Reducing Cognitive Load Is More Effective Than Increasing Effort Reading Time: < 1 minute Author – John Harrington Pressure is not a strategy for improving performance; design is. The Effort Trap When performance starts to decline, organisations often increase accountability and urgency. However, if the system is poorly designed, all this additional effort does is…
Cognitive Load at Work: The Productivity Cost No One Measures Reading Time: < 1 minute Author – John Harrington Unmeasured cognitive cost quietly undermines performance. What Is Cognitive Cost? Every ambiguous instruction, unnecessary meeting, and fragmented workflow adds mental processing demand. Unlike financial costs, cognitive costs are rarely tracked although they directly influence retention, innovation,…
Why Smart People Struggle at Work, And Why It’s Often a Design Issue Reading Time: 2 minutes Author – John Harrington When capable employees underperform, it is rarely about competence; the issue is often cognitive load. The Hidden Cost of Cognitive Load Modern organisations demand sustained attention, rapid decision-making, constant communication, and frequent task-switching. These…
Why Neurodiversity Should Be Anchored to Performance Analytics — Not Just WellbeingNeurodiversity Isn’t a Wellbeing Initiative. It’s a Performance Strategy. Reading Time: 5 minutes Author – John Harrington Neurodiversity has entered the workplace conversation primarily through the lens of wellbeing. It’s usually framed in terms of psychological safety, empathy, mental health awareness and “being nice”…
From Accommodation to Innovation: How Neurodiversity Reveals Better Ways of WorkingWhy workplace adjustments should be treated as innovation pilots — not compliance tasks. Reading Time: 4 minutes Author – John Harrington The workplace is full of hidden inefficiencies — and neurodivergent employees often discover them first. Most organisations still treat “reasonable adjustments” as a private,…
Replace “Awareness Training” with “Neuro-Complexity Capability”Why organisations should stop teaching labels and start teaching cognitive operations. Reading Time: 5 minutes Author – John Harrington For more than a decade, most organisations have relied on a familiar formula for supporting neurodivergent employees: run an autism or ADHD “awareness session”, circulate some myth-busting slides, and hope behaviour…