That gap shows up as performance conversations that keep going badly, feedback that isn’t being implemented properly, neurodivergent staff burning out, leaving or making complaints, and managers avoiding difficult conversations because they haven’t been properly trained on how to approach them.
Policies don’t fix this. Practical capability does.
Most neuroinclusion training stops at awareness – what neurodivergence is and how to support neurodivergent employees. It rarely gets to what a manager actually does differently, or how to have a hard conversation without triggering defensiveness on either side.
That’s the gap I work in, built on the Duck’s Back Method™ – a complete process for handling pressure.
Three ways this shows up in your organisation:
Communicating Under Pressure: How people think, react, and communicate differently when stressed, challenged, or misunderstood – and how to get it right the first time, not after it’s already gone wrong. (Training programme below).
Managing Different Brains: Setting expectations, giving feedback, discussing adjustments, and handling conflict – practical neuroinclusive management, not another awareness session. (Training programme below).
Resilient Performance: Maintaining standards and wellbeing without confusing resilience with quietly tolerating a dysfunctional environment. (Delivered as a keynote – see Unmasked → on the Speaking page).
Training Programmes
Communicating Under Pressure
Half-day (or two one-hour sessions), groups of 8-20
Half-day (or two one-hour sessions) workshop, groups of 8-20
Most communication training teaches people what to say. It rarely teaches them what actually happens to communication under pressure – the moment stress, defensiveness, or fear changes how a message is received, regardless of how carefully it was worded.
Drawing on NLP and over a decade managing high-stakes conversations, this workshop gives teams a practical framework – grounded in the Duck’s Back Method™ for recognising when pressure is distorting a conversation, and what to do differently in that moment rather than after the damage is done.
Participants work through real, current scenarios from their own team, not generic role-play, and leave with a shared language for naming what’s happening under pressure, before it becomes conflict.
Teams leave with:
- A shared framework for recognising when pressure is distorting communication
- Practical tools for the moment, not just theory
- A common language for naming what’s happening before it becomes conflict
- A deeper understanding of how verbal and non-verbal NLP techniques can support better communication and teamwork
Managing Different Brains: Designing Neuroinclusive Teams That Retain and Perform
Single or two-session training, groups of 8-20
Only 32% of employees think their managers are trained to identify and support neurodivergent needs. 75% of employers admit those managers feel overwhelmed by it. That gap is a training and practice problem.
This workshop doesn’t stop at awareness. Drawing on my professional background as a specialist teacher, my own lived neurodivergence in the workplace, and NLP-based communication frameworks, it gives managers the practical mechanics: how to give feedback that builds productivity rather than defensive reactions, how to tell a capability issue from a communication issue, how to discuss reasonable adjustments without it becoming a difficult conversation, and how to set expectations that don’t require the employee masking to meet.
Teams leave with:
- A working framework, not just a better understanding
- Practical mechanics for feedback, adjustments, and expectation-setting
- Confidence handling conversations they’ve previously avoided
How I Work With Organisations
– Keynotes – see my talks for leadership offsites and conferences
– Manager training workshops (half-day or multi-session)
– Ongoing executive NLP coaching for leaders and teams
– Bespoke programmes built around your specific gaps
Why Me
Over a decade inside education and governance, professional board and chairing in high-stakes environments, an NLP Master Practitioner background, head of global communication at an NGO, award-winning advocacy and policy change, lived neurodivergence, a neurodivergent child, and a specially-built framework to make this process practical. This is the missing middle between your policy and what your managers can actually do.
