Tanya Hughes

Tell us about how you are neurodivergent?

I have always known there was something different about me and I struggled – under the radar - throughout school, but I wasn’t diagnosed as dyslexic until I joined HM Treasury, aged 50. My form of dyslexia has an impact on time to draft documents, proofreading and cognitive weakness in verbal short-term memory and naming ability. Being diagnosed later in life has meant I have formed coping mechanisms that have helped throughout my career. 

We would love to get a sense of you as a leader. Tell us about when you first stepped out as a leader? What was that like?

My first senior role in the civil service was managing a contract management team, leading a significantly large and complex contract with both ministerial and public attention. I was promoted from within the contracts team, so I went from being a part of the team to leading the team. It was daunting if I am honest. I felt like an imposter, I overcompensated by working long hours.   

LinkedIn now recognises ‘dyslexic thinking’ as a skill. How has this contributed to your career successes? 

It is my superpower! I am solutions focused and I am able to visualise the solution quite early on in the process. However, there are principles that we need to undergo for solutions to be accepted as sound, so I tend to go through the rounds of modelling before we can come to an evidenced based agreed solution.  That has been a journey for me, to be patient and enable others to come on that journey to find the solution - which tends to be what I had considered at the start of the process. I have no doubt that I wouldn't have been so successful if I wasn't dyslexic. It's my superpower.

What are your other key strengths that you draw in your leadership?

I would say my faith and my support network. They all provide balance and perspective in my life…. and from experience an unbalanced leader is not going to lead well. I also try to be prosocial with my team; I model it by working compressed hours, Friday’s my non-workday. I am clear that unless it’s an emergency, I am not contactable as Friday is my day with my granddaughter. I have had feedback from the team that this makes them feel a lot more comfortable to highlight their caring responsibilities and less pressure to work unsociable hours. 

As a leader who is different from the typical mould, what strategies help you to be true to yourself and succeed?

A very wise colleague once said to me, ’you got yourself here, you need to just continue being you’ and I have stood on that so many times. I think age has also helped, as I don't need affirmation in the same way I used to from work. I know who I am, I have a sense of purpose and why I’m doing what I am doing, so I am focused on that. As long as my team are happy and we are achieving and I continue to be open to develop and grow, without the pressures to try to ‘fit in’, that for me is success.

Tell us about your OBE?

Ok so that was a bit of a shock. When I received the letter, I cannot fully describe the emotions, but I laughed and cried, I was literally shaking in my kitchen. The letter highlighted my nomination was for my contribution to the David Lammy (DL) review in Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS), and for charitable work over the years. At the time of the award, I had recently concluded the programme of work which embedded the recommendations in the DL review into HMPPS. The charity work included an outreach for girls who’d been trafficked into the sex industry (City Women Outreach), a non-profit that has supported girls in Nairobi and working towards a project in West Africa with reusable sanitary products, and I volunteered for an organisation called Teen Challenge, where I’d supported people who were homeless. And receiving the OBE….it was an amazing day with my children that I'll never forget! 

What support do you think potential neurodivergent leaders need to excel? 

I think the most important thing is a greater understanding of the value that people who are neurodivergent bring- different perspectives, that diversity of thought. You know someone who might think slightly out of the box or bring a very different perspective. There is huge value in someone seeing things differently. One of the issues is, everyone has bias, where we tend to be drawn to people like ourselves or people we have seen succeed. I think the more leaders who come out as neurodiverse the better. We need to celebrate it, if more people saw the superpower that we have, it would hopefully remove some of the unfortunate negative connotations. 

Inspire us: Please can you share some inspiration- favourite leadership book, story of someone who has inspired you ….

I’ve never really looked up to people because I never saw anyone I could mirror, anyone who looked like me. There wasn’t anyone I could relate to. The successful people I saw were from very different socio-economic backgrounds to me, looked and sounded nothing like me. My drive was having a strong sense that I could do what I saw others doing, and potentially do it better. It can be tough, and you can sometimes feel isolated, but I really admire people who are truly themselves, people who are comfortable being different from their peers and who own that space. These are the people that inspire me, and there's lots of people in different spheres who are starting to trailblaze in this space. I really think it’s an exciting time to be neurodiverse.