Collaboration spotlight: Neurodivergent communication and the “small fixes” that help nonprofit teams work better (with The Purpose Collective)

Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2026 has wrapped up awhile ago now!

But honestly, that’s when the useful work starts: taking the ideas that resonated and turning them into everyday habits teams can actually sustain.

That’s why we loved contributing a guest piece for The Purpose Collective: “Neurodivergent communication: 5 small changes that help nonprofit teams work better.”

You can read it here: Neurodivergent communication: 5 small changes that help nonprofit teams work better.

Logo of The Purpose Collective featuring a minimalist circular design beside the organization's name in a modern, green font.

Why this collaboration mattered

Nonprofits and mission-driven teams run on urgency, context-switching, and invisible load. When communication is vague, priorities shift without being named, or decisions don’t get captured, the cost isn’t just stress. It’s rework, missed handovers, slower delivery, and burnout.

The point of the piece is simple: you don’t need a big initiative to get neuroinclusion gains. You need a few small system upgrades.

The five “small changes” we focused on

These are the kinds of changes that reduce cognitive load for neurodivergent colleagues, but also make work easier for everyone:

• clearer briefs (what you need, by when, what “good” looks like)

• fewer channels and a clearer “source of truth”

• meetings that end with written decisions + owners + deadlines

• workload norms that reduce last-minute chaos

• “support by default” options that don’t require disclosure

If you’re reading this after NCW

This is the best moment to act. Pick one change and trial it for two weeks. If it reduces friction, keep it. If it doesn’t, tweak it. Neuroinclusion works best when it’s treated like operational improvement, not a one-off campaign.

If you want to see more of what we do at Divergent Thinking, here’s us: Divergent Thinking.

And a proper thank you to The Purpose Collective for having us as a guest and making space for practical, mission-friendly neuroinclusion.