About

Psych Savvy

Psych Savvy was established in 2006 in response to the ever increasing reports of women failing to progress into the middle and senior management roles. Literature often reports that women need assistance with negotiation skills, communication skills and emotional control. This however, lays the blame for a lack of progression at the feet of women.

Currently in Australia, women make up:

  • more than 50 per cent of all university places,
  • some 45 per cent of the workforce; and
  • around 44 per cent of professional and managerial positions.

However within the ASX 200, only 12 per cent hold executive management positions and 8.7 per cent are board directors (EOWA, 2006).

Another barrier that has been identified in preventing women from rising to the top in larger numbers has been the organisational systems and culture. Most organisations were initially developed by men, for men. Therefore women are attempting to progress in systems that may indirectly discriminate against them.

As Pru Goward, Sex Discrimination Commissioner stated, (Companies still failing to make the best use of women's talents, The West Australian, 4 Sept 2006) with women at the top of organisations you begin to see cultural changes around hours and flexibility, and performance becomes based on an outcomes oriented approach, as opposed to time in the role. This is a fair and equitable approach which gives men and women equal opportunity to compete for senior positions.

When it comes to women in politics, federal and state politicians fare slightly better than their private sector colleagues, with three in every 10, being a woman. In 2002, then Western Australian state Premier, Geoff Gallop set a target of 30 per cent of senior executive positions to be filled by women by 2005. However the figures have moved in the wrong direction over the past year, from 23 per cent to a current figure of 19.8 per cent. The end result is the current Premier, Alan Carpenter moving the target of 30 percent out to 2009, with a ministerial commitment to reversing these trends.

Does this sound familiar to you? Is this representative of the organisation you work for or the organisation you own? If you answered yes, instead of just having a good intention to do something about it, you can take action to rectify the situation today.

Psych Savvy offers a new and innovative approach, by addressing the challenge from a psychological perspective. From when we are born, males and females are socialised differently by their parents, grandparents, teachers and society as a whole. Society has unwritten rules about what is acceptable behaviour and interests for boys and girls. Given we are raised so differently, it is not surprising we have challenges in the workplace.

Women and men may communicate differently, lead differently or approach problem solving from different perspectives. Therefore Psych Savvy offers a program to assist people to understand each other better, from a psychological perspective. This information is invaluable for progress both in their professional life and personal life.
Research has shown, and continues to show (The Economist, 4th Sept 2006) that organisations with a higher proportion of senior women had a markedly better financial performance than their peers, no matter what industry. Therefore, for organisations to improve their bottom line and become an employer of choice for both men and women, they may need to revise the current organisational systems and the culture, which has developed from that.

Psych Savvy offers the expertise to assist an organisation to achieve this goal.

“A diversity of talent drives the creation of an outstanding organisation because when a company has a healthy level of diversity, it becomes apparent to all that there is no monopoly on brains, and that good ideas come from all over the organization.”

Former Hewlett Packard Australia CEO, Norman McCann