When people first hear the title Organisational Psychologist, their mind connects with the word psychologist and automatically thoughts of therapy or mental health management come to mind. Although these elements may form a small part of the role, an Organisational Psychologist specialises in the science of how people think and behave in the workplace and how that affects the objectives and goals of the organisation.
Sometimes organisational psychology is called industrial-organsational psychology (IO Psychology), business psychology, corporate psychology or, simply ‘work psychology’. And as these names suggest, it is using social and behavioural psychology theories to create improvements within the workplace. In summary, it is the observation and application of psychological principles to the organisation, its employees and the workplace as a whole.
Organisational psychology is a small and unique field so many people are not aware of what it is, how it works and what improvements it can bring to the organisation, its employees and how well the workplace functions. If you have not heard of it before, then I am sure you are not alone. However, it will become more commonly discussed and integrated into business as the number of Organisational Psychologists increase.
Organisational Psychologists study how decisions are made, how employees behave solo and when interacting with others and how effectively each member of the team communicates with each other. By analysing these areas, an Organisational Psychologist is able to identify strategies for personal development, systems improvements or changes to culture and other dynamics that make the organisation just generally work better.
Benefits of organisational psychology
Organisational psychology is primarily aimed at creating synergies and alignments between the goals and objectives of the company and the needs of its employees. The main objective is to improve the way that employees show up at work which flows on to improvements with their quality of life and overall wellbeing. When employees are performing at their best they are easily able to achieve outstanding cohesion, performance and efficiencies.
Here are some specific benefits to organisations and their employees that are obtained through the engagement of an Organisational Psychologist.
Benefits for organisations:
The overall objective of organisational psychology is to create mutual benefits for the company and its employees. It strives to develop synergies and strategies that results in a strong relationship between the two.
Improving and strengthening the collaboration and relationships between employees develops a healthy and robust organisational culture. This then contributes to a healthy, stable and psychologically safe work environment which significantly increases productivity, loyalty, relationships, and employee commitment. In turn, this flows through to reduced employee turnover, reduced incidents and unforced errors and increases profitability and the attractiveness for new hires.
Benefits for employees:
An Organisational Psychologist is responsible for solving issues within the business efficiently and with win-win outcomes for both the organisation and its employees. Very often, it is through consultation with employees that solutions are identified which gives them a sense of purpose, belonging and they feel part of the integral running of the organisation.
In addition to improving their sense of purpose and belonging within the organisation, an Organisational Psychologist identifies areas for personal development and improvement. Whether that be formal skills related training or self-reflection on behaviours and subconscious triggers, this results in improvements in the employee’s quality of life. Creating an environment where employees are able to collaborate in psychologically safe environments, push themselves to develop professionally and have meaningful relationships with employees provides them with personal satisfaction while at work. It allows them to free up the mental capacity previously used for navigating through the organisational cultural blocks, to effectively and efficiently carry out the role that they are employed to do.
How can we engage an Organisational Psychologist to partner with our business?
The founder of Get Up and Grow Consulting, Niomi Hurley, has completed a degree in Psychology and specialises in Organisational Psychology, especially in the areas of social and behavioural psychology. Her corporate background in HR and Safety provides her with an understanding of the complexities of organisations production demands vs employee wellbeing and allows her to find a unique balance between the two. Niomi is also a qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist so has the added specialty of deeply understanding the subconscious mind and how that connects with the social and behavioural psychology displayed by people in the workplace.
If you would like to learn more about how you can engage Niomi to partner with your organisation you can email admin@getupandgrowconsulting.com.au or schedule a Discovery Call here
