Sally van Bragt is the creator of the Sensory Translation Strategy (STS), a system-based approach to understanding and improving workplace performance.
STS was developed in response to a consistent pattern: capable people struggling not because of individual limitations, but because the systems around them were not designed for human variability.
With over 15 years of experience in the rail industry, Sally has worked as a qualified train controller across both metropolitan and regional networks in Victoria.
This experience provided direct insight into:
- safety-critical operations
- performance management in high-pressure environments
- and the real consequences of poorly designed systems
Sally’s perspective is further shaped by lived experience as a neurodivergent professional with ADHD, along with her advocacy work representing workers within the Victorian union movement.
Through this combined experience, Sally identified a critical gap in traditional performance management:
it often fails not due to a lack of capability, but because systems do not account for variability in how people process, respond, and perform.
The Sensory Translation Strategy was developed as a practical, upstream alternative — equipping organisations with structured, low-inference tools to:
- identify system-level contributors to performance
- improve clarity in performance conversations
- and reduce reliance on reactive or disciplinary processes
Sally has presented STS to senior leaders across government and industry, including Metro Trains and the Office for Disability. She has also welcomed Unify360 as an official STS implementation partner.
Her work is driven by a clear objective:
to create workplaces where individuals can perform effectively — free from unnecessary friction, harm, or exclusion.
Outside her consulting work, Sally is a songwriter and recording artist, based on the Surf Coast in Victoria.