Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
– Steve Jobs
About Kate Keenan,
Occupational Psychologist
I’m Kate Keenan and I have been an Occupational Psychologist for several decades. I enjoy and love this profession, finding it very rewarding at many levels, from developing my own personal psychological skills to contributing major organisational changes.
As an Occupational Psychologist, with an additional postgraduate qualification in Mental Health Studies from King’s College London, I have enjoyed a fulfilling career, specialising in increasing psychological well being in the workplace, as well as helping both organisations and individuals effectively reduce and resolve stress related issues.
Read more...
In the course of my career, I have worked with some major corporate organisations. Specifically, I have carried out stress audits for companies to support the requirements for the Health and Safety Executive, as well as designing training programmes to assist in this process.
This breadth of experience has provided me with valuable knowledge, insights and strategies on how to successfully approach the different challenges that confront businesses. I have used these insights to create programmes that have enabled businesses to identify and resolve internal management and policy issues.
In terms of using my professional knowledge to support others, I wrote a series of psychologically based self-help handbooks which are published as Pocket Manager Books. These are small and accessible business books which fit in your pocket and have sold over one million copies worldwide. Among my fourteen titles are ‘Manage Yourself’, ‘Assert Yourself’, and ‘Handle Stress’.
As a result of my extended career, I also feel that I have gathered relevant practical knowledge of being a practitioner psychologist to be able to support postgraduate psychologists in their career development by helping them develop some of the practical skills they need to flourish in this exciting and challenging profession.
I’m not a coach but…
Read more...
The conversation often takes more philosophical turn, speculating as to what all this stress is all about and just what it is they are actually aiming for. Short-term business objectives are usually easy to specify, but the longer-term personal ones can prove to be much more difficult to identify. Some people feel there is a need to develop executive skills for managing their business better. While others can feel overwhelmed, needing some time and space to draw breath to get things into perspective and move forward.
The main benefit from talking things over is that you have the opportunity to focus on your personal and business needs and interests, such as your aspirations or how you want your future to pan out. You can take things at your pace and ensure that your learning and progress is individual and directly relevant to you.
So I suppose that, although I do not profess to be a coach, coaching and mentoring are an integral part of my professional work.
An invitation to have a conversation
Often thoughts swirl around in the unconscious, unformed and nebulous, and it isn’t till you get an opportunity to talk to someone about these thoughts that you realise what you think and that the implications of these thoughts are.
Read more...
For me, it’s all about having the conversation that allows you to formulate and communicate deeply held wishes and aspirations, and then to facilitate you to make plans as how these could be achieved. By talking about such issues, you can gain clarity as to the direction you want to go in, the motivation to make any changes, and the energy to take action to go in a way that is right for you.
So if you’d like to have this conversation, do get in touch. I’d be delighted to talk with you. Together I’m sure we can come up with some solutions that will clarify your way forward, and put you on the right path to achieve amazing results, whatever these turn out to be.
Books
Pocket Manager Books are designed for people who are time-poor, or who can’t afford formal training. The focus of the books is to offer simple, practical advice to entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses to enable them to quickly pick up the essential skills needed to succeed – but the series has also proved popular with a much wider market, which has rapidly grown in recent years. Based on psychological principles and avoiding jargon, these guides take around only an hour to read. They provide a straightforward and fast route to developing some of the basic skills essential to running a business, as well as offering invaluable support to develop your personal life.
Pocket Manager Books were first published in 1996 as ‘The Management Guides’ to help newly-promoted managers get to grips with various intricacies of what is a varied and tricky role. Since then, the series has since sold over 1.3 million copies and been translated into 18 different languages. The fourteen books were updated in 2017, with fresh, colourful cover designs, to help a new generation of managers as well as entrepreneurs develop the skills they need for success, from knowing how to motivate others to running productive meetings.
Kate Keenan, CPsychol, AFBPsS, BA, BSc, MA, MSc, MPhil, is a Chartered Psychologist with over 30 years experience.
She is also an Occupational Psychologist, registered with Health & Care Professions Council.
Contact Request
Please use the form below to get in touch.