Tristan Lavender on Leading Philips' Neurodiversity Network

What happens when a global company with 70,000 employees embraces neurodiversity as a driver of innovation? Tristan Lavender, founder and chair of Philips Neurodiversity Network, takes us behind the scenes of building one of the company's largest employee resource groups from the ground up.

Diagnosed with autism in his early twenties, Lavender's journey from struggling young professional to neurodiversity advocate offers a compelling framework for creating psychological safety in the workplace. With over 1,200 members, the Philips Neurodiversity Network has become a powerful voice for change, attracting not just neurodivergent employees but also allies eager to support their colleagues.

"This isn't just about identity labels," Lavender explains. "It's about understanding each person's unique brain and creating environments where everyone can do their best work." The conversation explores how accommodations like quiet workspaces benefit both autistic employees and introverts without clinical diagnoses, illustrating how inclusion practices often improve workplace experiences for everyone.

Particularly fascinating is the network's approach to navigating conflicting needs among neurodivergent team members. When one employee needs cameras off during meetings while another relies on lip-reading, how do teams find balance? Lavender offers practical strategies for fostering open conversations that lead to creative compromises.

The episode also examines Philips' "global-local" strategy for neurodiversity inclusion, acknowledging that needs vary significantly across cultures and regions. While global initiatives create consistency, local chapters ensure cultural relevance in different markets.

Whether you're a neurodivergent professional seeking community, a manager looking to support diverse thinking styles, or an organization beginning your neurodiversity journey, this conversation provides valuable insights for transforming neurodiversity from a challenge into a competitive advantage. Connect with us to learn how different perspectives drive innovation and create workplaces where every brain can flourish.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Tristan and Philips Network
• 3:26 Personal journey with autism diagnosis
• 8:00 Global neurodiversity network's reach
• 10:06 Identity, inclusion and accommodation discussions
• 15:06 Neurodiversity network's activities and impact
• 19:22 Navigating conflicting neurodivergent needs
• 26:14 Collaboration with other organizations
• 27:23 Closing remarks and thanks

Transcript

Neil Milliken: 0:00

Hello and welcome to AXS Chat. I'm delighted that we're joined today by Tristan Lavender. I was delighted when you said you'd come on and talk to us about your professional journey and your journey to starting this here. Welcome to AXS Chat, Tristan. Please tell us a little important network within Philips.

Tristan Lavender: 0:38

Yeah, well, thanks first of all for the opportunity to share my story. For me, this was really born out of a personal passion, because I was diagnosed with autism in my early 20s and especially in the early days of my career. That was a huge struggle struggle learning to adapt to others around me whose brains work very differently from mine, and it took me a very long time also to start feeling more comfortable being open about the fact that I'm autistic. So when I finally reached that point a couple of years ago where I felt more comfortable just discussing this openly with others, I sensed that there was probably a bigger need within our company for people to start having more open conversations about this topic. And that is what led to the foundation of our neurodiversity network, really with the goal of creating psychological safety for those who are neurodivergent at Philips to start discussing their needs more openly. And we've come a long way since, so I'm happy to dive deeper into any areas that you may want to explore Great, so super.

Neil Milliken: 1:43

And Philips is headquartered in the Netherlands, but it's a global company. It's got lots of people in the US. It's a global brand doing stuff in all kinds of different areas, from healthcare to electronics, to I remember the old Philips speech recognition systems and so on, so it's been innovating for a long time. Actually, the organization that Antonio and I work for also has a lot of ex phillips people, because origin, which was the it, spun out and ended up in our organization, so we've got a lot of ex phillips people working with us. So big company, I'm guessing it's pretty complex and and your network is global, right, so so how many people firstly work for phillips and then roughly how many people are in the network?

Tristan Lavender: 2:30

so if I remember correctly, our current number of employees is around uh six six, uh sixty thousand, uh between 60 and 70 000, and we currently have over 1200 employees in our neurodiversity network. So I think that's a very promising start, but at the same time, there's still potential to reach many more employees as well. We've seen a massive interest in the topic. Just to give you a bit of context, employee resource group Neurodiversity Network is currently the second largest employee resource group in terms of community members. So I think that shows that there's really a strong interest in the topic, and not just from those who are neurodivergent themselves, but also, for example, from parents with neurodivergent children and also just allies who want to learn how they can better support neurodivergent colleagues.

Debra Ruh: 3:23

Tristan, welcome to the program. Neil and I both have disclosed multiple times not that I needed to, Everybody probably figured it out that we're both neurodivergent too. I was not diagnosed as neurodivergent until I was in my mid-50s, which is not surprising because I am an older woman and the way we diagnose things has changed. But it certainly made me understand myself a lot better. And I remember when I was diagnosed I told Antonio, Neal, and they were like like I'm so glad you finally know this, Deborah, but it's just interesting because you know I might be talk too much and have annoying, you know traits, but also think that this beautiful brain that I was blessed with has allowed me to make a big difference in the United States. And we were talking about including neurodivergent people and we got in this conversation about had we, as corporate employers, done the right thing by our community and I was making a comment which I still agree with that because we made the community so large. It's just so large that I think parts of the community just don't, you know, get the same supports as others. And of course we mentioned we're not going to talk a lot about what is happening with diversity, equity, inclusion around the world right now, certainly here in the United States, an interesting thing, and I remember this conversation and they said to me well, are you saying that, Debra, that we were properly accommodating people with neurodiversity? I said, no, I don't think we're doing that now, but the reality is, neurodivergent people were in the workforce and we have been in the workforce. They called us all kinds of things like triple A personalities and all kinds of things. That just means, Deborah, will you be quiet for a change?

Debra Ruh: 5:26

Anyway, but I thought that was such an important conversation and I know also that there are groups that believe that the neurodivergence should be pulled away from the disability identity, and I think that's interesting as well at a time when we're attacking identity.

Debra Ruh: 5:44

But at the same time, I think we're learning about identity, because I think we broke ourselves into so many little tiny pieces, just speaking from the US perspective, and now what I'm really hoping we will do is really focus on making sure that human beings are fully included in technology and environment. Sure that human beings are fully included in technology and environment. But I just wanted to start the question that way, Tristan, because I remember when we were having this conversation it was more of a debate. She's a friend of mine, but I thought it was a really interesting conversation. So I was wondering how y'all are finding this, especially at a time when maybe it's not cool to be part of any kind of inclusion effort. Maybe it's even worse than cool. I mean, maybe you can actually get in trouble, as we've seen some companies in the United States being challenged with.

Tristan Lavender: 6:35

Well, I think what has always been fundamental to our philosophy as an employee resource group is that we're open to everyone, so you don't need a diagnosis as an entry ticket.

Tristan Lavender: 6:47

Everyone is welcome to join our community. And what we have also seen is obviously a lot of neurodivergent colleagues have joined our community, but there are also many others who found a sense of belonging because they now feel that their needs are seen and recognized. So, for example, I, as an autistic person, I need a quiet work environment to focus, to do my best work. But there are a lot of introverted colleagues who do not have a clinical label like autism, but they have the same need they also need or without wanting to overgeneralize, but many of them typically need a more quiet work environment maybe than others. So creating the psychological safety in an organization to have these conversations. I think that is ultimately what this is all about. It's about better understanding every individual's needs, irrespective of identity, because, for example, accommodating a person and creating a more quiet work environment when they need one, it's really all about the need rather than a label or identity per se. I think it's about how do.

Tristan Lavender: 7:55

I enable that individual to do their best work, because that also brings more value to the company.

Debra Ruh: 8:14

Well, and isn't that what we're talking about? A little bit anyway, don't? We want our employees to be as productive as possible? I mean, that's why you hired me women it happened to be all women and we did a Myers-Briggs exercise, which I've done before. It's like, oh, it was so interesting because this Myers-Briggs, where we took it, we really examined what you were just saying.

Debra Ruh: 8:37

You made me think of it, tristan, in that you know, you like being in a quiet environment so you can do your job and not constantly being interrupted. As you can imagine, I probably wouldn't be a good you know office mate for you, because that's just sort of who. I am a little bit disruptive and stuff. I'm other things too. But what we found out from doing this exercise in a different way was when I rush into this other woman's office to tell her about this excitement I have. I just disrupted her so bad for and for her to get herself back together to where she was before. I just thought it was such an interesting exercise, and maybe part of what we're doing now in the world is exploring those things, because we want you to be as productive as possible, to be as effective as possible in your work. But I just some of the efforts it feels like it's doing, that you know.

Tristan Lavender: 9:33

Yeah, it's about giving a language, I think, to things that we maybe didn't discuss in the past, but ultimately, everyone benefits, irrespective of labels, because it just helps to create a work environment where everyone can play to their strengths.

Antonio Santos: 9:48

Oh, Kristen, welcome. I'm very interested in exploring how a global organization expands these networks outside the head office, Because sometimes you have this you know, I work, we work for one, we know where it is. There are some very interesting initiatives happening centrally, and then I will make sure that employees who are in countries far from us also feel empowered, encouraged and they believe that this is also for them.

Tristan Lavender: 10:21

Yeah, that's an excellent question. I think it will be relevant to a multinational company. I think what's interesting about our network is that we started as a global network. That was in 2022. So that was coming out of the pandemic. So at that time it made a lot of sense to start organizing virtual events events.

Tristan Lavender: 10:49

But over time we also recognize that a lot of the needs and challenges that neurodivergent may have or face are locally specific, also depending on local culture and legislation. So over time we have pivoted our strategy and we now really have a global local approach where we do have a global team, which I lead, that organizes a lot of global programs and activities, but we balance that with local initiatives and programs that are led by local teams, Because you also need people leading these teams that understand the culture and the local context. So I think these two strands of work beautifully complement each other, because there are a lot of things that you can do globally to reach more people and just scale certain activities that can benefit everyone around the world. But then I think you need to complement that with local initiatives and also in-person local initiatives for people who may feel more comfortable, for example, having in-person conversations with others about such personal topics.

Neil Milliken: 11:47

Excellent, thank you. I think that that global to local approach is the way to go. I think that clearly what applies in culture in the global north doesn't necessarily apply in the global south and the global north doesn't necessarily apply in the global south. And in fact we see the differences even with only a 30-mile, 45-kilometer bit of sea in between us and France, for example Not a large distance, but there is a significant difference in the cultural approaches to disability, neurodivergency etc. And also the schooling system. So the diagnoses are different as well.

Neil Milliken: 12:32

So if you go talk to colleagues in France, there's a huge number of people that got diagnosed with DCD and dysgraphia and so on, because they still to this day place a high emphasis on handwriting and so on. And I know that when I was learning to write at school I was terrible. My writing is appalling. I mean I might qualify to be a doctor because it's so electrical, but I'd grip my pen really hard and my knuckles would go white and I'd complain that it hurt, physically hurt to write. But I wasn't diagnosed with dysgraphia because after a while they stopped caring about the handwriting in the UK or didn't care about grammar either and in the world of computers, which I was late to but took to eventually as like a convert Again. You don't have to write, it's wonderful, you can also dictate, but that's not the case in the education system there.

Neil Milliken: 13:33

So people are being diagnosed with different things, and so their experiences and the way that they have approached neurodivergence is different as well. So, yeah, I fully support the concept of local chapters, informing back to global. So the events that you run what sort of things do you run? Do you run awareness? Do you have workshops? Do you influence the? Do you influence? Are you agents of change within the organization as well?

Tristan Lavender: 14:03

Yeah, absolutely. We started with. You know, the primary goal when we started the network was we wanted to create a safe space for people in our community to start exchanging experiences, insights, to really lift each other up as a community. But over time we also saw increasing interest from managers, from leaders. So a second line of our work is not just to support the community but also to educate the wider organization, and especially managers, about what they can do to provide better support to neurodivergent team members, as we like to say, to get the best out of every brain in their team, because this is not just about neurodivergent team members. Every team member has their own unique brain.

Tristan Lavender: 14:45

So we do both types of events. We have, for example, monthly community events globally where we take a challenge that many neurodivergent people may struggle with. That could be anything, anything ranging from sensory sensitivities to time management or other challenges that neurodivergent people may face, time management or other challenges that neurodivergent people may face. And there the goal is really just to help each other, to learn from each other, to exchange practical tips and experiences. But we also have dedicated educational sessions for managers, for leaders, where they can learn what they can do to better navigate neurodiversity and their team. So it's a broad range of events with different audiences and different purposes.

Antonio Santos: 15:27

To somehow complement the question do you see these communities as also having a positive impact on how Philips creates products and solutions for their users, for their consumers?

Tristan Lavender: 15:41

could definitely be an area where we could add more value, but, in honesty, that hasn't been our focus in the first few years of our existence, but it could, could, in the future, become another area of a focus for and maybe also to answer your earlier question about, you know, being a change agent influencing the organization I think that is also a really important role that we can play. We essentially amplify the voice of our community and we therefore also help the organization better do. That is, we conduct surveys within our community and then we share that data on an anonymized, aggregate level with senior leaders, with HR teams, to better inform them about what is needed to make changes to policies or practices, and that has been really appreciated, that we work in collaboration with the organization also. That we work in collaboration with the organization also Because it ultimately helps the organization better understand what they can do to move this forward.

Debra Ruh: 16:52

Boy, y'all teed up my question. That was just perfect the question that I have, because that is such a good point, but it also can cause problems. So the good point is it's really important for employees to feel engaged and like they are making a difference and helping the brand move forward, and so there's so much benefit that the brand gets from this so much benefit. And these are your team members. And so I remember talking to Capital One one time long time ago when I was helping them with accessibility, and I remember when we were just starting. They've gotten so far at this point, but when they were just starting, we were talking about where are the priorities? Are the priorities the customer facing? Where are we going to start first? We've got to do this. Where are we going to start? Are they the customer facing? Or maybe you take care of your employees? And we were having these conversations and, of course, the right answer is you do them simultaneously. Okay, whatever, we were having the questions and they came back and they said you know our employees pretty much like us and so maybe we'll start making sure the customers are good and happy and also helping our employees, but we feel our employees will work with us to make this work, and I just remember their response was different from what other brands were saying. So I was impressed with that.

Debra Ruh: 18:06

But then, going back to so I agree with all of that, but if it's not done right, when it is not done right, I have also seen where employees get so disenfranchised and so frustrated with the brand that they start leaving and quitting, and so it is so important that brands do this right. Listen, but it's also there are a lot of ways, tristan, they can get it wrong, and so I was just wondering if you wouldn't, we could just explore that a little bit, because I have seen from inclusion I've seen disability inclusion ones go horribly wrong for brands, horribly wrong, and they wind up losing some of their best employees because what we are not interested in them doing obviously Phillips is not doing this, we're not interested in them just putting them together pretending like we have something that you care about. No, no, we actually want you to listen to what we're saying, with a balance, you know. But yeah, I just wanted to explore the little tiny dangers there too.

Tristan Lavender: 19:03

Yeah, well, I think I mentioned the word education because I think every manager leader wants to do the right thing for their people, but they may not always be aware of certain barriers that their divergent employees may be facing. Going back to the early example that I gave about myself and maybe others needing a quiet environment Myself and maybe others needing a quiet environment that is something that a leader who's more extroverted, who likes to have people around them, may not necessarily be aware of, because it's just their natural way of being and interacting with others that they enjoy the energy of being surrounded by people. I've had conversations with managers who found it generally eye-opening when I shared my personal experience, for example, how I may experience a day in the office. So I think there's a lot of willingness to learn, but without that knowledge yes, it could very well be that narrative, urgent and police don't necessarily get the accommodations that they need, which may have all sorts of unintended consequences.

Debra Ruh: 20:10

Right, well, and also, this was not just about accommodations, where they went wrong. This one brand, I'm not going to mention where they went wrong, because what happened was there were policy changes that the networks had gotten together based on things that were happening in the world, and you've got to be paying attention and this brand was being very tone deaf until their employees caught their attention. They definitely got their attention. So it's just important to always be listening to these things and for brands to make sure they're taking them seriously. This is not just a little conversation we're having to talk about ADHD or Austin. No, no, this is very. We're here to help this brand be more successful. We want it to be a win for all, but they do have to have the right executive sponsors, and you know.

Tristan Lavender: 21:01

And Neil yeah, you mentioned innovation earlier in the conversation Absolutely. And Neil, you mentioned innovation earlier in the conversation. That is also how we frame the added value of neurodiversity in conversations with senior leadership. This is not just about supporting the individual. Ultimately, this is what the company also needs. We need people with different perspectives, we need people with different ways of thinking, because that is ultimately what helps drive innovation.

Neil Milliken: 21:26

That's I mean, that's the main thrust of your business. Is innovation Right, exactly, yeah, yeah. So if we were going and sort of rolling back the clock over the decades before we had all of these labels and everything else, the neurodivergent people in your company would have been the boffins right, exactly, essentially. Just, you know, you need to point out to management protect the boffins, make sure the boffins are happy, because the boffins are the ones that make this company tick. But you were talking about needs, and I'm neurodivergent.

Neil Milliken: 21:59

You're neurodivergent, but we have very different needs and I have a very neurodivergent team and those needs frequently conflict. We have different needs and there's a tension there. So when you have multiple people with neurodivergences, we all have needs. We all have a right to expect that our needs are met and that there are the challenges that we face are accepted too. How do you broker compromise? Because, actually, when you have a bunch of people that have these conflicting needs, how do you then create some kind of balance between some of those conflicting needs? Because it shouldn't be. The one individual gives up all of their needs to meet the needs of another. So how do you manage that tension?

Tristan Lavender: 22:45

sometimes, that is an excellent question and, I think, one that doesn't get asked enough, because often in the neurodiversity conversation it's about what does the individual need? But most of us work in teams and, to your point, neil, different team members will often have conflicting needs. I'll give you one example to answer your question. So what I've experienced, also in teams that I'm part of, is that some team members prefer to stay off camera during meetings for different reasons. They may find it anxiety-inducing or, especially if they have a lot of calls during the day, they just may find it genuinely exhausting to be on camera all day long. So these are all very valid reasons why they prefer to stay off camera. But I've also had conversations with, for example, dyslexic colleagues who've told me like yeah, I really need someone to be on camera because I rely on lip reading in order to follow the conversation.

Tristan Lavender: 23:45

I think that is a nice example of where different team members, especially neurodivergent team members, may have conflicting needs. I think the solution is to have an open team conversation about these things, to better understand what each individual needs and then sometimes also meet each other halfway. So, sticking to this example, you maybe you could agree, for example, that when you're talking during the meeting, you switch on your camera, but then when you're done talking, maybe it's okay to switch off your camera because that allows the in this case, that this dyslexic person to follow follow along with what's being said, but it allows, for example, maybe the autistic person who doesn't like to be on camera all the time to then switch off their camera once they're done talking. So that is just one super practical example. But I think you can only get to that point when, as a team, you develop the language to have these conversations and also feel the psychological safety to express your needs and then find yeah, find a way of meeting each other halfway when needed.

Neil Milliken: 24:49

Yeah, and I think that you know, sometimes when you've created that psychological safety, you can get these conversations and that's just going really large. It's like hello, we still need to do some work, exactly, yeah, yeah. So, and we, you know, we broker these things amongst our team members and, like you say, sometimes camera on, sometimes camera off. I think that, if I'm right in thinking, there's some features in Teams now where you can actually set it so that you can have your camera on but you don't see yourself.

Neil Milliken: 25:20

So those kind of things where people are actually starting to understand the needs and allow you to configure technology in a way that starts to minimize those conflicts a little bit. I mean, it's not always that we talk about teams minimizing accessibility needs, because I think that you know it can be a big thing for cognitive overload, but I I think that that's a good example of where you're able to balance those conflicting needs quite well. Antonio, I think had a final question before we're coming towards the end of our time, but I think he could squeeze a quick one in.

Antonio Santos: 25:57

In order to progress. This is not something that organizations can do alone, so I'm curious to know from you, tristan, how do you engage with other organizations outside the office, how your employees do that? How can we somehow work all together to improve advocacy and to change things for the better?

Tristan Lavender: 26:18

Yeah, great question. Well, I think there are a lot of networks within this domain. Just a few weeks ago, I was in London, also with peers from other companies, where we exchanged learnings, which was very insightful, because I think we're all figuring this out together. I don't think there's any organization that has fully figured out what it means to be neuro-inclusive. So I think there's a lot that we can learn from each other as we mature, each at our own pace, mature each at our own pace. So I would encourage anyone in this space just to connect with others, like we're doing in this conversation as well, because you don't need to figure it out on your own. There's a lot that you can learn from others who've done this before.

Neil Milliken: 26:55

Yeah, very true. So thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, your experience, with us. I need to thank Amazon and MyClearText for keeping us on air and keeping us captioned, and I really look forward to us being able to continue this conversation and hopefully widen the net as we bring in more people on social media and have these open conversations. So thank you once again, tristan. It's been a real pleasure talking to you.

Tristan Lavender: 27:27

It was a privilege.

Neil Milliken: 27:28

Thank you for having me.