Sally Maitlis

Sally conducts research into how individuals deal with challenging issues in and around their work.

This includes studies of individuals whose careers have been derailed and identities undermined by physical injury, those who encounter intractable problems and frustrations in pursuing their calling, and leaders who are dealing with mental health difficulties in themselves and others. Sally specialises in qualitative research, closely observing individual, team and organisational processes as they unfold in real time, and analysing these processes through talk and text.

Key research interests:

• Sensemaking in organisations
• Trauma and adversity at work
• Resilience and growth
• Compassion in organisations
• Emotional dynamics of organisational processes

Find out more about Sally's research in the below videos.

A full length seminar on Sally’s recent research on negotiating the challenges of a calling.

Sally’s research on sensemaking and meaningful work is featured in an animation on Building Adaptive Cultures by the Harvard Learning and Innovation Laboratory.

Sally and her research are featured in the documentary, Broken, an exploration of injury and identity in the world of dance.

Sally’s interests are rooted in the prevalent issues and problems of working life.

In conducting her research on sensemaking, emotions, adversity, and growth, she works closely with those she studies and provides feedback on her findings that helps individuals, teams and organisations to build capacity. Sally is frequently invited to address practitioner audiences, translating current academic research on topics such as trauma, resilience, and compassion at work. Her work has also been published in executive outlets such as the Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and the Wharton Leadership Digest.

She has a passion for the Arts, and much of her research has addressed challenges that face arts organisations and those working as musicians, dancers or in other creative professions. She has presented her work to the Association of British Symphony Orchestras and several of their member orchestras, and also at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music. Sally is a former board member of the Vancouver Cantata Singers, Canada.

Sally’s teaching, whether with MBAs, EMBAs, or in executive education programmes, is oriented towards practice, working to increase individuals’ awareness of themselves, their interpersonal dynamics at work, and key organisational concepts and frameworks that can increase their workplace effectiveness. She also has extensive experience as a consultant and coach, previously as a consultant with the firm of Occupational Psychologists, SHL, and currently as an executive and leadership coach in Oxford. Sally’s background in counselling has also allowed her to work in a therapeutic capacity with individuals who have experienced trauma at work, and those undergoing significant career and life transitions. She is a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, and is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist with the British Psychological Society.

Sally has taught MBA students and executives for over 20 years, primarily in the areas of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership.

Using a variety of self-reflection activities, small group discussions, cases, simulation exercises, and analysis of critical incidents in their working and personal lives, she encourages students to question their assumptions about themselves and others, and to practice new ways of thinking and behaving that will strengthen their working relationships and increase their leadership effectiveness.

At Oxford Saïd, she is the Academic Director of the Oxford High Performance Leadership programme, and contributes to a wide range of other executive education programmes including the online Oxford Leading Professional Service Firms Programme, and Oxford Artificial Intelligence Programme. She also teach on the leadership resilience module of the Diploma in Organisational Leadership. 

At the PhD level, Sally specialises in qualitative research methods. She has taught qualitative research around the world, giving presentations, workshops and short courses on topics such as interviewing, ethnography, theorising, and writing. Serving as a member of faculty for the Consortium for the Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis (CARMA), Sally has taught a short course on Interviewing for Qualitative Research in the US and Australia. She has also taught doctoral courses in Argentina and Switzerland, as well as several shorter qualitative research workshops in the UK, Canada, and the US.