resources. If we want managers to carry this responsibility well, we need to make sure they are supported to do it.
Become a Specialist Neurodiversity Coach
The report’s message is clear. Neurodivergent employees and their managers both need practical, personalised support that goes beyond awareness. Coaching is one of the most effective ways to provide it, but only when the coach knows how to adapt their approach to the person in front of them.
That’s why I created my Specialist Neurodiversity Coaching Certification. It’s built for practising coaches, whether you work independently or as an internal coach within an organisation. You’ll already have the coaching skills. This is about knowing when and how to flex them, through five immersive days of practice, feedback and assessment rather than theory.
The certification will help you to:
- adapt your coaching models, tools and communication to the individual
- work with confidence when coaching neurodivergent clients
- practise new approaches with honest feedback in a small group
- add a specialism that organisations are increasingly looking for
The founding cohort began in November and the next cohort runs in Spring 2027.
Numbers are deliberately small, so everyone gets proper attention. Register your interest or call 07775 624724.
If you’re looking for neurodiversity training or coaching for your managers, I also offer CPD-accredited Neurodiversity in the Workplace training
Email: info@suegarner.co.uk to find out more.
*Neuroinclusion in Practice report, Brain in Hand