Event Details

North Star SHRM will be hosting a virtual education session titled: 

Title: Invisible Condition - Visible Impact: Supporting Neurodiversity and Mental Health at Work

Speaker Rachel Thiemann with Lead Like it Matters

This is a virtual presentation via Zoom on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. All North Star SHRM members are invited to attend. There is no cost to attend. 

For the meeting link, log into the North Star SHRM website and click "Virtual Meeting Log-in" under Meetings & Events on the left side.

The target audience for this seminar is HR professionals and business owners.

Session Description:
Many factors that influence employee performance and well-being are not immediately visible. Neurodivergence, anxiety, cognitive overload, and other invisible conditions affect how individuals process information, communicate, and navigate the workplace. When these differences are misunderstood or misinterpreted, organizations experience unnecessary friction, reduced effectiveness, and preventable strain.

In this practical session, participants will examine how common workplace structures, expectations, and communication patterns can unintentionally create barriers. Everyday practices such as unclear priorities, shifting expectations, meeting overload, and reliance on implicit communication can increase cognitive load and disproportionately impact neurodivergent employees and others experiencing invisible challenges.

Moving beyond a sole focus on individual accommodation, this session introduces a clear framework for distinguishing between performance concerns and structural or environmental contributors. Participants will learn how to make targeted adjustments that improve clarity, predictability, and communication—reducing friction while supporting a wider range of working styles.

Strategies shared can be applied immediately to improve team effectiveness, employee experience, and workplace inclusion.

Learning Objective:
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize how neurodivergence, anxiety, and cognitive load influence workplace behavior and performance.
• Identify workplace practices (e.g., unclear expectations, meeting overload, shifting priorities) that increase employee strain.
• Differentiate between performance issues and structural or environmental contributors.
• Apply practical strategies to improve clarity, communication, and predictability across teams.

Speaker Bio:
Rachel Thiemann is the Founder of Lead Like It Matters™ and a Capacity-Based Leadership™ Strategist who helps organizations address burnout, overwhelm, and disengagement at their root—by focusing on leadership behavior, decision load, and organizational capacity rather than individual resilience alone.

With over two decades of experience in leadership development, workplace well-being, and organizational training, Rachel partners with HR leaders, managers, and teams to translate human sustainability into practical, measurable action. Her work bridges neuroscience, organizational psychology, and real-world leadership constraints, offering frameworks that help organizations reduce burnout.