At Enna, we believe that creating an inclusive and productive workplace starts with understanding how each team member works best — especially when supporting neurodivergent employees. One simple but powerful tool to do this is our Working Styles Guide.
The guide is designed to help neurodivergent individuals identify and communicate their preferred working styles to colleagues and managers. It acts as a practical reference point that can reduce misunderstandings, improve collaboration, and make the workplace more accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
Whether you’re autistic, have ADHD, dyslexia, or another neurodivergent profile, this guide can help others understand how to support you — and create a more neuroinclusive work culture.
What is the Working Styles Guide?
Enna’s Working Styles Guide is a personal template designed to help you reflect on and share how you work best. Once completed, you can give it to your manager or team so they know how to communicate and collaborate with you in a way that suits your needs.
It includes prompts on topics like:
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Communication style
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Collaboration preferences
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Time management and productivity
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Task organisation
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How you like to receive feedback
Rather than relying on assumptions or one-size-fits-all working practices, the guide helps you and your team move toward better, more individualised understanding.
Why Neurodivergent Employees Benefit from the Guide
1. It promotes understanding and psychological safety
Many neurodivergent employees experience stress or anxiety due to unspoken differences in communication, collaboration, or processing. By filling out the Working Styles Guide, individuals can clearly communicate their needs — from preferring written over verbal communication, to needing extra processing time after meetings.
When colleagues understand these preferences, it builds empathy, reduces miscommunication, and creates psychological safety in the team.
“I used the guide to explain that I find verbal instructions hard to retain. Now my manager always sends me a follow-up email after meetings. It’s made such a difference.” – Working Styles Guide user
2. It helps identify and accommodate unique needs
From sensory sensitivities to executive functioning challenges, neurodivergent individuals often have very specific needs that are not always obvious. The Working Styles Guide provides space to explain preferences like:
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Needing quiet spaces to focus
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Working best with visual deadlines or reminders
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Feeling overwhelmed in fast-paced conversations
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Finding phone calls difficult
By proactively sharing this information, teams can make simple accommodations that lead to better wellbeing and stronger performance.
3. It boosts productivity and job satisfaction
When people are supported in how they work best, they’re more likely to thrive. The guide allows teams to spot potential barriers — like unclear expectations or disruptive workspaces — and put practical solutions in place.
Small changes, such as adjusting communication methods or offering flexibility in working hours, can significantly increase both productivity and job satisfaction for neurodivergent employees.
4. It improves communication across the team
Many workplace challenges stem from misunderstandings. For neurodivergent people, certain communication styles can feel unclear, overwhelming, or even unintentionally excluding.
By completing the guide, team members gain insight into how their colleagues prefer to give and receive information, which helps reduce friction and create more harmonious collaboration.
It’s also helpful for neurotypical colleagues, who may not always be aware of how their communication style impacts others.
5. It helps everyone reflect and grow — not just neurodivergent employees
The Working Styles Guide isn’t only for neurodivergent people. It encourages all team members to take a moment to reflect on how they work, what they find helpful, and how others can support them.
That self-awareness strengthens individual performance, but also helps teams build a culture of empathy, flexibility, and respect.
How to Use the Working Styles Guide in Your Team
The guide is simple to implement — here’s how to make it part of your team’s workflow.
Step 1: Download the guide
Use the link below to download and save your copy. It’s a fillable document that you can complete on your computer or print and fill in by hand.
[Download the Working Styles Guide]
Step 2: Share it with your team
Send the guide around your team and encourage everyone to fill in their own version. If you’re a manager, lead by example and complete yours first.
Step 3: Complete it in your own time
Find a quiet space where you can reflect. Be honest — this is about your needs, not what you think others expect. You don’t need a diagnosis to complete it.
Step 4: Share and store team responses
Once everyone has filled in their guide, share them within the team. Create a shared folder or digital space where they can be accessed and referred to when needed.
Step 5: Hold a team meeting to discuss
Consider arranging a short team session to talk through your guides together. Focus on what you’ve learned, what support looks like in practice, and what changes can be made to improve collaboration.
Step 6: Update it regularly
As new team members join or your working style evolves, revisit your guide. Keep it updated to reflect current needs and working habits.
Real-World Example
A neurodivergent employee at a creative agency shared their guide with their manager after struggling with burnout. They explained that back-to-back meetings without downtime caused sensory overload and poor focus. After reviewing the guide, their manager introduced 15-minute “buffer breaks” between meetings and allowed them to block out deep work time. The result? Improved wellbeing, better project output, and stronger trust within the team.
Final Thoughts
Supporting neurodivergent employees doesn’t have to involve complex changes or expensive tools. Sometimes, it starts with simply asking, “How do you work best?”
Enna’s Working Styles Guide offers a framework for those conversations. It gives people a voice, helps teams collaborate better, and creates a more inclusive and psychologically safe workplace where neurodivergent employees can thrive.
Ready to get started?
Download the Working Styles Guide here