By Amanda Lopes Pacca

PsychologyAtWork.blog promoted a BeTalent session about psychological safety, exciting aspects, exercises, and breakout rooms that make the participants think outside the box about such an important subject. The session was hosted by Dr Amanda Potter, Tina McCarty and Cleme Lewis, and explored some of the unique challenges of driving psychological safety in a hybrid working environment. But for those who could not come, let’s summarise a little bit the main aspects of the event to give you the possibility of realizing this essential construct.

And as I know, this post will leave you with more questions than answers, which is ideal in the world of psychology – where there are no absolute truths, but attempts at a profound expansion of knowledge – in search of individual, collective, and world well-being. But in this case, we will deal with safety in the workplace, so what is psychological safety?

According to Amy Edmondson (1999), it is a climate at work where individuals feel comfortable and free to speak up, as they feel that the work environment receives their voice in a good way and there is permission for candour.

But looking to the real world, we realize that not all environments are conducive to interpersonal risk. In some cases, professionals are encouraged to expose themselves; in others not. However, the reaction to this exposure often does not make them feel safe to continue the action and do it again. In this sense, the climate that is generated is not safe.

According to Edgar Schein, Warren Bennis, and Amy Edmondson, psychological safety could be linked to business impact. Since it increases engagement and high performance, enhancing different learning and knowledge sharing mechanisms, innovation, employee well-being, problem-solving, error reporting, and a sense of belonging.

Imagine all these as positive consequences in the organizational environment of individual and group decisions, of human actions that promote the climate of psychological safety and allow everyone to benefit from that state.

As Psychological Safety is a climate, it is also related to culture, as the organization’s values and norms define the climate. However, changing culture is challenging, as it takes years to develop. It is important to think long-term and work every day to make changes in culture if necessary. However, it is also essential to think short-term, which comprises the climate- the employees’ perceptions or feelings about the work environment. In a way, long-term changes occurred through habits developed in the present and carried out every day in the short term. This dynamic of present and future time intertwines and works together within the organizational environment.

But as the climate is associated with people’s feelings, he could change quickly. That is the importance of psychological safety and an open environment where employees can feel that they have a voice to express themselves and that they are heard. This climate is not about saying what the employee wants to hear and being complacent. The truth is the real path and the best way to help someone- and sometimes are not “nice.” But they are necessary for the growth of the individual and the organization itself.

Sharing different experiences and communicating is important to understand how people feel and want to be listened to, the needed changes, and new ways of bringing this psychological safety at the workplace.

BeTalent is a management consulting specializing in Talent platform, products, and assessments with a model of psychological safety discussed in the event. In that model, with the division in teams where psychological safety exists and not, it is possible to realize different characteristics such as courage, inclusion, trust, and appreciation to each other versus seeking consistency, being nice all the time, having relentless expectations, etc.

The fact is that human beings are complex, and not everything is “black and white.” When we approach the universe of the human mind in psychology, we have to understand that nothing is simple. The creation of a psychological safety environment for the teams demands action. According to BeTalent, it comprises challenging your assumptions, asking why, and asking about the wider consequences.

That means that the individual has to act through it and have an open mind to learn and not be afraid of failure or even “asking silly questions.” The fact is: to express your feelings and be truthful with yourself and your beliefs; there are no silly questions- just important ones. And the first one to know that should be the owner of the questions- yourself. Also, if you ask, maybe more people will be encouraged to do so, changing the climate and consequently the psychological safety at the workplace. You can be an essential person to contribute. Don’t just sit back and wait for things to happen and for the company to offer you that climate of safety. Use the power of your action and your daily choices to help build an environment in which you can live in a psychologically comfortable way.

About the Author

Amanda Lopes Pacca

Amanda is a final year student of the WOP-P Master in Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology. Brazilian by birth, her journey into psychology began before she graduated, at the age of 17, when she came into contact with Psychoanalysis. From then on, her passion for understanding the human mind expanded, and she graduated in Psychological Sciences at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. In her last year to become an occupational psychologist, her topics of interest cross all human nature, including leadership, psychological empowerment, emotional health, and mental problems. Her hope of contributing to the blog is that this vast universe of psychology could be accessible to as many people as possible through writing. Psychology has a long past but a short history. In this sense, psychology professionals owe it to the world of psychology and its precious knowledge to expand that so more people can think better about themselves, the world, and their desires.

Ever considered going independent? How about setting up your own consultancy? These are ideas and thoughts that cross most practitioners’ minds at some point or other. So, what are the top tips on actually doing so? Here are a few we gathered from a recent LinkedIn discussion (published with permission from the authors).

Steve Chapman

www.canscorpionssmoke.com

www.linkedin.com/in/stevegchapman

• Work out what you are really, really interested* in.
• Spend as much time as possible being interested in it.
• Find and hang out with others who are really, really interested in it.
• The rest sorts itself out.

* “Interested” means a real deep passion and insatiable curiosity. Not a vague subject. But something you’d run across a busy motorway to be interested in!

Martin Colinson

https://www.enablingtalent.com/

www.linkedin.com/in/martin-collinson-07b7974

• Be really clear about how you can add value
• Be really clear about how much that value is, and how much of it is rightfully yours
• Be really clear in your messaging about both of those things
• Look for people to collaborate with
• Drop me a line

Gordon Curphy

http://www.curphyleadershipsolutions.com/

http://www.therocketmodel.com/

www.linkedin.com/in/gordoncurphy

As someone who has been independent for so long that they are no longer employable, here are seven thoughts about starting up your own consulting business:

• Most people do not get trained on how to market or sell their services in graduate school, yet this differentiates high from low income consultants. Facts tell, but stories sell.
• Understand it takes 12-18 months of effort before winning business with new clients. This time frame can be shortened if you have already established relationships with key contacts.
• The bigger the net, the more fish you’ll catch. Use LinkedIn to make connections with potential clients.
• New consultants spend too much time building relationships with “below the line” contacts. These individuals can say no to proposals but are not empowered to say yes. Identify and build relationships with those who control the purse strings.
• Land and expand. Most clients have multiple needs, and a broad range of consulting skills improves the odds you’ll be given more work once you’ve delivered a project.
• Cash flow is more important than revenues when running a small business.
• Have a rainy-day fund. There will be times where there is little income, often due to no fault of your own

Hayley Lewis

https://halopsychology.com/ 

www.linkedin.com/in/hajlewis

• Be clear on who your target audience is. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to be all things to all people.
• Embrace your uniqueness. There is only one you. While we can learn from what others are doing, don’t copy them. People hire people so be open about what you’re about and why people should work with you. It’s okay to have a personality 😀
• If you don’t have a strong digital presence, get that sorted ASAP. Write, draw, vlog, podcast – whatever works for you. Around 50% of my work now comes off the back of content I’ve shared online. Get posting!

Nikita Mikhailov

www.linkedin.com/in/nikitamikhailov

• You can be independent and still continue looking for a full-time job
• Minimal viable product – instead of going for the website, branding all that stuff before starting practicing go for what you really need – Updated LinkedIn and professional indemnity insurance ( soothes my Neuroticism) then you can build everything else as you go along
• Its not necessarily about the new and shiny clients – make a list of 3 people you really enjoyed working with in the past and reach out to them for a catch up and at the end of the conversation ask if there is anyone in their network that it would be of benefit for you to chat to. Great, done that! now make a list of three more 🙂
• Have working hours, sometimes it can get hectic and you never switch off because maybe there is an email or a LinkedIn message which will lead to the next project, and there might be but it can wait till tomorrow morning, and there are more fun things to do in evenings than Linkedin (well that’s what I keep telling myself)
• Ask for help from your network and community cause no way anyone can make it right now on their own

Rob Williams

www.robwilliamsassessment.com

www.linkedin.com/in/robwilliamsassessment

Firstly be authentic. The freedom of working independently allows you the space to find your own voice 2) Whenever possible, favour those clients and projects you like best. 3) As soon as you can specialise in profitable business streams which you both enjoy and have a proven track record in. Good luck!

Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and wisdom on this 🙂

About the Author

Nikita Mikhailov is a Psychometrician, his mission is to share the goodness of psychology. He is Business Psychologist, and a member of the British Psychological Society. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, start ups, individuals and couples. He specialises in supporting companies in recruitment and development of talent through a combination of psychometrics and coaching. His particular interest lies in how personality assessments can be used to increase self awareness and to help people make practical steps towards being more effective leaders and living more meaningful and fulfilling lives.

By Simon Toms, Nikita Mikhailov & Hardeep Virdi

Occupational Psychology is a fascinating and fast-growing discipline. It adopts a scientific evidence-based approach to help individuals and organisations alike. It exists as a longstanding academic discipline with a demonstrable positive impact that has helped identify and address an extensive list of workplaces challenges and opportunities.

Over the years, this has translated into a strong demand for OP practitioners and the services they can provide. The most common route to this role is completion of a master’s degree in OP or a related field. Yet transitioning between these positions can prove difficult.

One reason is that practitioners may potentially lack a commercial mindset. Developing a commercial mindset is an essential requirement for anyone looking to apply OP to the world of work, when working in any sector, industry, private company or public organisations. Commercial mindset can simply be defined as “the knowledge of the business and industry your role operates in. When applied to work it shows if you have a deep understanding of the commercial models and strategies that underpin the business, product or service you provide” (CIPD, 2018).

As practitioners, we’ve decided to put our heads together and create a short blog detailing how this mindset can be developed and cultivated to become one pillar of your success as a practitioner.

We’ll begin by focussing on early-career OP’s, before discussing the importance of a commercial mindset more broadly.

Starting your journey

Whilst some MSc graduates will begin PhD’s soon after, the vast majority will not. Instead, graduates will find themselves job hunting in an extremely competitive job market. OP has a breadth of applications, so the ‘next step’ could look like a great many things.

Working as a practitioner – potentially in an OP-related consultancy – is one such step and is highly sought after by graduates. Yet moving from academia to a practitioner role represents a significant shift. One way to perceive this change is a move from research and theory to application and client service. A strong commercial mindset sits at the core of this shift.

This becomes clear when considering your prospective employer. As with any business, consultancies must adopt a commercial mindset to survive. It may seem crass to some, but revenue generation and business development will likely become part of your professional responsibility moving forward.

This isn’t to say that making money must always be at the forefront of your mind! But it should be a key part of your thinking. This may seem obvious to some, but this can prove difficult for others with limited employment experience outside of their education.

This lack of understanding in more inexperienced graduates can become apparent when they engage with prospective employers for the first time. Demonstrating your understanding of the discipline is important, but this is already well evidenced by your possession of a relevant degree.

Your qualifications have likely played a pivotal role in getting you to the latter stages of a recruitment process, but you’ll likely be up against individuals with similar achievements on paper. Prospective employers will be looking for more, and your chances of giving it to them will be improved by adopting a commercial mindset.

Interviewing for roles

A job interview is a great situation to demonstrate commercial mindset, even when you have limited or no experience. It’s important to discuss what you’ve achieved – interviews are not the time to display false modesty – but you also need to demonstrate why a prospective employer should hire you for the role. When putting forward your case, it’s helpful to consider some important questions that can help you demonstrate commercial awareness:

• What products and services does the employer provide?
• What is the science and literature underpinning these products and services?
• What is the marketplace like for these services and products?
• What are the typical clients of these products and services, and how do they decide which providers to engage with?
• Who are the competitors of the prospective employer?
• What is the client journey, and at which point will you be involved?
• What skills, abilities and knowledge will you require to fill the role, and if you don’t have them, how will you attain them?

Questions like these will stem from a commercial mindset, so if they don’t spring to mind, you need to broaden your perspective as to how you perceive OP and your role in it. Doing so will raise your awareness of OP as a commercial enterprise that provides products and services to clients, and not just as an academic discipline.

If you are able to effectively communicate this to prospective employers, you will also be able to effectively communicate this to potential clients. That will make you valuable and desirable as a prospective candidate in an increasingly competitive job market.

This value will become increasingly apparent as you progress in your roles, none more so than in the context of consultancy projects.

Applying a commercial mindset to consultancy projects

The first step in any consultancy project is to listen to client’s needs. Truly listening is not always easy to do and for many is one of the most difficult things to do. It involves understanding the current situation the client finds themselves in and what challenges they feel they currently need to address, asking questions to better understand the options that are available to them and where most your skill and expertise can be utilised to work with the client for them to achieve their goals of the project. Some tips on listening:

• Don’t interrupt (especially hard for the more extraverted of us)
• Use open-ended questions to gain further insights than what is required
• Before proposing a course of actions, just check you heard what the client said and giving them an option to add anything else
• When asking is there anything else they want to add, or the “Is there any questions?” count to at least 10 inside your head before saying anything

As one of my colleagues says:

“If the client comes out of the meeting, feeling as they were heard, that’s half the task done!”

About the Authors

Simon Toms is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. In 2019, he was elected to Full Membership of the Division of Occupational Psychology. He is also a Chartered Scientist with the Science Council, Principal Practitioner with the Association for Business Psychology, published author, and PhD graduate. He is a graduate of the Division of Occupational Psychology’s Leadership Development Programme.

Nikita Mikhailov is a Psychometrician, his mission is to share the goodness of psychology. He is Business Psychologist, and a member of the British Psychological Society. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, start ups, individuals and couples. He specialises in supporting companies in recruitment and development of talent through a combination of psychometrics and coaching. His particular interest lies in how personality assessments can be used to increase self awareness and to help people make practical steps towards being more effective leaders and living more meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Hardeep Virdi is an established Senior Learning & Development professional who has built her career working internally within organisations as a Chartered Occupational Psychologist. Specialist in Leadership Development, Talent & Succession Development, Executive 1:1 and team based coaching, and development based Psychometrics. Mainly working with Executive Boards/Senior levels in global matrix, complex and diverse organisations.

By Simon Toms

Achieving a Master’s degree is a massive accomplishment. It reflects a level of education few people reach and demands a range of skills and knowledge to be honed at a high level. OP-related MSc’s are no exception.

OP is a diverse field with a variety of applications. Areas include personnel assessment, organisational development, staff wellbeing, coaching and leadership to name just a few, and an MSc must provide students with insight into all of these and more.

Sitting within this diverse range of study is the dissertation. A culmination of many months of hard work, dissertations contribute a significant portion of your MSc grade. Whilst many people view their dissertation entirely within these terms, it’s important to note that the benefits of your dissertation can extend well beyond MSc course credits.

We’ve compiled a short list of tips on how MSc students can maximise the impact of their dissertations. But before sharing them, a couple of points must be made.

The first is that your dissertation says a great deal about you and your interests. Students would have received the same taught content as their course peers, and BPS accreditation ensures significant inter-university alignment in terms of OP course subject matter.

This means that the topic of your dissertation is arguably the strongest factor differentiating you from your peers.

The second point is to challenge the mindset many students develop throughout their education. At every stage, you have probably been surrounded by peers who were likely to be at a similar level to you, and your MSc would have been no exception. This is usually a great thing. You can share experiences with course mates and engage in mutual learning with others possessing similar interests.

But there is a downside…

It can serve to dampen your understanding of how far your education has taken you, and how much knowledge you now possess in relation to the general population. This mindset is exacerbated by your ‘graduation’, which can make you feel like you are ‘starting from scratch’ in the world of work.

Whilst continuing to learn, develop, and build experience is essential, you must also recognise that your educational achievements already make you a valuable resource.

The knowledge and skills you have built in the context of your dissertation are the strongest manifestation of this value and should serve as a focal point in the early stages of you OP career.

With these points in mind, here’s three tips for making you MSc dissertation go further.

Online Engagement

Developing an online presence is more important than ever. Starting is easy and should involve following anyone working in your areas of interest. This will not only help you stay connected to developments in your desired field of work but facilitate future engagement with important people.

Your dissertation represents a rich vein of content in which this engagement could draw from. Explore ways of disseminating the lessons you learned in your research. These can include uploading a series of short blog pieces that breakdown the key themes of your dissertation or engaging interested parties in online discussions with useful insight resulting from your studies.

The most important platform to engage through is LinkedIn, although twitter represents another option. You can even consider creating your own website. Trust us, this is easier than you think!

Whilst the benefits may not immediately become apparent, your online presence could be the most critical factor in furthering your career. Building your profile makes your achievements and expertise easily accessible. It can help the people you need to impress see you, and what you’ve accomplished, at the click of a button.

Present at a Conference

Conferences represent a great resource for psychologists at every stage of their career. They can facilitate hugely advantageous formal and informal networking opportunities, and allow you to hear from a range of thought leaders and researchers in OP and other related fields.

Your dissertation can also allow you to play an active role as a presenter. Events can offer a range of format options. Longer-form options like standard papers and symposiums are one option, but less demanding formats like ‘impact papers’ and posters are also available.

Keep an eye out for upcoming events, and if one takes your fancy, make sure you read the submission guidelines with a fine-tooth comb! Even if your findings will not be ready by the submission deadline, it can still be worth submitting, as reviewers may be flexible on this.

Recent restrictions resulting from the global pandemic have put a temporary hiatus on face-to-face events, but a huge growth in virtual events has filled the void. This removes one of the most prohibitive factors in attending events: the cost of travel and accommodation.

Ironically, this means that there may be no better time to maximise your dissertation’s impact by getting a conference presentation under your belt!

Publish!

Publishing your dissertation can massively increase its exposure. It can mean the difference between several readers, or several hundred. It’s obviously preferable to maximise your readership, but how?

There are several options for publication open to you. The gold standard for a publication would be in a peer-reviewed academic journal. This option will be reserved for the very best dissertations and may benefit from involving academics with expertise in your topic as co-authors.

Other, more accessible options are available. There are several OP-related publications you could consider; the BPS journal ‘OP Matters’ is a great example. You can also explore industry-specific publications. These will depend on the content and focus of your research and can help you engage with individuals who are best placed to implement lessons emerging from your findings.

Publishing your work not only builds your reputation. It can develop your ability to communicate effectively and professionally. The primary example is writing, which is not a linear skill. There are various styles, and improvements in one style are not necessarily mirrored in others. Your MSc will have trained you to write in an academic style, and whilst this has notable strengths, it may not be best suited to each situation.

When publishing your work, you must consider the requirements and style of the publication, in addition to the target audience. If you’re speaking to practitioners, provide recommended implementations. If you’re speaking to non-psychologists, reflect this in the accessibility of your writing.

Adapting your communication style is an essential skill for every OP professional, and writing for a publication is a great opportunity to develop it.

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of how you can make your dissertation go further. The OP field is incredibly popular, and this translates into considerable competition. This can be most keenly felt at the graduate level, so exploring ways that help you stand out is essential.

Given the dissertation will be amongst your greatest accomplishments, it stands to reason that it should be a key component of your early career strategy.

Good luck!

About the Author

Simon Toms is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. In 2019, he was elected to Full Membership of the Division of Occupational Psychology. He is also a Chartered Scientist with the Science Council, Principal Practitioner with the Association for Business Psychology, published author, and PhD graduate. He is a graduate of the Division of Occupational Psychology’s Leadership Development Programme.