As New Zealand emerges from its most recent lockdown, a set of economic concerns hovers above the rapidly-approaching Christmas commerce season. They’re likely shared by companies the world over, and they’re predominantly to do with the likelihood of a successful end of year period in business and eCommerce.
Many organisations all over the world, especially those who specialise in eComm and resourcing, make a much greater profit over the closing festive season quarter than they do for the previous three. This isn’t unexpected in of itself, but the contrast between the festive season high and the mid-season low is often so pronounced that without the standard high Christmas takings, the entire business might find itself in jeopardy – and following eighteen months of lockdowns that have seen non-essential stores closing and high streets deserted the world over, it’s a prospect that’s likely to worry business owners and governments alike. Low consumer confidence and widespread financial instability also factor in, with footfall in in-person stores across the globe lower than pre-pandemic levels, and rising only moderately and fairly slowly. It looks set to be another difficult end of year season for many operations, and the pressure on management and marketing departments alike is ramping up as they’re tasked with turning it around.
Richard Rowley, however, thinks he has the answer.
Rowley is one of the the founders of The Brain Badge, a project initiative by the Observatory Charitable Trust that was created to push the boundaries of workplace and school diversity and inclusion to incorporate neurodiversity. As well as supporting neurodiverse people in working, The Brain Badge also operates as an innovation model for businesses, supporting the trust’s founding values of collaboration, co-creation and reciprocity. The Brain Badge focuses on three key principles: mitigating risk by daring together, having end-users involved from project inception, and exchange for mutual benefit. They’re also working on a certification programme with early-adopter companies to create a neurodiversity certification programme through corporate innovation.
Rowley is dedicated to unlocking the potential of neurodiverse employees within the businesses that they work for, and thinks that it’s never been more critical to have employees who are innovative thinkers who can disrupt established patterns and break the mould. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented responses, and the neurodiverse talent pool is well-placed to bring fresh ideas and outside-the-box thinking to the post-pandemic commercial landscape. The world is also, according to Rowley, in need of employees who work well in chaotic situations and can bring whole new skill sets to the workplace; and that complex times require complex minds to navigate situations that there aren’t established pathways through yet.
“Neurodiverse employees can help identify the opportunities that businesses need to be open to in these uncertain times,” he comments, and that whilst sometimes it’s challenging to make sure that inclusivity and accessibility are holistic concerns in pre-established businesses, it’s about time that those changes were made – and that “it has proven to be culturally and financially priceless” for those businesses, too.
The pandemic has seen a worldwide response the likes of which most of us haven’t experienced in our lifetime, and the waves created from these few years in business are likely to still have an effect in a decade. Businesses are working through - to use the pandemic’s most hated phrase – unprecedented times. Economies are contracting, firms are folding, established high street names are running banners in their windows announcing closing down sales: and whilst the vaccine roll-out has seen some movement in the direction of recovery, it’s likely to be a long and arduous process for many businesses to return to their pre-pandemic levels of revenue and security. And neurodiverse talent is rapidly becoming a desired resource in many industries, with global tech giants finding skills matches between prevalent autism traits and the coding and the pattern-monitoring necessary for cybersecurity; dyslexic thinkers can be prized in entrepreneurship and innovation for their creativity.
Although global business still has a way to go when it comes to inclusivity and accessibility, it’s wonderful to see spaces like these where neurodiverse minds are celebrated in the world of work rather than being regarded as something to be tolerated, or even just grudgingly accommodated. It’s shaping up to be a better festive season in business than the last, too, with life making an unhurried yet certain volta back in the direction of normality, and it’s great to think that Richard Rowley’s take on neurodiverse talent might prove to be at the heart of our global Covid-19 business recovery.
You can find out more about The Brain Badge at HRD New Zealand, and read more on Richard Rowley’s vision for business recovery at Scoop Business.