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Workplace excellence

Award for Chartered Psychologist and colleague.

13 July 2015

A Chartered Psychologist has been recognised by the Australian Psychological Society’s College of Organisational Psychologists for an innovative programme to promote effectiveness in a telecommunications company.

The programme was designed and implemented by Pauline Willis, a UK-based occupational psychologist, and Dr Josephine Palermo (General Manager, Customer and Collaboration, Telstra Corporation). Telstra is the largest telecommunications company in Australia and has a presence in over 15 countries. Willis told The Psychologist: ‘Collaboration is widely recognised as being critical to business success, in the global economic environment where the digital economy is creating new challenges. Feedback from both Telstra staff and customers identified the potential detrimental consequences of working in silos to both customer experience and employee engagement. By harnessing organisational psychology, we designed a program that raised awareness of the importance of collaboration and developed a culture of collective or shared leadership.’

The Workplace Excellence Awards celebrate exceptional achievement and innovation in the application of psychological principles in the workplace and recognise best practice in organisational psychology.

Photo: Pauline Willis. Credit: Nick Rawle.