Nick Gotsis

The science and humanity of psychology

“I’ve always worked for organisations that are values orientated, purpose driven and have a strong people agenda," he says. “I’ve taken positions where I can truly make a difference in the lives of people.”

It may sound simple enough, but in reality this can be very difficult to achieve in corporate life. Such agendas are often the preserve of multinationals.

Indeed, Nick was working for ING in the Netherlands, enjoying an “experience of a lifetime” as a global senior HR business partner when COVID and personal reasons brought him home to Australia in April 2020. Continuing in the role meant working European hours, which proved “challenging”, so Nick jumped at the chance to take on the role of Executive Director, Human Resources with ING Australia in June this year.

But it was much earlier, while working with international home furnishings retailer IKEA from 2012-2015, that organisational coaching triggered in Nick an interest in “the transformative experience around people”. Moving to ING, Nick was offered the opportunity to complement his work with study and enrolled in Psychology at UNE.

“I had always wanted to study psychology but, at the age of 38, I felt it was too late,” he says. “I had tried long-distance learning maybe 15 years earlier and disliked it, but I came across the Graduate Diploma in Psychology at UNE and the five-star rating and online approach appealed to me. As a Victorian who had travelled little in NSW, I had no idea where or what UNE was.

“But I finished all ten subjects and all the residentials and made an amazing network of friends, enjoyed the lecturers and academic staff in the psychology faculty, and was accepted to do honours. Then I was offered the job in the Netherlands with ING, and completed my studies online part-time, flying back twice for mandatory residentials.”

Now provisionally registered, Nick is doing his Masters of Clinical Psychology at the Western Sydney University part-time, and harbours a long-term dream to one day open up his own practice.

“I have a strong interest in men's health and men's help-seeking behaviours - what stops men from accessing the services of a psychologist and working through issues they are facing in life," he says. "I have been afforded some amazing experiences professionally and that, for me, would be a way to give back to the community.”

In the meantime, there’s no shortage of challenges. The blurring of life/work boundaries, largely as a result of the COVID pandemic, has created new workplace approaches. It’s the ideal time, Nick believes, to apply the psychology lessons he has learned.

“Workplace wellbeing is about the person as a whole,” he says. “We now ask people to bring their whole self to work; a whole self that could have challenges and issues and dreams and aspirations outside of work. As someone with qualifications in business and psychology, I can provide a very different perspective at the executive level.

“My psychology studies have taught me that there are many variables that come into every relationship. In a workplace, we have a responsibility to understand how we can help our people be the best they can be - both in terms of their work performance but also understanding what gets in the way of that performance. This may involve helping them to manage their mental health or other stresses in their lives.”

Working in financial services, with “very numbers-driven, analytical people”, Nick says he brings the human dimension. “While some people may see HR as fluffy, I see myself as a scientific practitioner, capable of challenging workplace situations and finding solutions,” he says. “Psychology taught me critical thinking and how to challenge the integrity of data; understanding the confounding variables is an extremely valuable skill to have. I think we could all benefit from more psychology in the workplace.”

At a time when our leaders are consumed with either (a) wellbeing in the workplace and creating psychological safety; or (b) understanding how we use data to better understand and engage our workforces and improve workforce dynamics, Nick says an understanding of psychology is imperative.

“The HR landscape has changed forever,” he says. “Wellbeing has always been a fundamental part of most organisations but businesses are now grappling with questions of how to define wellbeing and where it sits within their organisation. HR now has to support businesses to facilitate new conversations and to experiment with new workforce designs, and that comes back to psychology. Every organisation is facing that challenge.”

As for his own career, Nick says three factors have guided his choices - a desire to work for companies that are innovative, global and purposeful.

“I am motivated to work within organisations that aspire to do things differently and innovate the customer and employee experience,” Nick says. “The exciting part of working for a global organisation is the culture; that you get to work with so many people from all parts of the world and adopt a global mindset. Finally, the organisations I have worked for have always, fundamentally, had a strong vision.

“I have realised that one of my fundamental drivers is being a part of organisations that can make a significant difference to peoples’ lives and communities - organisations that have a commitment to social responsibility.”