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Jules’ biography

Jules Bicknell is the founder and Director at Open the Door. She has over 10 years experience as an Occupational Psychologist, and over 14 years experience of training and developing others.

You may not have worked with her before, so we’ve provided plenty of information for those of you who find that helpful, and a summary for those of you who just want to know a little bit more.

Summary

The early days: why Psychology?

Jules went to university at a time when Media Studies was an extremely popular course. After A-levels she applied to do just that and was accepted, then pulled out to go to work for a year and work out what she really wanted to learn about.

She had studied a short course (in those days called an AO level) in Psychology alongside her A-levels and felt, after much additional reading, that this was where her heart lay. So after a year of working for an insurance company in direct marketing, she set off to study Developmental Psychology at Sussex University.

Finding her vocation: why Occupational Psychology?

Jules came out of the degree during recession and took a job in a call centre to earn the rent. After a short while, she spent less time on the ‘phone, and more time re-designing training packages, then designing interventions from scratch, then delivering and evaluating. And so she discovered the world of psychology at work.

The local library yielded a range of books on industrial, organisational and business psychology, which fanned the flames of excitement. This appeared to be an arena in which Jules could apply her knowledge of psychology in a very practical, hands-on fashion.

She applied to one of the most competitive courses in the UK at that time, at the University of Hertfordshire, and her experience in what she’d made of the Call Centre Clerk job paid off and she was accepted. She took out a massive loan and went back to study having been at work for several years.

Consultancy experience and the big fish

After the MSc, Jules went straight into a small consultancy which rapidly built up her range of skills and experiences within a broad variety of organisations. Her work included:

• the design and validation of a range of managerial, safety critical and customer service related assessment tools
• the development of individual and group training interventions
• the development of numerous competency frameworks to underpin a range of workroles
• the analysis of incidents on the railway with the aim of improving employee concentration and vigilance (for months she wore a high visibility vest, safety goggles and a hard-hat)

She loved the work and her clients; the lifestyle which involved a great deal of travelling and overnight stay suited her for many years. She became very self-sufficient, autonomous, empowered, a sole operator, very well known in her world – the proverbial big fish in a small pond – and decided that this should probably change.

Corporate experience and the minnow

Jules applied for one job when she decided to leave the consultancy, and that was at the BBC. She was successful after a two day assessment process (designed by the team she was going to join!).

As part of a team of occupational psychologists providing an internal consultancy service to the entire BBC, the role added to her experience in terms of giving her more opportunities for large scale assessment and development programmes, organisational culture assessment and team building. The challenge of working as part of a team, and being a minnow within a pond of 25,000 other fish, was exactly what she needed.

Change Manager at the BBC

The BBC’s change initiative called ‘Making It Happen’ (MiH) was an extensive exercise designed to engage the BBC’s people with the organisation to yield a more creative, audience focused BBC.

Jules’ next role was to harness the energies of the Finance, Property & Business Affairs division (1400 person strong) to deliver its MiH commitments. The responsibilities of this role ranged from implementation and maintenance of a Mentoring Scheme, to the roll-out of a Feedback and Development programme, including large-group briefings, education of the Board, and one-to-one coaching.

Balancing strategy with front-line delivery

Jules also held the role of Development Executive within the BBC for three years, and this role demanded a balance between strategic people development planning, with implementation and delivery of specific initiatives.

Part of this role involved Jules bringing down the number of external consultants required by doing the work herself! It also gave her the opportunity to continue to use business psychology, whilst enhancing her experience of activities at Board level.

Open the Door: Business Psychology. Practically applied. Passionately delivered.

The passion for the study of human thought and behaviour never diminished. The enjoyment of being able to apply that knowledge in a place where many of us spend a large chunk of our lives, at work, grew and grew.

In 2005 Jules decided to bring to fruition her desire to run a business which embodied her passion, combined with her values . Open the Door is about sharing an amazing body of knowledge, and the practical applications of that knowledge, with your business and your people.

Which brings us up to date. If you decide to work with Open the Door, we will bring you, and leave with you, the benefits of these experiences.