How can business psychology help you?

Sigmund Freud once said that “love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness”. Whilst you may not be feeling much love in the workplace at present, the application of psychological knowledge can help tremendously in these difficult times.

So how can business psychology support businesses and their employees? Psychology concerns all aspects of human behaviour, thoughts, feelings and experiences at work. As such, it plays a vital role in organisational performance by identifying and realising the full potential of prospective and current members of staff.

Recruitment

Psychologists can prevent organisations from making costly recruitment mistakes by identifying top talent who will not only help the organisation through leaner times but also enable it to come out of the downturn in a stronger position. Business psychologists offer organisations a layer of information that often goes beyond standard interviewing processes.

Acute understanding of different types of intelligence and the affect of personality on corporate and leadership behaviour can be fed back to employers. Furthermore, an understanding of the effect of corporate culture on staff enables expert advice to be given on the best ‘fit’ of your prospective candidates.

Organisational culture

Whilst many organisations will be focused on immediate challenges, such as short-term budgeting and restructuring for survival, it is also important to maintain a long-term perspective. At a time when many organisations are looking to cut costs through redundancies and pay rises that are below inflation, it is vital that you protect the culture that has been created and make the organisation an attractive place to work.

Development

Investing in staff through personal, managerial and leadership development will not only help organisations to retain their top performers but also attract talent in the market. Such provision provides a competitive advantage to attracting these people, who increasingly expect such organisational support as part of their package. Furthermore, succession planning and maintenance and development of future leaders can be addressed.

Pain points

Several recent London surveys have confirmed that the majority of us are scared of losing our jobs, and employees are often stretched to capacity, working long hours and doing the jobs of two or three people. The fear of an unstable economic climate can severely reduce core leadership skills and at worst can create a paralysis and lack of productivity.

Business psychologists have the knowledge to deal with and tackle the ‘pain points’ within a business to significantly reduce levels of stress and tension. Consequently, the organisation can be in a better state to innovate and formulate solutions to its current challenges. Executive coaching offers senior leaders the opportunity to develop the ‘soft skills’ that are required to engage and re-motivate employees, as well as build their own resilience to lead others through times of change.

Downsizing

Many organisations may also be forced to consider a downsizing strategy. In redundancy situations it is important to make informed and timely decisions, communicate clearly, and treat people respectfully. Psychologists are well placed to offer career transition coaching to exiting staff who may be distressed and needing support in their job search.

Offering such services can facilitate the job termination process and result in a mutually beneficial outcome. Negative feedback from exiting staff can be minimised, legal complications avoided, and the opportunity made available to collect valuable exit interview data.

In summary, investment in your people will enable you to cope optimally in a difficult and uncertain time. Clearly communicating a supportive stance to all members of your organisation will facilitate the best performance, lower turnover rate and the opportunity to prepare yourself for growth during the upturn.

By Charlotte Conrad

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