The Productive Pessimist

  The Supreme Court's recent ruling that "woman" refers to "someone who was biologically female at birth" only directly connects to roles specifically reserved for women , which have to follow a specific process to authorise gender exclusion against men.  It does not  mean "I want my organisation to be female-dominant, so I don't have to employ trans women anymore!"  Nor does it mean that you "aren't allowed" to continue respecting the gender - and names and pronouns - of trans people who currently work for you, and those you "don't think look like women" - who probably actually aren't  trans. For Boards, who are being legally obliged towards demonstrating equity, the real diversity is diversity of approach.   Here at The Productive Pessimist , we work very much in alignment with Leandro Herrero 's style of management - and very much agree with his statement: "If you have two people who think exactly the sam...

  The Productive Pessimist ' s  working practice is to ask 5 questions of clients whom we're helping to address strategic, systemic, and crisis challenges in their focus remits. 5 questions. No more, no less. Asking so few questions compels everyone in the room to focus on the "real problems", and set aside their personality clashes, their fixations, their personal perceptions of "the problem", and come together to bring through meaningful responses. The business community, once they finally accept they do have  problems, engage quite well with the challenge. The charitable sector, however... I'd like  to say the non-profit sector doesn't even accept they have any problems, because that would at least be reasonable, and make a lot more sense than the real situation, which is that the voluntary sector does nothing other than  complain about all  the "problems" it has.  And yes, many of those problems are genuine, and valid.  But, despite all...

  Ageism is often seen as exclusively about protecting older  people. However, "age" is a protected characteristic in UK law, and means any  age . People often use "ageism" to rail against statements such as "Ok, Boomer" - but "Ok, Boomer" relates to a mindset  - the mindset that says "the way I  do things is the best  way!",  "people don't have a right to be themselves  - they have to fit in, because that's what I  did!",   "I should be prioritised in every single situation!"  People of any age can have this "Boomer Mindset", while, equally, people of the "Baby Boom" generation can be very open-minded, very engaged with technology and change, and very enthusiastic about emerging trends. If you don't want to be referred to as a "Boomer", all you need to do is change your mindset. In contrast, millennials and Gen Z can't  escape accusations of "laziness",  "...

  As with mental health , neurodiversity inclusion is going to become a very present focus for UK businesses in the wake of the recent welfare reforms. Neurodiversity is also  a deeply complex aspect of inclusion, which typically requires a tailored approach designed with individual businesses - not only is every neurodiverse person different, with different sensitivities, skills, competencies, and accommodation needs, but so is every workplace.   The Productive Pessimist Ltd  offer a range of inclusive design and practice consultancy services, ranging from £15  one off costs to £8,000  yearly service support; reach out to us by email at theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com , or check out our services page  to find out more. For this blog, will be addressing a few common questions and challenges on neurodiversity, and neurodiverse inclusion in the workplace. Isn't everyone neurodivergent, though?  It's just about "seeing things differently", and ...

  With changes to the UK's welfare provisions making it harder for people facing mental health challenges to get basic financial assistance without  an expectation that they will be pursuing employment, British business can no longer carry on its time-honoured practice of subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) pushing people experiencing mental ill-health out of the workplace, and people trying to manage even complex mental health conditions can no longer assume that they will be allowed to focus on getting to a point of reliable stability before they have to look for work. The burden on people experiencing mental ill-health is cruel, especially for those whose condition is not  "just a normal response to the challenges of life", and is, for example, something like schizophrenia, bipolar, or one of the Cluster B personality disorders , which can be exceptionally disruptive to the individual experiencing the condition, not just those around them. At The Productive Pessimist ...

Disability inclusion is the art of planning for the future; when you create places and spaces that are inclusive by design, you accommodate the frailties and limitations that can come with ageing, you accommodate the way peoples' needs will change, outside of ageing, over time, as their circumstances and preferences change. Including disability from design, through build, and into completion saves resources, creates significant cost-efficiencies, and creates a consistency in development and provision which can both predict demand trends, and respond to emerging demands. Disability inclusive design isn't just about making entrances wheelchair accessible.   Disability inclusive design is about how a place is built, how space is laid out, how adaptable by individuals it is, how easily and to what degree things can be adjusted to suit individual needs and preferences. So much of the building of places and design of spaces is just an unthinking continuation of "the way we'v...