You might hear your neurodivergent colleague or direct report say something like, “I feel like I keep forgetting things. I feel like I keep dropping the ball. I just can't keep on top of my work.” And a piece of advice you might be inclined to give – and I have genuinely been given before – is “Just write it down.”

I cannot begin to tell you how unhelpful this is. If it were as simple as just writing things down, we would not have problems with neurodiversity in the workplace, at least where this particular issue is concerned. 

When your brain runs at 100 miles an hour, stopping to write things down is not only difficult, but it's not conducive to the way you work. And even if you do manage to write things down, you’ll likely forget to check where you wrote it in the future. 

This is not to say that neurodivergent people – especially those with ADHD, though it applies elsewhere too – can never keep a list of their tasks, but if they’re already telling you they’re struggling, simply telling them to write it down won’t help

So what can you do instead?

One helpful approach is written follow-up. After each meeting you have, send over a list of their actions and yours. That way, you have that detailed record, and you know that they have it too. And encourage them to ask for the same in other meetings they attend.

Going over their task list during your regular check-ins is another helpful thing to do. Ask “What are the tasks that you're working on? Let's go through them all.” And if you notice something missing, raise it with them. Obviously not in an accusatory way, but it doesn't hurt to check that it hasn't slipped their mind, because that’s something that can often happen to neurodivergent people.

One thing I would avoid, although it seems counterintuitive, is team-wide daily standups. Many neurodivergent people have had bad workplace experiences, so we tend to really want people to think we're capable. This can mean that, in front of the rest of our team, we overpromise. We want to be seen as “good employees”, but this will very often backfire when we can’t deliver on what we’ve said we will.

What helped me was doing that kind of check-in with someone outside my team – someone with no stake in how well I’m performing. That allowed me to be honest about what I could realistically get done and prioritise accordingly. As a manager, you can’t fill that role yourself, but if one of your direct reports is struggling, you can suggest they try something like that to help stay on top of tasks.

And remember: all neurodivergences present differently. Different strategies work for different people. It’s always going to take trial and error to figure out what works for you, your team, and your direct reports.