Creating an agile organisation - it all starts in the boardroom
Better Boards Limited state the key to creating agile organisations is to create a psychologically safe boardroom.
Better Boards Limited, a company specialised in providing evidence-based board evaluations and board development programmes, identified that chairpeople that master the art of creating boardrooms where Directors feel safe, offer the best foundation for agile organisations.
Chairpeople today are faced with an unprecedented number of challenges from the pressure to meet profit margins to an ever-growing number of competitors. Recent boardroom guidelines have put greater focus on boardroom culture and behaviour, leaving many Chairpeople uncertain how to create a positive, safe boardroom environment.
A psychologically safe boardroom environment is one that is governed by mutual respect and trust, allowing all participants to feel valued and comfortable. Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Managing-Partner at Better Boards, states "Only in a safe boardroom environment, Directors dare to ask challenging questions, are open to admit mistakes and take the risk of offering out of the box solutions."
According to Dr Dembkowski “Many boards do not dive in and think about the root causes of symptoms and behaviours they see in the boardroom. Psychological safety is often overlooked and dismissed, and yet it is THE precondition for creating an agile boardroom and an agile organisation. Creating boardrooms that are psychological safe places to be is the one ability of Chairpeople that make all the difference.” Dr Dembkowski states that “I would go as far as describing Psychological Safety as the ultimate agility accelerator.”
Better Boards leverages in its work research from Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson. Drawing on the studies of Edmondson, Better Boards Limited has advanced her findings and created a system for creating psychologically safe boardrooms.
Operating with a psychologically safe boardroom can have such benefits as improving performance, greater knowledge sharing and better communication.
Psychological safety is not just a concept for larger businesses to take note of, businesses of all sizes stand to benefit from fostering a psychologically safe environment. For more information on improving boardroom culture, Better Boards Limited can be contacted at info@better-boards.com or via their website.
ENDS