At auticon, each of our autistic IT and data consultants have access to the ongoing support of a job coach or neuro inclusion specialist to support their employment with us.
Many consultants say that having the support of their coach is something they most value about working at auticon. Coaching is a vital tool they can use to successfully navigate a workplace that at times may not always be so straight forward.
But what is job coaching? Why is it so special? And, how does it help everyone to better connect in the workplace?
What is Job Coaching or Neuro-Inclusion Support?
This is hard to pin down. As a starting point, we need to remember we’re all individuals and everyone thinks differently. So, our coaching needs to be bespoke and focused on the needs of each individual.
Therefore, our Coaches spend time getting to know consultants and adopt a range of coaching methods to better unpack the needs of each person. They provide support through regular 1:1 meetings or on an ad hoc basis – these can be via video call, audio call, text chat or in person.
In this communication the coaches will cover a range of topics depending on each individual, these might be:
- Identifying their strengths
- Understand their neurodivergent condition(s) and any other co-occurring conditions
- Manage anxiety or low mood through development of practical wellbeing strategies
- Understand workplace cultures, expectations and helpful reasonable adjustments
- Navigate communications
- Develop strategies to manage executive functioning
- Deal with organisational change
- And a range of other issues
Something that is of huge value with auticon’s coaching model is that it is completely embedded – our coaching team are all employees of auticon. This is a global practice across the 15 countries that we operate in, and the coaching staff frequently communicate to ensure that we are ahead of global best practices in employment support.
Our support really is built into the job, and that it can be truly flexible. Whilst consultants tend to have regular coaching sessions in the diary, they can also ask for ad-hoc support. This might be called upon if there has been an unexpected change with a client project that our consultant needs some support processing, or they might just feel their motivation dipping at a particular point of the day and would benefit from a quick light-hearted exchange with their coach to get them back on track.
Coaching is not just for our consultants; our 360 approach supports clients too.
Our coaches or neuro-inclusion specialists are all auticon employees this makes them well placed to act as a bridge between our consultants and our clients.
Prior to a consultant getting started with a new client, their coach will work with the client and their team to make sure they have a good understanding of neurodiversity. They will also help them to make any minor changes they may want to make to create a more neuroinclusive environment for the consultant coming onboard.
They’ll also make sure that the team appreciate all the strengths our consultant will bring – we know there will be lots!
Supporting strong and effective communication
In the same way that our consultants can contact the coach for ad-hoc support, so can the client.
As an example, this could happen after a team meeting when the client is updating on current priorities. The client may ask the coach to check in with the consultant if concerned their messaging was unclear, or perhaps they realise the way they delivered the update may have been misinterpreted. The coach can contact the consultant and double-check their understanding of the situation, discuss any concerns and provide feedback to the client if required. This three-way communication option can be helpful to smooth over any communication difficulties.
Going beyond just workplace support
Another benefit is that our coaching team all have lots of experience working with autistic individuals and enjoy supporting our consultants to thrive by taking a holistic and person-centred approach.
Whether we like it or not, we all bring our lives to work and that can have an affect on our performance. For this reason, our coaching includes helping neurodivergent people to manage any co-occurring conditions, mental health concerns, life-work balance and anything outside of work that could be impacting on work.
Self-advocacy is key to a successful and independent working life
An important aspect of the coaching support is that there is a clear focus on empowering our consultants and encouraging self-advocacy. Although the coach can support when needed, they don’t default to stepping in.
We know that our consultants have amazing strengths and capabilities and are often quite happy to work independently with minimal support. Our coaches love seeing our consultants learning more about what they need to work productively and building the confidence to ask for the adjustments they need to allow their skills to shine through. However, our coaching team are always on hand, and that reassurance counts for a lot.
Learn more about auticon’s IT services and what is like to work with an organisation focused on autistic strengths.
auticon IT Professional Services
