KELLI-PAIGE PRESTON
Registered Industrial Psychologist, Coach, Head Of People & Culture
Johannesburg
Summary
As a registered Industrial Psychologist and coach, I am deeply passionate about helping individuals and teams thrive in the workplace. With over eight years of experience in human resources, organisational development, learning and development, and talent management, I specialise in the information technology and startup sectors.
In my current role as the Head of People at a dynamic SaaS startup, I develop and implement strategies that promote a positive, inclusive, and high-performance culture. I am dedicated to attracting, retaining, and nurturing talent across the organisation.
My research has also been showcased at an international conference, highlighting my commitment to advancing the field.
My mission is to empower people and teams to reach their full potential and achieve outstanding results.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
HEAD PEOPLE & CULTURE
MAKEREIGN
9 2021 - Current
- Designing and implementing the entire People and Culture strategic function, managing the full employee lifecycle for over 60 employees and interns/bursars
- Spearheading the creation of organizational-wide competency and growth frameworks for all roles
- Developing and facilitating the performance management process
- Fostering individual, team and organisational development, as well as succession planning
- Designing and conducting organisational-wide training sessions and handbooks
- Providing counseling, mentoring, and coaching at all levels
- Cultivating a culture of engagement and wellbeing and implementing associated initiatives
- Creating reward and recognition strategy, and policies
- Devised surveys and used data to inform interventions
- Leadership development for c-suite executives
- Manager training and development
- Organisational planning and talent mapping
- Job descriptions creation and competency mapping
- Development of essential processes and policies and creating company handbook
- Run full process recruitment including psychometric assessment and reporting
- Creation of onboarding process and its implementation for new team members
- Created and implemented retention strategies
- Payroll administration
- Creating employment contracts and offer letters
- Leadership curriculum planning and implementation
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
- BEE reporting, planning & budgeting
- Discipline and hearings
- Proven ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations
- Skilled at working independently and collaboratively in a team environment
- Worked well in a team setting, providing support and guidance
- Passionate about learning and committed to continual improvement
- Managed time efficiently in order to complete all tasks within deadlines
- Assisted with day-to-day operations, working efficiently and productively with all team members
- Worked effectively in fast-paced environments
HEAD OF PEOPLE (FREELANCE)
AYADI
2 2023 - 6 2023
- Designing and implementing the entire People strategic function from scratch, managing the full employee lifecycle for over 20 employees for a remote start-up in the UAE
- Devised descriptions creation and competency mapping
- Developed essential processes and policies
- Ran full process recruitment including psychometric assessment and reporting
- Creation of onboarding process and its implementation for new team members
- Conducted contracting for all team members
WELLBEING & DEVELOPMENT HEAD
GLUCODE
11.2020 - 12.2021
- Facilitated the talent management process for over 120 employees
- Analysed learning needs and skill gaps
- Developed and implemented learning strategies and programmes across individual, team and organisational levels as well as succession planning
- Maintained budgets and relationships with vendors
- Developed and facilitated the performance management process for all employees
- Created development plans and assisted employees make the most of development initiatives
- Created and implemented leadership initiatives for C-suite and manager levels
- Created manuals and handbooks for training and high-performance teams
- Created a healthy and inclusive workplace culture, with a particular interest in wellness and engagement by making use of data analysis and various interventions
- Facilitated one-on-one coaching & counselling sessions with employees and teams
- Organisational planning and talent mapping
- Job descriptions creation and competency mapping
- Development of essential processes and policies
- Creating reward and recognition strategy, and policies
- Onboarding process creation and implementation
- Retention strategies and reporting
- Facilitated and implemented team building activities
- Utilised psychometric assessments and psychological methods to facilitate change management and organisational development within the organisation
- From September 2021-December 2021, I assisted in a freelance capacity in this role
- I left the role to a growth opportunity
HCM ORGANISATIONAL/ INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANT
GIJIMA
02.2019 - 11.2020
- Develop and refined an industrial psychologist skillset, functioning as a management consultant and collaborated with corporate clients
- Administered and reported on various psychometric assessments
- Creation and execution of leadership development for C-suite and managers
- Coaching and counselling across all levels
- Psychometric assessments and reporting
- Organisational design and development
- Competency mapping and job profiling
- Survey creation and data analysis
- Employee wellbeing interventions creation and implementation
- Carried out employment relations and industrial relations
- Succession planning strategies and implementation
- Created and implemented learning and development initiatives across all levels
- Recruitment and selection processes and application
- This role focused on the key components of the Industrial Psychology Internship program and successfully allowed me to register as an Industrial Psychologist with the HPCSA
- This position was fixed-term, as the company could not afford to offer a permanent role
HUMAN RESOURCES CONSULTANT ABSA BANK
3 2018 - 10.2018
- From 1 March 2018, I was appointed as Human Capital Consultant at ABSA Africa Limited
- I was contracted to a selection and resourcing project of 5000 internal employees
- Developing and executing an end-to-end talent and acquisition strategy
- Recruitment and selection processes and application
- Conducted psychometric assessment and role-plays
- Conducted data analysis and reporting
- Worked used Agile principles
- Rolled out contracts and offer letters
- Managed budgets and planning
- My contract ended due to the project closing
HEAD HUMAN RESOURCES AT BELLES
08.2016 - 02.2018
- Managed the full talent management function for 200 employees at 5 different restaurant chains
- Managed recruitment and selection function
- Conducted employment relations and industrial relations
- Designing and implemented organisational-wide training sessions and handbooks
- Development of essential processes and policies
- Devised and ran team building across whole organisation
- Created performance management process and implemented it across organisation
- Wrote job descriptions for all roles across organisation
- Conducted contracting
- Ran payroll administration
- I left this position as the company downsized
Education
MASTER OF ARTS - ORGANISATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
BACHELOR OF ARTS - ORGANISATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY, AND ENGLISH
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
HONORS OF ARTS - ORGANISATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
Skills
HUMAN RESOURCES
Languages
English
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Afrikaans
Advanced (C1)
Zulu
Beginner (A1)
Certification
Registered Industrial Psychologist
Timeline
Registered Industrial Psychologist
02-2021
WELLBEING & DEVELOPMENT HEAD
GLUCODE
11.2020 - 12.2021
HCM ORGANISATIONAL/ INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY CONSULTANT
GIJIMA
02.2019 - 11.2020
HEAD HUMAN RESOURCES AT BELLES
08.2016 - 02.2018
MASTER OF ARTS - ORGANISATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
BACHELOR OF ARTS - ORGANISATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY, AND ENGLISH
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
HONORS OF ARTS - ORGANISATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
HEAD PEOPLE & CULTURE
MAKEREIGN
9 2021 - Current
HEAD OF PEOPLE (FREELANCE)
AYADI
2 2023 - 6 2023
HUMAN RESOURCES CONSULTANT ABSA BANK
3 2018 - 10.2018
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