Professor Gillian Yeo

Projects

Work recovery and creativity project

Led by Professor Yeo, this research proposes and tests a framework arguing that undirected attention, the psychological experience of one’s attention wandering widely and freely, enhances recovery and creativity at work. In particular, this research shifts the spotlight from controlled regulation (e.g., directed attention when intentionally pursuing goals) to an undirected attentional process thought to help maximise human potential in the workplace.
As part of a long-term health and wellbeing project, this research has provided more than 500 professionals the opportunity to identify activities likely to help them recover from work-related stressors while still maintaining productivity.

This research is being conducted in collaboration with researchers from UWA (Nicole Celestine, Jenny Hoffman, March To, Shaun Dalmasson, Dilkash Parabia, Emma Stephenson), The University of Waterloo (James Beck, Anna Gödöllei), Curtin University (Sharon Parker), The University of Queensland (Stacey Parker) and the Australian National University (Giles Hirst).

The impact of leader behaviours on team trust, team voice and decision making in the submarine command team

Led by Dr. Ruchi Sinha from The University of South Australia, this research aims to explore the role of adaptive leadership, trust, and voice within submarine command teams. Findings from this research will be extrapolated from a series of simulated Mount Everest climbs to provide recommendations for Australia Defence.

This research is being co-led by Professor Yeo, and in collaboration with researchers from UWA (Dilkash Parabia, Nicole Celestine), The University of South Australia (Maria Cecilia Tournour), The Australian Catholic University (Bart de Jong), The University of Adelaide (Chad Chiu) and The University of Melbourne (Andrew Yu).

 

Team leadership in incident command teams

Led by Professor Yeo, this research is conducted in collaboration with ERGT Australia, to investigate the dynamic patterns of team leader behaviour associated with effective team processes and management of critical incidents. Findings from this research directly inform continuous improvement of training and performance management initiatives in the safety-critical training sector.

This research is being conducted in collaboration with researchers from UWA (Nicole Celestine, Jia Chang Lim, Jack Hutchinson, Terence Chia), Curtin University (Mark Griffin, Daniela Andrei, Florian Klonek, Dannielle Finnerty, Cecilia Runneboom), Pepperdine University (Cristina Gibson) and Claremont McKenna College (David Day).

 

Leadership and the "mental load"

PhD student Emma Stephenson, supervised by Professor Gillian Yeo and Dr Laura Fruhen, is investigating the 'mental load' (i.e., the internal mental process of anticipating, planning, and monitoring performance for the sake of accomplishing goals) that is often shouldered by women. This project extends this phenomenon—which has almost exclusively been studied from a household perspective—into the work domain and explores its impact on female leadership, wellbeing, and other work-related outcomes.

 

Leadership and mental health

Led by Dr. Joseph Carpini, this research examines mental health in the workplace in collaboration with academics from across UWA. This multi-disciplinary project is directed toward understanding factors in the workplace that support or diminish mental health and what interventions can be feasibly introduced to enhance mental health at work. The project involves an examination of the antecedents and consequences of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) and the role organisational leaders play in influencing the mental-health issues of their employees.