I have been doing A LOT of networking while I have been establishing my consultancy, and I have been lucky enough to speak to a range of people with management committee and board experience. It has been clear that every person I have spoken to really enjoys contributing to leading social housing organisations into a brighter future, but there is one common piece of feedback.
There is a lack of investment in the development of boards.
Although colleagues are enjoying the experience of being on a board or management committee, and they believe that they are making an important contribution that is leading to positive change, very few people I have spoken to feel that there is any investment in the personal or team development of members of the board.
I’m surprised that there seems to be this gap. After all, boards are intentionally made up of individuals from different backgrounds with different life experiences. Depending on the size of the organisation, they may also be from different parts of the country. They generally only have the opportunity to come together every couple of months. And yet, they are expected to have a clear and shared vision. They are expected to be able to challenge each other, collaborate on ideas and be motivated to keep abreast of developments that will future proof their organisations.
How can social housing providers invest in boards?
Boards need to be a cohesive team who connect well. They need to understand each other’s communication styles and what each individual brings to the table. This is increasingly important as boards (rightly) explore diversity and inclusion, and (again rightly) recruit tenants and residents.
I am an Insights Discovery practitioner and I believe Insights Discovery is the perfect tool for getting your board in the right place. Insights Discovery uses a simple and memorable four colour model to help people understand their style, their strengths and the value they bring to the team. It’s an investment in the personal development of each member, which allows them to consider their own approach and how they go on to connect with people with different styles.
While there are many facets to social housing boards, ultimately all our organisations are about connecting with people so what better grounding could there be?
What are the benefits of investing in Insights Discovery for boards?
There are a plethora of benefits of this investment, but I have picked out some of the most exciting:
- Insights Discovery raises self-awareness and the awareness of others. This means that your board have an opportunity to form a bond, which leads to cohesiveness and strengthens the shared vision.
- Insights Discovery workshops are tailored to address individual needs, so can focus on the things that are really important to boards, such as challenge, creativity and inclusion.
- When you invest in people, they know that they are valued and important to your organisation. This increases commitment, retention and satisfaction. In turn, this means that their representation of your organisation will take on a warm and positive glow.
- The Insights Discovery report on Return on Investment showed some pretty impressive results with an ROI of 2063% and a wide range of results that improved team effectiveness.
- Insights Discovery provides a simple, memorable language that can be used as short-hand when thinking about what’s needed and what’s next. Having a shared language also improves feelings of ‘togetherness’.
- An Insights Discovery profile and workshop doesn’t have to be the end. There are lots of cost-effective opportunities to keep improving connectedness within the board membership.
If you want to invest in your board, here’s how.
Tentacles Consultancy offers a trained and licensed practitioner to deliver Insights Discovery to your board (or anywhere else in your organisation). The additional benefit of using Tentacles is that I specialise in social and supported housing so I understand your needs and challenges.
If you’d like a no obligation chat, get in touch at info@tentaclesconsultancy.co.uk. I am also willing to offer one free profile per organisation so you can get a feel for how brilliant this approach is. One of my recent customers said:
“My profile makes me feel like I’ve been to see a magical fortune teller!”.
