Dynamic Boards 

Globally, nationally, and locally boardrooms are evolving. Boards are being impacted by heightened public scrutiny, empowered memberships, rising competing interests [for members and volunteers], increased regulation and technological disruption have combined with the record pace and unpredictability of change to dramatically alter how boards are comprised and how they operate.

If you’re already a director take your mind back 15, 10, or even 5 years ago and consider the difference between boards back then, and now.

It is therefore innate for board chairs and directors to work in collaboration and push themselves outside their comfort zones to achieve the results and expectations previously not heard of.

And it is at this level that director dynamics, behaviours and culture become an essential element of board operations and indeed the new director selection process.

Readers will take-away:

1.    valuable insights into the importance of how to measure and determine director sometime confusing motivations and drivers, and

2.    learn how to harness those characteristics and achieve harmony in boardroom culture, behaviours and performances. Guarantees

What do we mean by Board Dynamics?

In simple terms, team [board] dynamics are the unconscious psychological influences that shape and direct a team’s behaviour, rapport and performance. Team members’ roles and responsibilities often affect these dynamics, which then directly affect the group’s productivity.

Source: Australian Institute of Business: definition of team dynamics

Let us unpack the key element of what is meant by the ‘unconscious psychological influences’ that shape and direct a boards behaviour, rapport, and performance.

According to Freud, thoughts, and emotions outside of our awareness continue to exert an influence on our behaviours, even though we are unaware (unconscious) of these underlying influences.

The unconscious mind can include repressed feelings, hidden memories, habits, thoughts, desires, and reactions.

Source: The Unconscious Mind, Preconscious Mind and Conscious Mind – Kendra Cherry MSEd. Feb 2023

Taking Freud’s view, our consciously observed behaviours can also be driven by our unconscious repressed feels, memories, and experiences. Given this, I am sure we have all experienced or at times witnessed people who have make responses, decisions or reactions that seem out of character or lack some level of familiarity or common sense.  

Conflict in the Boardroom

This situation of both conscious and unconscious mindset can lead to unpredictable behaviours and reactions can make inter-personal conflict inevitable. And given the individual characteristics of directors and the complexity of the issues being addressed conflict at the board level becomes most likely.

Therefore, dealing with conflict in the boardroom comes down to good leadership, understanding the psychological construct of the board and a simple change in the language we use. That is, steering oppositional conversations away from the personal conflict and direct the opposition to the matter being debated.

Embrace disagreement - An important aspect of any board is the ability to harness multiple opinions and alternative views. This is good conflict and does not always lead to damage and trouble as effective governance requires an open attitude towards any potential conflict. This is where good corporate governance emerges from an awareness that dissent needn’t mean division – we need to embrace disagreement where it exists and convert it to sound outcomes – acknowledge and value the opinions of others and attempt to ‘walk in their shoes’.

It is at this ‘norming’ moment when the board starts to work together, people’s individual behaviours become dependent on the interactions around them, influencing their character, manners and conduct. From here, the dynamic can evolve – director motivations, attitudes and cognition start to emerge, influencing how everybody feels about each other, their fellow directors and their particular purpose.

Why is having good board dynamics important?

1.    It provides strong leadership: strong leaders inspire and provide everyone within their team the capacity to achieve their full potential – whether that be growing into a new position or guiding them to their ultimate professional or governance goals.

 So, how does a strong leader achieve this?

a.    By providing clarity of purpose,

b.    In governance, following good governance processes [the rules],

c.    Motivating individuals and the group, and

d.    By encouraging and providing new innovative ideas.

Put simply a strong leader increases the board’s confidence, trust, and productivity: leading to it overall growth and harmony.    

So, the converse is poor leadership: then what happens, the opposite.

e.    No sense of purpose – meandering

f.      Not adhering to the principle of good governance – invoking a ad hoc approach,

g.      Individuals become confused, loose motivation and board turnover and division increases, and

h.    New ideas and innovation are stifled, and/or individuals fear to be different or speak up.

 2.     It encourages greater collaboration: when people are comfortable working with each other, it creates a more relaxed, informal environment and professional environment. Therefore, promoting higher levels of cooperation and collaboration amongst board members is very important as it opens them up to new ideas and perspectives they may not have considered before.

 So, how do you build greater collaboration? - by removing the fear to contribute and having a safe space, both physically and emotionally. Being ‘encouraged and being courageous’ speaking up, contributing. A solid board dynamic makes every member feel supported to perform better than they ever have before. What to look for: someone has suggested a new point of view they’ve never considered before or pitched in to help when the workload became too much. Whatever the reason, the improved results speak for themselves.  

 3.     It returns better results and productivity: Strong board dynamics ensure that everyone is working and contributing to their fullest potential. And what happens when everyone is dedicated to functioning at their best, the results are naturally going to be of higher quality.

A solid board dynamic makes every member feel supported to perform better than they ever have before. Perhaps someone has suggested a new point of view they’ve never considered before or pitched in to help when the workload became too much. Whatever the reason, the improved results speak for themselves.

What are the negative impacts of poor board dynamics?

1.    Weak leadership – a board without a strong, undefined leader often lacks direction and may focus on the wrong priorities. It also leaves the board vulnerable to being taken over by a dominant board member – which can stifle engagement from other people or make the boardroom feel like and unsafe place to contribute.

2.    Group think – first coined in 1972 it refers to the psychological phenomenon where people aim for consensus within a group. In many cases, individuals will set aside their own beliefs to ‘keep the peace’.

3.    Blocking behaviours - obstruct, change, subvert vision or hinder the board from reaching their goals and objectives. While not always intentional, these behaviours are considered a reflexive reaction. [Enneagrams have examples of these unconscious motivators].

So, what are some examples of blocking behaviours:

-        Being overly critical of others’ opinions or ideas

-        Not participating in discussions or tasks

-        Recognition-seeking

-        Interrupting sessions by making jokes at inappropriate times, and

-        Disagreeing with everyone’s ideas except their own.

So, how to improve your board dynamics!

1.     Understand the psychological construct of your board.

a.    Traditionally the selection process of boards is built around the elements of the ‘Board Matrix’ which is designed to select directors with specific skills, knowledge, and experience required by the organisation to meet its governance needs. More recently to include some of the following but it varies widely:

                                                              i.    Finance & Economics

                                                            ii.    Corporate Law & Governance

                                                          iii.    Adult or Executive Education

                                                          iv.    Technology & Innovation

                                                            v.    Policy & Advocacy

                                                          vi.    Commercial Business Management

                                                        vii.    Risk Management, and

                                                        viii.    Global/International Business Experience.

                                                          ix.    Etc...  

b.     These skills can then be sub-divided into Expert [substantial career experience in senior executive, director or professional roles with tertiary qualifications], or Substantial [considerable experience at director management or professional levels, and/or tertiary qualifications].

 c.     Then we have the personal attributes:

                                                              i.    commitment to mission,

                                                            ii.    leadership skills,

                                                          iii.    integrity & ethics,

                                                          iv.    mindfulness - being an effective listener/communicator/challenger,

                                                            v.    influencing & negotiating skills, and finally

                                                          vi.    being a critical and innovative thinker.

These are relatively straight forward and with a well-defined set of measures and benchmarks a reasonable assessment of an individual can be made.

 But and this is a big but. We need to ask the question …

 … “does this assessment of personal attributes, or for that matter the whole Skills Matrix approach, provide the insight needed into the potential board member [or existing board member’s] unconscious psychological influences? The very things that will shape and direct the boards behaviour, rapport and ultimately its performance”.

I would strongly suggest not, given that our exposure to assessing behaviours is the very small window at an interview, or from a recommendation or referee – which is somebody else’s version of that person.

How do we determine the unconscious psychological influences of directors?

Traditionally we know, the skills, experience, and qualifications of directors – but do we know what drives their behaviour at the governance level?  

One of the best ways to determine unconscious psychological influences is through an independent assessment of the individual and how they fit withing the construct of the board.

Like having too many of one type of skill on a board, which we can readily recognise, similarly having too many of the same behavioural type is also counterproductive and destabilising in achieving board harmony and performance.

Let me demonstrate.

Unsing our approach we recognise there are nine (9) different behavioural types which drive individual behaviour, and with that we can recognise each director conscious or unconscious core motivation to either:

1.    Do the right thing.

2.    Help those in need.

3.    Outshine the rest.

4.    Be unique.

5.    Understand everything around them.

6.    Be safe.

7.    Experience it all.

8.    Be in control, or

9.    Keep the balance.

 Correspondingly, we also know that these individuals have the following characteristics, with some being stronger than other: