Caroline Boyd

Psychological Engagement as an Associate: What It Takes to Flourish and Thrive When You Work for Yourself

Imagine a world where the majority of people you work with regularly say things like…I love my job; I take great joy and satisfaction from what I do; I’m able to bring all that I am to my work; These are all present when someone is fully psychologically engaged in what they do and, of course, lead to increased performance and fulfilment in the role. No surprises then that Employee Engagement is a hot topic in the world of business.

I’ve always been intrigued by the subject of employee engagement, it feels like the very essence of what most of us are trying to achieve through our work. It’s an even more intriguing subject when you start to apply the principles to those of us who aren’t employees.

As a key part of my Occupational Psychology Masters, I undertook a large piece of research that looked at what it means to be fully psychologically engaged as a free-lance Associate. In this talk I’ll share with you how being fully engaged as an employee is remarkably similar to being fully engaged as an Associate. I’ll share the elements we all need to be fully engaged and explore what we can do with this information both as an associate and as somebody using associates.

Caroline has spent the last 12 years as a business trainer and facilitator pursuing her passion for helping people be their best selves at work. She currently works on an Associate basis for a variety of different organisations and has her own clients from her time as a founding director of a management development company. Her mission is to help leaders, managers and teams explore and develop their skills, strengths and values, then guide them to use these to get the most from themselves and their organisations.