Dr Trevor Simper

One of the (make that THE) major theories in psychology of recent decades is Self Determination Theory (SDT) and one of the major contributions from SDT is the notion of three specific elements to help us find a gratifying/meaningful life. I’d like here to apply this specifically to occupation. The first of these three factors […]

The psychology of power in leadership Leaders carry and use their power in different ways; compare the influence of Mahatma Ghandi opposing British rule or Nelson Mandela’s stand against apartheid with the brutality of Stalin and the ruthlessness of drug lords such as Pablo Escobar. No doubt about it, leaders can be either heroes or […]

This month we switch to gender and leadership in the third of our series of eight leadership and psychology articles by Dr Trevor Simper. Are there really personality differences between male and female leaders? Is it plausible to suggest difference in gender predisposes us to be more effective in specific roles? And which specific personality […]

In the second of a series of 8 articles Dr Trevor Simper reviews the key aspects of psychology in leadership and groups. It is a brief tour de force of the decades of research which have gone into our understanding of group dynamics and leadership. He considers which decisions are best made by an individual […]

What is it that makes a good leader? And what is the difference between managing and leading? We have all spent some of our time leading or being lead, and managed or managing. This is also true though, for people in general, i.e. people who are not corporate leaders. Parents lead children, people involved in […]

Whether changing behaviour is a concern for yourself, your colleagues or your clients, there is a body of verifiable, evidence based practice for getting results. In this article Trevor Simper gives the 3 reasons why motivational interviewing is such a powerful tool for helping people change, explains a little more about what MI is and, […]

Motivational interviewing is on the rise globally and in Australia, especially in our capital cities- as many of our modern day occupations involve supporting and helping people to change- including healthcare, sports-coaching, social work, counselling, drugs and alcohol work and many others. It sounds rather glib: motivational interviewing- a bit like motivational speaking (I’m sorry […]

Like other areas of the community- it is time for us to focus on crisis management. We probably, nearly all, have loved ones who are in the most vulnerable risk group for Covid-19 and we all want to help. Many people are sensibly focusing on what can be done rather than what can’t. Ironically this […]

See what I did- MI effective approach to coaching? I.e. my coaching! Well no it probably doesn’t work unless you recognise MI as the acronym for motivational interviewing… Motivational interviewing was born out of treating psychological problems and has also more recently, become a frontline approach for helping people change in health and social care […]

Change is of course happening all the time, change is either easy, difficult or even near-impossible depending upon the nature of the change and the readiness of the person, people or organisation involved. We, individually, go through life changes which are not always volitional- aging is the key example- and obviously changes such as this […]