Behavioural Risk Governance

(Pictured L to R: Dr Wieke Scholten, Social and Organisational Psychologist and Caroline Spillane CDir, Chief Executive Officer, IoD Ireland)

The event was opened by IoD Ireland Chief Executive Officer Caroline Spillane CDir, who welcomed the attendees and thanked them for their continued engagement in the Chartered Director Community. The special event was for members who had become accredited Chartered Directors, the final stage of the IoD gold standard Chartered Director Programme. 

Effective decision making is vital in the boardroom – but how can we improve boardroom engagement, collective decision making and overall effectiveness through addressing our individual and collective behaviours?

These were questions addressed at the event titled, 'Behavioural Risk Governance', which included a presentation from Dr Wieke Scholten, Social and Organisational Psychologist.  

Dr Scholten is a social and organisational psychologist with 20 years of experience in behavioural analysis in organisations, of which 12 years was in financial services. Her PhD in social psychology focused on preventing conduct issues by revealing team climate perspectives in trading and sales businesses. Previously she has been Head of Audit for Behavioural Risk at NatWest group (based in London) and former Senior Supervisor of Behaviour & Culture at DNB – the Dutch Central Bank and prudential regulator and was one of the first psychologists hired by the Central Bank to build this supervisory expertise. As a supervisor, she conducted and led several behavioural supervisory assessments of Executive Committees and Boards.

At this event, Wieke helped CDir members reflect across a number of areas including “how you typically do things” within their board, that impact the quality of their board’s decisions and effectiveness, how their Board typically responds to ‘wrongs’…and how this may (unintentionally) impair quality of decision making and how their Board typically deals with conflict…and how this may (unintentionally) impair quality of decision making.

After the discussion, the audience had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session. The event also provided accredited Chartered Directors with a key networking opportunity to connect with one another and the panellists. 

Pyschology of the Boardroom

The area of behavioural risk governance is a key component of the IoD Ireland CPD Framework under the Pyschology of the Boardroom Dimension. For this reason, IoD runs a dedicated intenstive two day programme titled 'Pyschology of the Boardroom' led by Wieke. The programme is specifically for Chairs, Executive Directors, Non-Executive Directors, and Independent Non-Executive Directors.

The programme covers how to effectively manage group dynamics and behaviours, a form of behavioural risk management, to help lead to more effective oversight and decision making. Participants gain an enhanced understanding of key behaviours that impact the quality of board decision making, as well as an understanding of the key root causes that drive these hindering and helping behaviours. if you are interested in learning more about the programme contact our Learning and Education Team.