the SHAPE method^™

Why managers need a process, not a list

Most organisations that call themselves neuroinclusive have a policy, a network and a training record. Very few have a process a manager can follow when someone in their team says ‘I think I might have ADHD’.

Eighty percent of neurodivergent employees have told their line manager about their neurodivergence but only 52% have told HR. Neurotypical colleagues need adjustments too - for physical health, mental health and caring responsibilities - yet their adjustments arrive faster. Whilst 31% of neurodivergent employees wait more than three months for an adjustment, for neurotypical employees that drops to just 12%. When asked, 35% of HR professionals say their managers cannot talk about adjustments with confidence. This is not for a lack of goodwill on the part of those managers, it’s what happens when they have the responsibility but nobody has given them the method.

Sources: disclosure figures from Neurodiversity in Business and Birkbeck, University of London, Research Report 2026. Waiting times from the Neurodiversity Index 2026, City & Guilds Foundation with Do-IT Solutions. Manager confidence from a VinciWorks survey of 495 HR, L&D and compliance professionals, April 2026. All figures UK.

A list of adjustments does not fix it because no single list covers every person and situation. Most neurodivergent employees have more than one neurotype and the adjustment that transforms one person’s week does nothing for the next. What works is a process that starts with the person and the environment they are working in, agrees something specific, writes it down and comes back to check. That is what SHAPE is.

If you are being asked what your organisation’s neurodiversity strategy should contain, SHAPE is the manager-level process inside it. The organisation-level view is in our free guide, What your neurodiversity strategy should contain.

What each step asks of you

1. S

   Spot the signal

   Spot means noticing patterns of friction or difficulty without blame and without jumping to a solution. Sometimes there is a disclosure but often there is not, so what you see is a dip in performance, a new starter who is struggling through probation differently or someone who has gone quiet in meetings. Spot gives you permission to notice calmly and to treat what you notice as information rather than a verdict.

   You are observing, not diagnosing. You do not need to know whether the person is neurodivergent and you should not try to work it out. What you need is to notice that something isn’t working and decide to find out what is going on.

   The question to ask

   What barriers is the individual seeing in the workplace?

   Where it goes wrong

   The manager waits for a formal disclosure before doing anything or goes straight to a performance conversation. Both treat the pattern as a person problem before anyone has looked at the environment.

   Back to the five steps
2. H

   Hold the conversation

   Hold means creating the conditions for a safe, honest conversation and then listening. This is the step managers worry about most. What do I say? What if I get it wrong? What am I allowed to ask? Hold takes the pressure off because your job in this conversation is not to fix anything. It is to understand.

   Open with curiosity rather than correction. Listen more than you talk. Do not ask diagnosis questions and do not make assumptions about what a condition means for someone’s work. If the employee discloses, thank them (it took something to say it) and tell them you want to get the right support in place. Then make a note of what was said and what you agreed to do next.

   The question to ask

   What is making your work more challenging than it should be?

   Where it goes wrong

   The manager fills the silence with reassurance or solutions, so the employee never gets to say what is actually hard. Even when the manager has the conversation, if nothing is written down then there is no evidence it ever happened.

   Back to the five steps
3. A

   Assess the environment

   Assess means working out what in the environment is creating unnecessary friction. Most workplace difficulties experienced by neurodivergent people are not caused by the person. They are caused by an environment that was not designed with their brain in mind. Assess moves the question from ‘what is wrong with you’ to ‘what here could work better for you’.

   Look at the physical space, so lighting, noise and layout. Look at how work is communicated, so verbal versus written, meeting formats and how priorities are set. Look at the structure of the role, so deadlines, interruptions, processing time and how much is unclear. Do this with the employee, not about them. When the picture is complicated or the organisation needs evidence-based recommendations it can rely on, this is the step a Workplace Needs Assessment formalises.

   The question to ask

   Now we understand the barriers, what possible adjustments could we make to the work environment to lower or remove them?

   Where it goes wrong

   The organisation reaches for a standard list of adjustments instead of assessing the person and the role. Most neurodivergent employees have more than one neurotype. No list covers that.

   Back to the five steps
4. P

   Plan adjustments

   Plan means designing small, practical changes based on what you have learned, not what you assumed and writing them down. The most effective adjustments are usually simple and may include things like noise-cancelling headphones, a written summary after every meeting, a flexible start time, a weekly priorities check-in, a quiet place to do focused work. What makes them work is that they are agreed with the employee, specific enough to act on and recorded.

   This is the point where we decide which of the adjustments are reasonable or where alternatives may need to be sought and make the plan for putting them in place (what we’ll do first and who is responsible for actioning each line of the plan). Documenting the decisions and the plan protects the employee, protects the manager and gives the organisation a clear record if the manager changes or the arrangement is questioned later. Nothing is decided about the employee without them.

   The question to ask

   Who owns each adjustment after this meeting ends and by when will it be in place?

   Where it goes wrong

   The adjustment is agreed and then meets a system that says no. IT blocks the software, the office cannot accommodate the desk move, the request sits in a queue. ‘No’ is treated as the end of the conversation instead of the start of ‘what instead’.

   Back to the five steps
5. E

   Evaluate and evolve

   Evaluate means checking in, reviewing and refining. People’s needs change, roles change and environments change. Building in a review point from the outset is what turns an adjustment that was agreed into one that is actually working. It protects against the most common failure of all, assuming that because something is in place then everything must now be fine. It also provides a route to consider something different or additional. Early reviews in the weeks after adjustments are agreed are key, so are regular reviews, for example building the question into regular 1:1 meetings. This ensures changes are picked up quickly and the right support is put in place.

   Put the review in both diaries when you agree the plan, usually four to six weeks out. Keep it informal, ask what has helped, what has not made much difference and whether there is anything else worth trying. Update the record. Then repeat.

   The question to ask

   ‘Is it in place?’ and ‘is it working?’ are two different questions. Have we asked both?

   Where it goes wrong

   No review is ever scheduled, so the adjustments agreed are assumed to be working and nobody has asked the person it was agreed for.

   Back to the five steps

Watch Jenefer explain the SHAPE method™

The five steps in under ten minutes, from the person who built them.

Questions about the SHAPE method™