Workshops that work
Psychological Safety
All chairs want to facilitate inclusive discussions to allow their colleagues to effectively contribute to board decisions. Human psychology can make this hard. We can all sometimes struggle to admit that we don’t understand something and we may hold back potentially valuable insights if they are different to others’ views. This workshop examines the science of psychological safety and then undertakes some simple but powerful exercises to help your board understand where and how it can improve the quality of discussions and decisions.
Decision Rules
Almost all board decisions can be made more easily and effectively when some form of process is used. The simplest way to implement this is by creating some simple decision rules that you monitor with a decision log. This session helps your board identify where it is strong, where it could develop and what decision rules might be useful for your trustees. It also highlights how using a simple decision log can help your governance and decision-making, particularly when things unfold unhelpfully.
Risk Typing
How balanced is your board when it comes to taking risk? We all know that taking risk effectively is a key element of board success. This session uses a powerful and informative psychometric tool that will help each trustee understand how they think about risk and how it can influence their behaviour. It will show the board's aggregate attitude to risk, highlight any potential imbalances and what might be done about it. Undertaking this exercise can be particularly helpful when hiring new board members.
Cognitive Diversity
Everyone recognises that cognitive diversity can be valuable and that it has the potential to improve decision-making. But there are important questions – what kind of cognitive diversity does your board need, how does it relate to demographic diversity and what sort of board culture will allow it to flourish? This session examines the evidence and will help you think about how to best leverage your current cognitive diversity as well as think about other issues, such as recruitment.
Inclusive Decision-Making
Whilst inclusion can bring many benefits to trustee decision-making, it also brings challenges. For example, how can a group with a wide spread of knowledge and experience best facilitate broad and effective participation? This session will help your board understand and effectively navigate the challenges so that they can reap the multiple benefits of inclusion.