Who We Are
Most leaders don’t lack goodwill. They lack practical confidence.
Across the Pond Consulting brings together experience in leadership, human resources, coaching, team development, and organizational learning, with a particular focus on helping leaders manage neurodiversity in their teams.
Approximately 15–20% of the population is neurodivergent. That means ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and other neurological differences are already present in most teams, whether leaders know it or not. The challenge isn’t identifying who is neurodivergent. Leaders can’t and shouldn’t ask. The challenge is leading in a way that works for all brain types, so that every team member can contribute meaningfully and thrive.
That's harder than it sounds. Many leaders feel frustrated when performance suffers and they don't know why. They worry about saying the wrong thing, creating legal risk, misreading behaviour as attitude, managing performance fairly, and handling team conflict when different working styles clash. What looks like poor performance, bad attitude, or someone who just isn't a team player may not be what it appears, sometimes it's neurodiversity. They don't need awareness training. They need practical tools, clear frameworks, and the confidence to act early.
We help leaders and organizations build that confidence. Our work is practical, developmental, and grounded in the realities of work. We help leaders understand how neurological differences shape communication, attention, organization, collaboration, and performance, and we give them practical strategies that work across the whole team.
Co-Owner
Dr. Christa Sandidge
Christa brings a background in leadership studies, higher education, leadership development, team development, and coaching. She holds a doctorate in Leadership and has extensive experience designing learning and development experiences for leaders, teams, and organizations.
Her work focuses on how leadership practices, team dynamics, communication, expectations, and organizational systems influence the way people experience and perform at work. She is particularly interested in helping leaders move from understanding an issue to identifying practical ways to strengthen how they lead and support others.
Christa brings a research-informed perspective to the work while keeping the focus on practical application.
Co-owner
Maria Wybrow
Maria brings more than thirty years of corporate experience in human resources, executive support, event and contract management. She holds CIPD status, is an ICF-certified coach, and is a certified ADHD Clinical Services Provider (ADHD-CCSP). She is currently completing an MSc in Human Resource Management.
Maria’s work is informed by both professional expertise and lived experience. Diagnosed with ADHD and autism as an adult, she understands firsthand what it feels like to be the person in a team whose working style doesn’t fit the expected mould, and she understands the challenges leaders face when they encounter that person and aren’t sure how to respond.
After a thirty-year corporate career, Maria chose to deepen her expertise through formal study and specialist coaching certification. She brings together practical HR knowledge, current academic research, and the real-life understanding that comes from navigating the workplace as a neurodivergent professional.
Her work focuses on helping leaders understand how neurological differences shape communication, performance, and team dynamics, and on giving them practical tools to lead confidently across all brain types, without needing anyone to disclose or explain.
Different Perspectives. Shared Purpose.
Across the Pond reflects more than geography. Our backgrounds and experiences bring together perspectives from both the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as different areas of leadership, HR, education, and coaching.
That dual perspective matters for neurodiversity. The legal frameworks differ, the Equality Act in the UK, the Americans with Disabilities Act in the US, but the leadership challenge is the same: how to create conditions where all team members can work effectively, contribute meaningfully, and thrive, without anyone having to explain or disclose.
Those differences strengthen the way we approach our work. We ask questions, look at challenges from multiple perspectives, and resist assuming that one approach will work for every person, team, or organization.
What we share is a commitment to helping organizations create environments where all brain types can contribute, develop, and thrive.