Why It’s Time to Invite the Psychologist Into the Boardroom

This weekend I am facilitating a board strategy retreat.  “Let me be clear, I don’t do strategic planning,” I stressed when I got the call.  The Chair assured me they were not looking for a strategic planning expert.  Instead, they were looking for someone who is really good at reading and shaping interpersonal dynamics to facilitate an important conversation about growth and help the board align around a decision.  With that proviso in place, I agreed to support them.

This request got me thinking more deeply about where and how psychology collides with governance.  In the same way organizations have embraced and applied behavioural science to support strategic and business goals, it is perhaps time we applied this expertise in the boardroom.  The idea of bringing a business psychologist, or another professional skilled in interpersonal and group dynamics, into a governance context does not originate with me.  Over the past few years I have had a number of people suggest the work I do is badly needed in our boardrooms.  I see at least three key reasons for this.

1. To leverage diversity, the need to actively and intentionally build effective dynamics in the boardroom has never been greater.  Historically, board rooms were occupied by people who had a lot in common.  Directors often came from the same cultural, educational and professional background.  They understood the implicit rules of the game and spoke each others’ language.  Recruiting peers and associates had a practical purpose - it increased the likelihood that Directors would relate well, the board would gel, and the governance work would get done thoroughly and efficiently.  There is nothing worse than being part of a group where people don’t understand each other, don’t communicate effectively, and are not getting along.  Today, however, with boards becoming increasingly diverse, ‘getting along’ requires more explicit and intentional effort than was needed in the past.  While boards do not have a long history of engaging professionals to assist them with developing their own interpersonal and group dynamics, I think it is time to challenge the status quo.
2. Board chairs may not be fully equipped to build a dynamic that helps the group govern most effectively.  Leading a team from a position of power and authority is one thing.  Facilitating a board is quite another.  I know from my own experience that being a board Chair is a complex balance of attentive listening, observation, facilitation, influence and control.  It requires a different set of skills and behaviours than most other leadership roles.  There are few ‘training grounds’ to prepare one to be an effective Chair.  In the same way leaders at all levels and experience invest in honing their skills and bring in professionals to help them form and develop high-performing teams, board Chairs should not be shy to engage in development processes within the context of the boardroom.  
3. The more quickly a board can become high-performing, the greater its ability to fulfill its mandate effectively and add value to the organization.  A board is not a traditional work team, but it is a group of people aligned around a common purpose that needs established processes and operating norms to govern effectively.  Key processes such as how the board communicates, makes decisions, interfaces with the organization, and evaluates its performance all need to be established and honed.  But in addition, an effective board needs to find the right balance of collegiality and challenge; to effectively draw in and on diverse experience to inform issues; to confront and correct dysfunctional behaviour.  The challenges confronting boards include: they meet infrequently, their agendas are often packed, and members may interact little or not at all between meetings.  Add to this mix the need to make prudent decisions around complex, time-bound and high risk issues.  These are not conditions that set the groundwork for easy and effective group dynamics.  A board needs strategies to accelerate and maintain its ability to engage effectively.  Bringing in an expert to support the Chair in this process is worth considering. 

There was a time when boards were secret societies operating behind closed doors.  Those days are long gone.  It is time boards gave serious and strategic consideration to the ways and means at their disposal for accelerating and maximizing their own effectiveness.  All this to say, it may be time for you to invite a psychologist into your boardroom.

A version of this blog was first published on Troy Media.