Not a bad way to mark almost one year of Divergent Thinking full time

Nat Hawley in a suit sits on the steps in front of the iconic black door of 10 Downing Street, framed by ornate railings and distinctive brickwork.

Almost one year ago, Divergent Thinking became my full-time work.

At the time, I was still figuring out what that would actually mean in practice. Not just the big idea, but the day-to-day reality: building something useful, sustainable, credible, and properly rooted in the work I care about.

Since then, Divergent Thinking has worked with organisations, universities, charities, councils and global teams to make neurodiversity at work feel more practical, more human, and more useful.

And recently, that work somehow took me to 10 Downing Street.

Still a slightly surreal sentence to write.

Why Divergent Thinking exists

I started Divergent Thinking because I felt there was a gap in the way neurodiversity is often discussed at work.

Too often, organisations are given broad awareness sessions that explain what neurodiversity is, but leave people unsure what to actually do differently afterwards.

Awareness matters, but it is only the starting point.

The real work is in the practical detail: how teams communicate, how managers support people, how reasonable adjustments are handled, how recruitment processes are designed, how meetings are run, how expectations are made clear, and how people are able to do good work without having to constantly translate themselves into systems that were not built with them in mind.

That is the space Divergent Thinking exists in.

Less tick-box awareness. More honest conversations about communication, confidence, reasonable adjustments and inclusion that works day to day.

A year of learning, building and adapting

This first year has taken the work into a wide range of settings, including workplaces, universities, charities, public-sector organisations and global teams.

Each setting has been different, but the themes often repeat.

People want to be inclusive, but they do not always know what that looks like in practice.

Managers want to support neurodivergent colleagues, but often worry about saying the wrong thing.

Employees want adjustments that are genuinely useful, but may not always have the language, confidence or safety to ask for them.

Organisations want to do better, but need practical tools rather than abstract good intentions.

That is where the work becomes interesting. Neuroinclusion is not just about knowing the terminology. It is about building habits, systems and conversations that make it easier for people to work well.

A moment to pause

Running a business full time has been exciting, but it has also been very real.

There has been admin, uncertainty, late nights, learning curves, invoices, proposals, self-doubt, and a lot of figuring things out as I go.

So standing outside No. 10 felt like one of those rare moments where I actually stopped and thought:

Maybe this is becoming something.

Not finished. Not perfect. Not fully figured out.

But becoming something.

Nat Hawley in a suit stands confidently in front of the iconic black door of 10 Downing Street, symbolizing a moment of significance at the heart of British politics.

What comes next

The aim for Divergent Thinking remains the same: to help organisations move from awareness to action.

That means continuing to deliver neurodiversity training, workplace needs assessments, audits, coaching and consultancy that are practical, evidence-informed and grounded in lived experience.

It also means continuing to challenge the idea that inclusion is a specialist extra or a one-off awareness session. Good neuroinclusion is part of good communication, good management and good organisational design.

There is still a lot to learn. There is still a lot to build.

But almost one year in, I am proud of where the work has reached, and grateful to everyone who has booked a session, shared the work, made an introduction, trusted me with a conversation, or offered encouragement at the right moment.

Almost one year of Divergent Thinking full time.

Still learning. Still building. Still just getting started.