Victoria Newsletter ASP College of Organisational Psychologists

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1 Welcome from the Chair Welcome to our new look newsletter. This month we are delighted to bring you an update on our National Initiatives as well as our State based initiatives. It never ceases to amaze me how generous our fellow colleagues are with their time and energy. This month, I d like to thank all our Committee members and volunteers for the wonderful job they do working on behalf of our College. This will become more evident as you read further. July 2014 We have an update on the 2015 Industrial / Organisational Psych. Conference in Melbourne next year. We are very keen to make this one of our best conferences ever and we d love your help! We are also proud to announce a full committee with our new 4 th year psych and 1 st year Masters students joining us! We hope you enjoy this months reading. Rosie McMahon Vic COP Portfolios & their Leaders National COP Committee (Vic COP Chair s portfolio) This diagram summarises our Committee and Portfolios. We are here to help, so please contact us at any time on cop.vic.chair@gmail.com National COP Census 2015 IO Psych Conference Psychologically Healthy Workplaces National Psychology Week Vic COP Committee Rosie McMahon (Chair) Jessica Towicz (Deputy Chair) CPD & Events Jessica Towicz (Lead) Victoria Devine (Deputy) Membership Carly Newman Communications Talitha Akin Strategic Relations Gina McCredie Member events Member Value Proposition Branding Advocacy Student Support Supervisor Network Meeting Website Treasurer COP Conversations Supervisor Database Monthly Newsletter Nadhisha Piyasena Women in Leadership Supervisor / Student Resources National COP Newsletter (REACH) Secretary Internal Consultants Breakfast Forum Interstate Supervision Program Online Communications Strategy Courtney Wurth Industry Group Programs Industry Group Connections Social Media Program Student Reps Georgette Karvelas (Swinburne) & Claudine Ellis (RMIT) Year 4 Psychology; Emil Breidahl (Year 1 Deakin); Erin Fogg (Year 2 Deakin) 1

2 Vic COP Committee Objective: Sustain and build our profession into the future. The first 6 months of 2014 have been spent resourcing the committee to deliver our strategic plan ( and developing our governance protocols. As Organisational Psychologists, we thought it important to position ourselves to deliver the plan and not just continue with Business as Usual. We now meet as a committee on a bi-monthly basis, with portfolio leaders meeting between times to progress the work. By making it clear what we wanted to achieve, we have been able to engage a fantastic group of volunteers who support the portfolios of their choice. For the first time in a few years we have now a full contingent of students from 4 th year Psychology and Masters programs. We are now positioned to deliver on the plan and build our profession. Membership Objective: To attract members by being a thriving, forward thinking community Our primary focus for 2014 is to build our supervisor pool; with the shortage of supervisors across Australia it becomes difficult for graduating students to find support for registration, yet alone endorsement. We have held forums for both current supervisors and potential supervisors in the hope that we can convert interest to action. We now have 250 members, 94 student subscribers (8 of whom have joined us in the last 3 months). Along with building our supervisor base, we are working with the National Committee to deliver a Member Value Proposition that is meaningful and adds value. This takes time, but the outcome will be sensational (see p4). We know we can attract members with a strong value proposition, a plan that is clearly directed at building our profession and building an inclusive community. CPD and Events Objective: To offer relevant and interesting professional development We have continued to provide our regular COP Conversations, Women in Leadership and the Internal Consultants Breakfasts (thanks to Leila, Kerryn and Graeme). Again, without volunteers to facilitate these forums we would struggle to offer them. We held our first ever collaboration webinar with AHRI (Organisational Trust: myth or possibility) in June, with AHRI happy to consider future collaborations. We have carried out a survey to glean your thoughts on CPD, and will announce the results soon. We are also keen to run a National survey so that States can develop a collaborative approach to CPD and broaden our member offering. We know you, our members, have a lot to share, so we encourage you to contact Jessica Towicz offering your expertise for the benefit of all (cop.vic.chair@gmail.com). Communication Objective: To engage members in our work and activities The work on our new brand and website is hotting up. COP WA has done a lot in this space so we have joined forces with them to develop a collaboration that all States can benefit from. We have recently launched our own Linkedin site where members can network with others and share information and ideas ( If you haven t looked at the site yet, we d encourage you to get involved and add posts and blogs. We see COP as a community that can contribute to its members and help each other to be great practitioners and scientists. We have the opportunity to sustain our profession through connecting and with technology today, there s nothing stopping us. Strategic Relations Objective: To support National Issues Based on the plethora of information developed by the National Regulatory Developments Working Party (which has now disbanded), Vic COP has decided to identify a small number of critical issues to progress and advocate for on behalf of members. This committee is in the process of reviewing this information to ascertain which issues to pursue with influential stakeholders. Once identified, we will collaborate with members about those issues and how best to promote them. This is our opportunity to network with decision makers about how we can sustain and build our profession. We have lost Org. Psych. programs in Victoria, and we do not fit easily into the health services model. But we have an enormous contribution to make to business performance and to society. We look forward to collaborating with you. 2

3 Supporting National Initiatives The National COP Committee spent 1.5 days on the 27 & 28 June reviewing our progress in relation to: The early July 2015 IO Psychology Conference The APS Psychologically Healthy Workplaces (PHW) Program The COP Member Value Proposition The development of a consistent COP Brand These productive sessions provided an opportunity to explore how to deliver greater value and service to our members. Outcomes included: Pooling our State based COP resources nationally Developing a national PHW Framework that included a broad range of initiatives from all APS Colleges AframeworkforbuildingastrongscienceAND practitioner IO Psych conference A member value proposition straw man (stay tuned!) and Organisational Psychology Website A timetable for developing and launching the new COP Brand These initiatives are very exciting and provide a huge opportunity to build a strong professional coalition nationally. Our work draws on the combined efforts and skills of our National and State teams, suggesting future outcomes will be sensational for members. We hope you agree as they come on line! Psychologically Healthy Workplaces Developing Our New Brand COP WA recently engaged a communications group to assist with the development of a COP Brand and voice. This work is now being adopted and developed further by a National Branding Committee. The plan for evolving the brand and supporting resources is below. Sep 2014 Develop Communication Plan Oct 2014 Begin Internal Consultation Dec 2014 Begin External Consultation (industry) Mar 2015 Develop supporting resources Jun 2015 Socialise key messages and resources Jul 2015 Formally Launch new COP Brand Tim Bednall is our National Branding and Communications Lead Being a member of COP has always been about being part of a community. We can network with our colleagues, attend events, find out about changes in our regulatory environment and much, much more. The National Committee is keen to take our MVP further however. With the aid of technology, we are now able to consider a whole range of additional member benefits not previously available to us. This group has been exploring what those member benefits might look like in a technological age and have come up with an exciting new proposition. We still have a lot of work to do, with our next meeting on the 22 nd July. This group is led by Damian Cotchett, the National Membership Lead. Member Value Proposition (MVP) The business case for Psychologically Healthy Workplaces (PHW) is clear those organisations that successfully manage the health of their employees save billions of dollars in stress related compensation claims, reduced absenteeism and turnover costs as well as demonstrate higher levels of employee satisfaction and productivity. The introduction of the PHW Program by the APS to raise awareness of the contribution psychologists can make to the psychological health of people in all types of workplace environments is a positive move, as is APS s collaboration as one of the founding members of the Mentally Healthy Workplaces Alliance. It is also clear that psychologists, regardless of their practice area and the forum in which they provide their services, are keen to support the psychological health of those they work with and serve. This suggests that there may be additional initiatives to add to the current APS offering and that there may be other methods by which stakeholders and members can contribute. The National COP Committee has been developing an approach to collaborate with other Colleges on what these additional initiatives might consist of. A paper has been developed and will be forwarded shortly to the APS for review. Once signed off by the APS, we will be delighted to share our thoughts on how we can work with all our members to collaborate on opportunities to influence healthy workplace outcomes. Please forward any queries to David Heap and Rosie McMahon via cop.vic.chair@gmail.com 3

4 2015 IO Psychology Conference The 2015 IO Psychology Conference Organising Committee have started preparations for this event which is shaping up to be bigger and more exciting Committees Conference Program Design conference program and timetable Workshop Program Design workshop program / Review Submissions / Support presenters to deliver interesting and challenging workshops Scientific Program Committee Review and select invited speakers (scientific submissions); papers, symposia etc. Industry Program Committee Review and select industry and practitioner presentation submissions Keynote Support Support keynotes from invitation acceptance to conference end Presenter Assistance Provide guidance to presenters while they prepare for and deliver their presentations Sponsorship and Exhibitions Seek, promote and support sponsors and exhibitors Social, Networking and Communications Cocktail Event Design and deliver with assistance from event management Gala Dinner Design and deliver with assistance from event management Awards Develop award categories and criteria, seek nominations, identify prizes, select winners, prepare for presentations Advertising, Marketing, Media and Communications Develop and deliver the conference Communications Strategy Volunteers Manage the volunteer data base and their portfolios and support volunteers from now until the conference ends Administrative Support Provide administrative support to the various Committees from now until the conference ends Social Events Management Provide assistance to interstate and overseas guests with regards events and activities within Melbourne and surrounds Individual Initiatives and Launches Member Value Proposition Presentation COP Branding Presentation than ever. The conference will be held in Melbourne in early July 2015 (the exact dates will be confirmed in August 2014). Chaired by Associate Professor Kathryn von Treuer (Deakin University), the organising committee also consists of Peter Zarris (National COP Chair), David Heap (National COP Deputy Chair) and Rosie McMahon (Vic COP Chair). We have our sights on a large audience due to some exciting innovations: An opening night cocktail party with an entertainment surprise! A semi formal gala dinner and awards night that takes into account some new awards in addition to the Elton Mayo and College Award of Distinction. We have a special team working on building our own Oscars. An opportunity for our non-psychology based clients and colleagues to present on organisational issues that impact our research and practice and an award for the best Conference presentation To make sure we have enough people to help us with this program of work, we are now seeking interest from volunteers who are keen to help. We think there are a number of benefits to volunteering: Working with senior Organisational Psychologists Developing understanding of how to put together an international event Having an opportunity to spend time with Keynotes Reduced conference fees To make this easy, we have listed the areas and outlined what the work will consist of. We hope you will consider using your many great talents to support this event. Interstate volunteers are welcome - we have the technology to share ideas and create great outcomes remotely! Volunteers Wanted We Need You! Others TBA (Presentation) Post Conference Activity (Post Conference Review, final activities and Lessons Learned) Volunteers are asked to contact Rosie McMahon at cop.vic.chair@gmail.com.au indicating which area you would be keen to work with. This will help us link you up with the person heading up that area (in some instances, you may wish to nominate yourself as the lead!) 4

5 Survey Results Thanks to those who have completed our members survey we now have a better understanding of what you want to see from our CPD offering. We will send you an update in the coming weeks in how we can serve you better! National COP Census We recently spoke to State Chairs about their need for member related information and determined that we could be better served developing a national survey. All Chairs agreed so we have set up a National COP Census team who will be working on this initiative. Stay tuned for further information! National Psychology Week National Psychology Week is on 9 15 November. We are keen to hear from anyone who would be interested in participating in NPW or suggesting how Vic COP can support you to promote organisational psychology in your business. Please let us know by contacting Courtney Wurth at c.wurth@hotmail.com. A Competition! Peter Zarris (National COP Chair) will be forwarding an soon inviting members to submit suggestions on two things (we just thought we might give you a heads up to get you thinking ) The Conference Theme we will be running a competition asking members to come up with a contemporary and challenging theme for our 2015 Conference. We would also like to generate a tagline to reinforce our theme. The details of the competition will be out shortly, however in the meantime get your thinking caps on. There will be a prize for the theme and tagline chosen or the one that most closely contributes to the theme and tagline we end up with. Conference Keynotes we are keen to hear from you with regards individuals you think would add real value at our conference as Keynotes. This may depend somewhat on the theme, however we know we need to begin the process of tracking people down to get into their diaries. This is not part of the competition, but we are keen to hear from you with any suggestions. We are open to 4 International speakers and 2 Interstate speakers. We are keen to have both academic and practitioner keynotes. Further information will be coming out soon, so we are just whetting your appetite. We look forward to your ideas when Peter sends out the . Upcoming Events Preparing Organisational Psychologists for Board Directorships Training Course: AICD Date: 28 th Aug 2014 to 30 th Aug 2014 Time: 9am 5pm Venue: Karstens, 123 Queen St, Melbourne Cost: $1600 per person To register, click the following link: Does Your Organisation Really Have a Workforce Strategy? Presenter: Colin Beames Date: 30 th July 2014 Time: 6pm for a 6.30pm start - 8pm finish Venue: Karstens, 123 Queen St, Melbourne Cost: Students = $25. COP Members = $50. APS Members = $60. Non-Members = $70. To register, click the following link: 5