As someone with a Bachelor’s in psychology and a Master’s in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, I am well aware of the misconception about psychology in the workspace. Some of my favorite comments I’ve heard throughout my career are_ “Why are you so quiet today? Are you studying us?” or “Oh you studied psychology? What am I thinking right now?”.
While this may disappoint some of you, an education in psychology does not allow me, or my fellow psychology degree holders, to read minds. Instead, I chose to pursue psychology because it gave me the foundation for understanding human behavior. This understanding and interaction can be applied in any career, anywhere in the world. This is especially true in my current position as an SAP Certified Project Manager here at Aptimized.
My Master’s program was specifically tailored toward employee-employer behavior, and studying the different dynamics that exist in the workforce granted me a level of emotional intelligence necessary to communicate across the different teams and leadership levels. In my current role, I manage internal teams while also interacting with clients on a daily basis. Throughout the day if I’m not meeting with the internal team, I am coordinating communications with the stakeholders and providing feedback with specific members of the client team. For this job, you have to be a people person_ there is hardly a minute that goes by that I am not working closely with others, be it in the office, via email, or over the phone. This also means that I have to constantly balance different communication styles and collaborative approaches. For example, while some people do their best work knowing only the specifics of the work required of them, other people need to know the larger picture to be successful. Without the emotional intelligence I learned from my courses, I would not have been able to successfully navigate these various approaches.
While reading minds may sound a whole lot cooler, the knowledge and skills that I’ve gained by studying psychology have been extremely beneficial in my work with Aptimized, and it will only continue to help.