Event Horizons & Executive Function: Designing for the Neurodivergent Workforce
I was driving home from a meeting when I suddenly remembered two things I needed to do when I got home. They were both small, but important tasks I had forgotten to do and needed doing soon. Panic started to sink in, between me and the paper and pen on my desk were four transitions, four doorways and thus four times I could easily lose these tasks from my working memory. That doesn’t include the risk of someone trying to talk to me as I came through the door to the house. I frantically began repeating each task in a few words tapping my index finger with my thumb, resting my hand on the steering wheel, for one and my middle finger with my thumb for the other. Over and over, for the last several kilometres of the trip. When I parked, I launched myself out of the car, through the gate, through the front door, scrambling for my bedroom door key and through the final doorway towards my desk, relief rushing through me as I made a note on my desk notepad. I should probably set up voice activated note recording on my phone.
Does this sound familiar to you, or is it a bizarre scene from where you are reading this? I suspect other neurodivergent folk, anyone with cognitive disability, will see themselves in this situation. If not remembering tasks, then some similar difficulty and strategy to match. But what is going on here? Radvansky et al. (2011) established the “Event Horizon Effect” in their paper “Walking through doorways causes forgetting”. While this is something anyone can experience from time to time, a neurodivergent person may really struggle. I can be seen walking back and forth through doorways from time to time, collecting the memory I dropped then repeating it under my breath to “carry” it through with me.
In their 2021 paper, Baumann et al. from Bond University further explored the “doorway effect”. Their experimental research showed how the doorway effect is more likely to occur when the brain is under load, the context shift seems to be part of the mechanism and “false alarms”, or detecting the targets incorrectly, were more frequent than forgetting the targets. This study is suggestive of trauma being a factor in this specific effect as well, given that moving into a new space and scanning for threats (often misidentifying threats) is a feature of hypervigilance associated with trauma. In the future directions Baumann et al. suggest continuing this research in neurodivergent populations, which I suspect would be productive. I will catch you up on Baumann’s recent work in a future blog.
Well, Taz, that is interesting an all, but how does this have anything to do with my business?
Some of the most innovative, creative and dedicated workers are neurodivergent. We must constantly adapt to a world that prioritises the needs of neurotypical people over our needs and we usually have to mask (hide that we are neurodivergent) while bearing the weight of following processes and using space and equipment that makes our work harder. But what if you, as a business owner, could make changes that cost little to nothing and unlock the potential of your neurodivergent workforce? What if you could work with a consultant, such as myself, who can advise on time management strategies, buddy systems, accessibility tools, processes such as emailing instructions and recommending AI workflow tools to streamline communication around tasks?
If you have met and worked with a neurodivergent person, you have met and worked with one neurodivergent person. Our challenges and strengths vary and the accommodations that help quite individualised. Aiming for a universal design in how you set up your office and how you handle communication in the workplace benefits everyone and aims to offer enough different pathways to get work done that people can self-accommodate, but even then, some folk require some additional adjustments, and these are protected by law. This factsheet on the Job Access site shows some examples of low-cost, low effort supports that could assist a neurodivergent person and represent the simplicity and ease of supporting workers. Workplace adjustments often are not difficult or expensive. Let me remind you, the benefits that come with diverse workforce outweigh the minor supports that are usually needed. Where the accommodations are larger, there are often government grants to off set the cost.
I must admit that being this open about the areas I struggle feels pretty vulnerable when I am addressing future clients. It would be easy for me to say nothing and present a professional facade; I am a performer and that character would be easy enough to maintain. The thing is, in choosing to hide who I am I would lose the opportunity to teach from a place of authenticity and lived experience. Consulting, coaching, training: all at their heart are about me teaching in relationship with my clients and that only works when I am real with you. The reflection at the beginning of this blog happened last week. As much as it shows something I face challenges with, it also shows that I actively employ strategies to overcome. I am constantly trying new strategies as well. I would not have completed the studies or work that I have if I couldn’t “do my job” as a professional.
I ask for help when I need to. I am clear and upfront about what I need and in what format to do my job and I will openly engage in dialogue to establish how I can work with you to meet your needs. I want you to do the same, so that I can adapt to suit how you operate. I apply the skills and strategies I have needed to develop to move from being unable to work or progress in my studies to progressing through my post-graduate studies and working across various levels and departments at UniSQ, as well as sitting on executive committees and working in advocacy. If you see the value I can bring to your business or organisation, please reach out and let’s set up a meeting. I would love to work with you.
Written by Taz Clifford
Principal IDEA HR Consulting
Radvansky, G. A., Krawietz, S. A., & Tamplin, A. K. (2011). Walking through doorways causes forgetting. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Baumann, O., Schecklmann, M., & Bramati-Castello, I. L. (2021). The doorway effect: A multimodal investigation into the influence of physical and conceptual boundaries on episodic memory. BMC Psychology, 9(1), 1-11.
