Sometime you know exactly what you need. A specific product or service, designed to address a known problem. Other times it’s not so clear. Unfortunately a lot of time, energy and money is often wasted on pre-packaged solutions that look fantastic (and may work well in some organisations) but just don’t hit the mark in your organisation, with your people. Usually the reason for this is that the true nature of the issue hasn’t been identified. Without a clear understanding of the issue, implementing ‘off the shelf’ solutions becomes a game of darts in the dark. If you are lucky, you might get a bullseye, but more often than not you end up with holes in your wall.

That is where I come in. As an experienced Business Psychologist, I love to diagnose. It’s in my DNA. I am less interested in showing you all of the tools in my consulting tool belt, than I am in finding out what is really going on. As a keen advocate of systems thinking, I want to understand your context. I want to talk across individual, team and organisational levels to get a more accurate picture.

Firstly, it looks like me asking you a million questions! Depending on the consulting assignment, this could be questions about:

• The issue – how is in manifesting in the team /organisation (what are you seeing)? How long has it been going on for? What is the impact? What have you tried already? What outcome do you want?
• HR Metrics – what are recent trends in your turnover, absenteeism, WorkCover claims, etc?
• People & Culture – how would you define your current culture? What were the results of your last engagement survey like? To what extent are silos present in your organisation
• Strategy – what are you trying to achieve as an organisation (is this business as usual or a radical change from what you usually focus on)? Do you have a clearly articulated strategy and business model? What does your current strategy require of your leaders?
• Structure – how well does your current structure align with the business strategy? Have you recently restructured and if so how did it go? Is your structure aligned with your work processes, or is the structure an obstacle to work process effectiveness?
• Policies & Processes – What feedback mechanisms do you have in place to hear from your people? What is the maturity level of your current policies and processes? E.g:
  • Individual Performance Management
  • Flexible Work Practices
  • Diversity & Inclusion

The typical tools I utilise in helping organisations diagnose their issues include:

• Surveys
• Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Behavioural Observations (e.g. sitting in on leadership team meetings to observe the dynamics at play and feeding back to individuals and the team as a whole)
• Psychological Profiles (as a Registered Psychologist, I am accredited and experienced in a range of communication, leadership and team profiles)