How do you talk to your manager about how you work best?

You might know that meetings leave you with a pile of unspoken next steps, or that a vague deadline is hard to plan around. Explaining that to a manager can feel much bigger than the change you need. Start with one real example, one request and a way to see whether it helps. You can use a Koala Workstyle Profile to prepare, but you choose what to share.

Start with the work, not a perfect explanation

Pick a recent situation: a handover that had no clear owner, a meeting whose actions were never written down, or a day of back-to-back calls that left no time to do the work. What happened? What would have made the next step easier? That gives both of you something specific to solve.

For example: ‘After our Monday project meeting, I often leave with several possible priorities. Could we agree the top two actions and their dates before we finish?’ That is easier to act on than ‘I need more support’ on its own.

Choose how much to share

A conversation about how you work does not have to start with a diagnosis. You can describe the part of the job that is difficult and the change that would help. If you want to discuss neurodivergence or make a formal reasonable adjustment request, that is your choice too. Acas says workers decide when and how to share that they are neurodivergent.

Your Koala Workstyle Profile can be a prompt: choose the strengths, friction points and support ideas that feel accurate. You do not need to send the whole profile. A few lines in your own words may be enough.

A simple way to ask

1. Name one work situation: ‘When requests arrive from three places, I struggle to see which one is first.’
2. Explain the effect: ‘I spend time checking priorities instead of starting the work.’
3. Suggest one change: ‘Could we put the priority and deadline in the handover?’
4. Agree a review: ‘Can we try that for two weeks and see whether it helps?’

You can send those points before the meeting if speaking on the spot is hard. You can also bring notes. Acas recommends that the worker and employer discuss how an adjustment would work in practice and agree when to review it.

Leave with a clear next step

Write down what you agreed, who will do it and when you will check back. If the first idea does not work, that is useful information, not a failed conversation. Keep the part that helped and change the part that did not.

If the difficulty relates to a disability and you need a formal change, our UK guide to reasonable adjustments explains that route. Acas explains how to make a request and links to a letter template if writing it down would help.

Sources: Acas: Talking about neurodiversity; Having a meeting about reasonable adjustments; Adjustments for neurodiversity.