Slides by Paul Richards on psychological safety and why it's important and how it can help your board.

1. THE SIX HARDEST
WORDS IN PENSIONS

2. THINK OF A MEETING…….
2
“Tell her to stop, that I
don’t understand”

3. 3
“No, just nod,
look like
everyone else”
THINK OF A MEETING…….
“Tell her to
stop, that
I don’t
understand”

4. PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY - THE GOOGLE PERSPECTIVE
4

5. PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY – A KEY FACET OF CULTURE
Psychological Safety
5
High
> Diverse perspectives aired
> Issues on table
> The six hardest words

6. THE 6 HARDEST WORDS
6
“I don’t know,
I was wrong”
> Making and sticking
with bad choices
> Deferring decisions
> Groupthink

7. WHY IS IT SO HARD?
>Because we are human and shaped by evolution
7

8. A TALE OF TWO DRIVES - RELATIVE STATUS
8
People come into the world equipped with an inner voice urging them to rank as
high as possible in whatever social hierarchy they belong to.
Robert H. Frank
Can often be hard for people to accept

9. A MULTI-WORLD EXPERIMENT
9
You get
praised three times
Your colleagues
get praised once
You get praised
5 times
Your colleagues get
praised 10 times

10. A TALE OF TWO DRIVES - RELATIVE STATUS
10
>What drives status in the work/trustee landscape?
Depends on your culture:
>Knowledge
>Competence
>Being ‘in control’
>Decisive

11. A TALE OF TWO DRIVES – CONFORMITY
11
>We’re pack animals
>We survived and evolved by working in highly coordinated groups
>We’ve evolved to recognise social cues and to coordinate and
align our behavior with those around us
Not conforming………..feels uneasy
Conforming……feels right

12. A TALE OF TWO DRIVES – CONFORMITY
12

13. A TALE OF TWO DRIVES – CONFORMITY
13
>How does conformity manifest itself in the work/trustee landscape?
>Following the herd
>Not challenging

14. 7 THINGS WE CAN DO RIGHT NOW
14
1. Start the discussion
2. Reframe the game
3. Naming not shaming
4. The role of the Chair
5. Take it outside
6. Short-circuit the system
7. Hold us to account

15. A MULTI-WORLD EXPERIMENT
15
You earn
£75,000
All your close contacts
earn £55,000 or less
You earn £150,000 Everyone else
earns £300,000