# What is a business psychologist, actually?

- **Episode:** [17](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/17.md) (2022-12-20)
- **Type:** other
- **Tags:** business-psychology, behavioral-science, people-science
- **Time:** 3:08–6:11 (start 188s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/17?t=188](https://truthliesandwork.com/17?t=188)

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[3:08] Leanne Elliott: A business psychologist is somebody who, who works within the science of people, behavioural science, and applies those principles within an organisation. Why would an organisation need a business psychologist? People are complex beings, and none of us operate in a vacuum. Our own behaviours impact the behaviours of others, and particularly in organisations that are service-led, where your people are your product, having a business psychologist is really going to help you harness people's strengths, but also create an environment in which people can thrive. Particularly now that workplaces and the meaning of work to so many of us is shifting, understanding how people behave and how to nurture the desired behaviours in your business is going to have a direct impact on your bottom line. It's going to have a direct impact on your profitability. It's going to have a direct impact on the happiness of your customers and ultimately the success of your business. So, psychology is an important topic for any business that wants to grow through its people. And that is all about creating an engaging culture, which for me has 3 basic principles: how to find great people, how to engage great people, and how to empower great people
[4:32] Al Elliott: And so what do you think it is that people misunderstand most about what you do?
[4:37] Leanne Elliott: I think it's got better. I know that my early days, when I said I was a psychologist, I'd get the replies of, oh, can you read my mind? And after getting over the initial frustration, I'd usually come back with something like, yes, and you should be ashamed of yourself. I think, and I think, yeah, what people probably misunderstand is that they probably think I'm here to come with interventions, things that you can action immediately within your business to make things better. And the reality is, and the lie of psychology and the science of people, is that there are no kind of interventions with a 100% guaranteed stamp of succeeding. It all depends on the current structure of your business, the current climate of your business, as to what's going to—
[5:23] Al Elliott: Yeah
[5:25] Leanne Elliott: Work. So while there are popular interventions such as wellbeing programs, such as mentoring programs, coaching, um, or even, you know, great management training, even then it's, it's about understanding what that training looks like and how it's going to have the most impact in your business. A great manager in a health organization is going to look very different to a great manager in a sales organization. Um, so I think that's the main misconception, is that I don't come with the answers. I come with lots of questions. And then when we get the answers to those questions, those insights, then I can design an intervention that's going to work. So a lot of my, my role really initially is about research and gathering insights