Your professional skills are key to being recruited to the boardroom, but your interpersonal skills are vital to succeed there. This session explores the psychology behind board dynamics, and offers practical advice on behaviours that can boost your performance as a non-executive.
We will be joined by Joy Harcup and Helen Hopper, who are co-authors of The Secret Life of Boards: The Art and Psychology of Board Relationships, published by Routledge in September 2023. This book looks at the psychology behind individual and group behaviour and offers tactics and power tools to help make a success of your board career.
It shares advice and practical tips from 40 experienced board members from the worlds of corporates, the public sector and charities on how to spot and manage complex dynamics. And each chapter ends with techniques for unlocking tricky board relationships that you can put into practice immediately. The authors examine case studies and explore topics such as psychodynamics, cognitive behavioural psychology and neuroscience for insights into how boards react under pressure. They then demonstrate how to practise the ART of managing board relationships by increasing Awareness, Relating constructively to others, and choosing Tactics to ease tensions and foster collaboration.
The Art and Psychology of Board Relationships: The Secret Life of Boards reveals why board relationships lie at the heart of organisational success – and how you can use them to gain competitive edge. It is essential reading for current and aspiring board members, coaches, facilitators and anyone with an interest in boardroom dynamics.
This session will be chaired by Rachel Tranter, Executive Director and Co-Founder of WB Directors.
Speakers
Joy Harcup
Joy is an executive coach and board reviewer with the international coaching firm, Praesta LLP, working with individuals, top executive teams, and boards. She has 20 years’ experience coaching clients in the FTSE 100, financial services, public and not-for-profit sectors. Joy was President of the UK Board of the International Coaching Federation, the largest global professional body for coaches. A former lawyer specialising in dispute resolution, she has previously published academic research on the impact of coaching in Management Learning, following her MBA from Bath University, UK. She has also sat on boards in the educational and not-for-profit sectors.
Helen Hopper
Helen trained in management consultancy with Accenture, and in occupational psychology with SHL, before co-founding leadership consulting firm h3 in 2010, where she is a Partner. h3’s mission is to stimulate growth through learning and Helen pursues this with individuals, teams and organisations as a coach and facilitator. She specialises in developing boards and senior teams across the public, private and third sectors. She has degrees in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Oxford University), and in Psychology (The Open University). She is an active supporter of mental health charities, most recently as COO of The Listening Place, and Trustee at youth digital wellbeing charity The Mix.
This virtual event is free to Full and Directors’ Circle members. It will also include an opportunity for Q&A and sharing experience with other members of our network, under Chatham House rule.