Neurodiversity and IT Business Alignment

Over the course of my 25-year career in IT Management, I have observed a few concerning trends in our field. When approaching problem-solving, I want to understand the root cause of the problem, so I have spent a lot of time studying these three issues.

Trend #1: The gender gap in IT

This trend has been discussed and analyzed extensively. Despite modest improvements, most IT departments are still predominantly staffed and led by men. College classrooms are also improving, but the majority of students in technology programs are also male.

I often have the opportunity to speak to, coach, and mentor young women and girls who have an interest in technology careers. I enjoy those opportunities immensely. But, I have continued to search for the root cause behind the phenomenon.

Trend #2: High turnover in IT

The second trend is not discussed as often but will be familiar to those in technology management. The turnover rate in IT is far higher than that of other fields. Even careers that are equally high in demand and highly skilled do not have turnover rates as high as information technology roles.

Conventional wisdom assures us that people don’t leave their jobs; they leave managers. So, one possible (over-simplified) explanation is that technology leaders are poor managers. There may be some truth to that theory if we accept that technology leaders are sometimes promoted for their technical competence rather than their leadership skills. But I believe there is something more behind this trend.

Trend #3: “Techism”, the marginalization of IT personnel

The third trend is something that is not often noticed or discussed. I’ve spent 25 years mentoring technology leaders. Unsurprisingly, most of the leaders have been men. What I’ve noticed is that technology leaders, regardless of gender, race, or age, struggle to be fully included in the executive leadership of their company. They are still striving to obtain the proverbial “seat at the table” and recognition as a strategic partner to the business. Up and down the org chart, technology professionals are still too often left out of proactive planning discussions.

I’ve noticed this phenomenon so often that I’ve given it a name: techism. I have observed techism, the marginalization of technology professionals and exclusion of IT leaders from the executive level of the company, far more often than I have experienced or witnessed sexism in my career. As a woman in the technology field, having worked in several male-dominated industries, I feel it is important to point this out. Technology professionals often experience a form of prejudice despite being predominantly male.

After years of observation and pondering these trends, I am convinced there is a correlation between them. I believe techism is a contributing factor to the high turnover rate in IT. When business leaders fail to develop a strong, trusting, effective relationship with their IT leader and the rest of the technology team, it negatively impacts the morale and engagement of the team. But what is the root cause behind techism?

Discovering a possible root cause

Early in 2022, I came across an article about Dr. Ronnie Jia, a researcher and professor at Illinois State University who has conducted research exploring the connection between autistic tendencies and an interest in information technology. What he found was that autistic tendency is consistently correlated with an interest in IT. The practical application of his finding would be that IT professionals have a higher likelihood than the general population of exhibiting autistic tendencies – including things like difficulty recognizing social cues, a tendency to hyperfocus on a topic of interest to them, a desire to be precise, social awkwardness and great attention to detail. (Please note, neither I nor Dr. Jia are suggesting that all IT people are autistic, merely that they have a higher likelihood of exhibiting autistic tendencies.)

There are valuable insights to be gained when we apply Dr. Jia’s findings to the relationship between business leaders and their technology teams. Dr. Jia explained, “individuals high in autistic tendency tend to have a consistent bias toward deliberative reasoning and a personality profile of low extraversion, low agreeableness, and high neuroticism, which is generally consistent with the stereotypical IT worker.”

Assuming business leaders are more likely to be on the neurotypical end of the spectrum, it makes sense that they would have a hard time relating to the IT staff members with autistic tendencies. Without understanding the reasons behind it, business leaders may simply think "I don't really enjoy talking to them". They may perceive members of their technology teams as being aloof, arrogant, or simply shy and introverted. They may get frustrated with the amount of detail provided and find conversations tedious and boring. Business leaders may avoid interactions with these individuals, not understanding the neurological origin of the characteristics.

Applying the findings to the gender gap

We can also glean some powerful insights when we consider Dr. Jia’s findings relative to the gender gap in the IT field. The results of his research shows that “while gender seemingly has a significant effect on interest in IT in the U.S. sample, gender difference becomes nonsignificant when examined alongside autistic tendency, which provides the underlying mechanism explaining the difference.” Meaning, when he controlled for autistic tendency, the gender gap in IT interest disappeared. According to a 2014 study by the CDC, “males were four times more likely than females to be identified with ASD.” If we assume that IT interest leads to the pursuit of IT in education and as a career, and we know that far more males are diagnosed with autism that females, then it follows that the gender gap in IT has at least some basis in the neurological differences between men and women.

It is important to acknowledge that there are other factors which might explain why men are diagnosed so much more than women, including the fact that women are more often mis-diagnosed, mis-referred, or less likely to be seen by a doctor in general. There is also a growing concern that the screening for autism spectrum disorder is geared towards the male presentation of autism and that women often present with autism differently than men and therefore wouldn’t be diagnosed according to the standard characteristics. One theory is that women are conditioned to mask their autistic tendencies with politeness and other social skills. If that is the case, then the application of this research to the relationship between IT people and business people still holds true because it would primarily be the “male presentation” of autistic tendencies that form the stereotype of IT people.

We also know that women tend to drop out of IT career paths at a faster rate than most other fields. An extrapolation of Dr. Jia’s findings might provide an explanation for this as well. If the path to an IT career is crowded with men who exhibit autistic tendencies, is it possible that those same characteristics and communication styles that are off-putting to neurotypical business leaders also serve to create a less than hospitable environment for female classmates and colleagues? Individuals on the autism spectrum often lack the ability to read social cues and interpret the feelings of others. They rely heavily on logic in decision making and sometimes appear to lack compassion and empathy. A young woman who is already outnumbered in her programming class might interpret the attitudes of her classmates as unwelcoming, or even hostile.

After college, women are more likely to leave IT careers than men, for various reasons. There has been much coverage and attention given to the claims of discriminatory practices, sexual harassment and hostile environments in Silicon Valley and technology departments across the country. And while there are shocking examples of overt gender discrimination by people who should definitely know better, I think it is important to acknowledge that a significant portion of this phenomenon might be the result of neurological differences.

Seeking solutions

In any given organization with technology employees, there is a higher-than-average likelihood that some members of the IT department will be on the autism spectrum, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Those characteristics that make it difficult for individuals with autism to adapt to societal expectations around interpersonal communication and interaction, may also make it challenging to develop the productive working relationships that are critical to IT business alignment.

So, what should we do about it? We can’t just tell all the IT people with autistic tendencies not to be autistic. My book, and many others like it, are already full of advice to IT leaders on how to improve IT business alignment, and a lot of that guidance is actually advice on how to partner more effectively with neurotypical people: how to communicate more effectively, be less detailed and technical, understand the customer/user’s perspective, and interact more professionally at the executive level. In short, we’ve spent decades trying to teach IT leaders how to be “less autistic”.

Those books are still being written, along with countless podcasts, seminars and keynote addresses on the topic. Clearly, we still have room to improve. Maybe our efforts to teach IT people how to better engage with and support their neurotypical business partners are unrealistic expectations. Are we pushing the proverbial rock up a hill by expecting them to overcome their neurological makeup?

If we want to achieve the desired results of full IT business alignment, as well as improvements in the retention, engagement and job satisfaction for IT people, business leaders may need to accept more responsibility for the relationship. They will need to meet their IT leaders halfway by learning how to effectively engage with them, and how to understand and accept their personality traits.

At the macro level, corporations of all sizes would benefit from adding neurodiversity to their DEI programming. Some large companies, including IBM and Chase Bank have neurodiversity initiatives already. Large silicon valley companies have neurodiversity employee resource groups (ERGs). In 2015, Microsoft launched an Autism Hiring Program which includes a modified interview process, educating their workforce about neurodiversity, and incorporating the perspective of their autistic employees into the company’s practices and culture. Hopefully these practices will continue to expand to companies of all sizes.

The solution begins with awareness. Most companies today are making at least a basic effort towards increasing diversity, equity and inclusion. If not already included, neurodiversity should be one of the in-scope areas of focus for those programs. Business leaders need to understand what they can do to create a more supportive work environment for their team members with different needs from the norm. Just as you are striving to create an inclusive culture for women and people of color in your company, look for ways you can improve the experience for those colleagues with autistic tendencies.