People are not separate from business performance. They Create it!
Industrial Psychologist | Business coach | Author | Business Advisor
The intersection of Psychology and Business
Psychology helps me understand people. Business helps me understand what they need to achieve.
I have spent my career working with the point at which people and business meet.
I am an Industrial Psychologist, business coach, author and adviser working with individuals, entrepreneurs, executives and organisations to improve human capability and professional performance.
My academic background includes a BCom (Hons), Master’s degree in Industrial Psychology, MBA and PhD.
But qualifications are only useful when they help us understand real problems.
Why business and psychology belong together
Competence
Examines how people become increasingly capable and perform, serving as the intellectual framework behind individual and organizational development.
Leadership
Depends on relationships, behaviour, and judgement, where executive guidance and capability directly influence organizational strategy and execution.
Human Performance
The outcome of turning human potential into sustainable capability and effective workplace execution.
Business
An organizational system operated by human beings where strategy, entrepreneurship, identity, and decision-making intersect.
Organisations are systems, yet they are systems operated by human beings. With this in mind, strategies depend on human judgement, and growth, on capability. An organisation’s culture is created through behaviour, meaning that leadership depends on relationships, and change depends on whether people are willing and able to act differently.
The cornerstone of human performance and commitment is Accountability, which sometimes requires difficult conversations. That is why I have always been interested in both business and psychology. Neither makes complete sense to me without the other.
I am interested in effectiveness, developing new capabilities, making difficult decisions, and changing behaviour.
How I Help
Executive Performance Coaching
Confidential one-to-one development for executives and senior leaders.
Leadership Competence Review
A structured diagnostic of leadership capability and development priorities.
Leadership Team Reset
A focused intervention for teams experiencing accountability, communication, conflict or execution problems.
Founder and Business Owner Coaching
For family businesses, business owners, and entrepreneurs whose organisations have outgrown founder-led management.
Competence Refined Programme
A development programme built around Elana’s competence framework.
Women in Leadership Coaching
Individual or organisational programmes focused on women’s leadership development.
Books & Ideas
Ideas should be useful enough to change what you do.
Exploring why some capable people translate potential into effective performance while others do not, this writing bridges competence, behaviour, psychology, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
My writing explores why some capable people translate their potential into effective performance while others do not, touching on competence, behaviour, psychology, experience, entrepreneurship, leadership, and the environments in which we work.
Head over to the dedicated Books & Ideas page to explore both titles in full, discover how their core concepts complement one another, and find links to order copies through Takealot or Amazon, or contact me directly to purchase.
Competence Refined
The framework behind my work on human capability and performance. The Competence Refined framework and methodology.o The book examines the different elements that contribute to effective performance and provides a framework for understanding where development may be required. Its purpose is not simply academic.
Business in the Blood
Business is rarely just business when the family is involved. There are a myriad of human complexities in an entrepreneurial and family enterprise. Factors such as identity, relationships, succession, responsibilities, expectations, decision-making, and legacy are all addressed in this book.