Tolero Solutions

🧠I’m neurodiverse. I have ADD. And yes… that absolutely shapes how I see the world—and how I coach and go about my work.

Next week (March 16–20) is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, a global initiative focused on challenging stereotypes and changing how neurodivergent people are understood and supported in schools, workplaces, and communities.

For me, this week isn’t just another awareness campaign. It’s personal.

For years, neurodiversity was framed almost entirely as a problem to fix. But the reality is far more nuanced. Different brains process information differently. That includes ADHD, dyslexia, autism, and many other ways of thinking and learning.

And here’s the thing I see every day in my work:

Many of the same traits that create friction in traditional workplaces can also be sources of creativity, innovation, and strategic thinking when the environment supports them.

That’s why I care about this week.

🏆As a leadership coach, I work with neurodiverse professionals and leaders navigating workplaces that weren’t always designed with them in mind. When organizations learn how to harness different thinking styles rather than suppress them, the results can be pretty remarkable.

Better teams.

Better problem solving.

Better leadership.

💪Next week, I’ll be sharing more about neurodiversity, resources from Neurodiversity Celebration Week and practical ways leaders can build neuroinclusive workplaces.
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Because inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also good leadership.

Stay tuned next week as we celebrate the power of different minds.

💼 Now and then, a picture perfectly summarizes a workplace culture problem. This is one of them.

Management posts a sign:

“Staff need to stop acting like they don’t want to be here.”

Staff responds:

“We’re not acting.”

And just like that… the engagement survey writes itself.

😖 I spend a lot of time working through an uncomfortable truth with leaders and teams:

When people disengage, it’s rarely because they suddenly decided they enjoy being miserable at work. It’s usually the result of accumulated signals from the environment.

Signals like:

“Your input doesn’t really matter.”

“We only communicate when something’s wrong.”

“Decisions happen somewhere else.”

“You’re a resource, not a person.”

Over time, people stop pretending. Not because they’re lazy. Because they’ve learned the system isn’t listening.

The good news? Culture like this isn’t permanent. But it does require leadership to look in the mirror before putting up another poster.

🎯 A few ways leaders accidentally create cultures like the one in the photo — and how to avoid it:

1. Stop managing symptoms. Start diagnosing causes.

If morale is low, the problem isn’t attitude. It’s usually clarity, trust, or workload.

2. Replace performative communication with real communication.

Town halls and posters don’t build trust. Consistent transparency does.

3. Make feedback safe and useful.

If employees only speak honestly on sticky notes, something is broken.

4. Align expectations with reality.

If leaders say “people first” but operate “numbers first,” employees will believe the behavior, not the slogan.

5. Show that leadership is listening.

Nothing disengages a team faster than feedback that disappears into a black hole.

In my work with leadership teams, a lot of our time is spent unpacking these kinds of dynamics — the gap between what leaders think the culture is and what employees actually experience.

Because culture isn’t what’s written on the wall.

It’s what people whisper after reading it.

If you’re seeing signs of disengagement on your team, it might be time to look behind the curtain and figure out what’s really going on.

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I'm Scott Span

➡ I support you to overcome what’s holding you back and achieve results⬅

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