President-Elect 2023 - Meet the Candidates: Dr Natalie Lancer

It is a privilege to be the Chair of the Division of Coaching Psychology, which is a Division that crosses the traditional boundaries in psychology; with members from Clinical, Forensic, Occupational and Sports Psychology.

This has enabled me to develop a broad understanding of the concerns of psychologists working in a variety of contexts including the NHS, prisons,
businesses and sports organisations.

In my professional practice, I combine research and lecturing with independent psychology consultancy.

Prior to this, my career included banking and teaching. My professional experiences have provided me with both breadth and depth of understanding which has helped me become a better psychologist, with a sharper and keener knowledge of the broader society and world.

I am confident, capable and comfortable with the media and have featured in radio interviews, podcasts and newspaper articles.

As President, I will seek to increase the BPS' presence in the national consciousness, by leading a careful and professional media campaign drawing
on members' expertise, targeting pertinent and topical stories, that increase awareness of psychology.

I champion psychology through supervising trainee psychologists, writing articles in national newspapers, and creating the extremely popular podcast, The Coaching Psychology Pod (to date 13,600 downloads) in which I interview colleagues from the BPS and external stakeholders, representing psychology to the wider world.

I lead regular coaching events both online and in person and engage in thought leadership – presenting informative webinars for psychologists, writing peer-reviewed articles and books and running personal and professional development programmes.

I am an ambassador for psychology, going into schools and universities to inspire a diverse range of students, prompting them to consider psychology as a career.

I train university postgraduates on the benefits of psychological techniques to support the completion of their Master's and Doctorates, running programmes at the University of Cambridge, Durham University and Queen Mary, among others.

The BPS already has links with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Medical Association, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, YoungMinds, Mind and a number of political parties.

In my role as Chair of the Division of Coaching Psychology, I have cultivated links with many external stakeholders such as The Fountain Centre within St Luke's Cancer Centre, Spark Inside, which brings coaching to prisons and I have built strong links with the US organisation GSAEC.

I also have an excellent working relationship with Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Psychology, Lisa Cameron MP and in my role as Chair of the Division of Coaching Psychology I have planned several potential APPG meetings focusing on the role of psychology in the UK.

I am clear that I have the expertise, care, integrity and time to engage with these BPS partner organisations, and to engage with additional institutions, to push our broader agenda forward and to have a practical impact on people's psychological lives.

I can confidently represent our society to other organisations and the wider public, by fostering communication, raising awareness of issues and building on shared priorities across the BPS and different Member Networks.

A key challenge for our profession is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

I propose a root and branch approach to address EDI issues which entails inspiring students from diverse backgrounds to become psychologists in the
first place.

If a wider and more diverse range of people become psychologists, our profession will better reflect and connect with the wider population we serve.

My experience as a teacher for 12 years, including my role as Assistant Headteacher at a large, ethnically diverse comprehensive school in London, provides me with expertise in inspiring students from diverse and lower socio-economic backgrounds to choose degrees and potential careers that they may not have considered before. This enhanced their scope to realise their ambitions.

My direct experience of working with students, expanding their minds to new possibilities, through running programmes, mentoring schemes, careers and university fairs and giving talks has enabled me to build expertise that is transferrable to the psychology profession.

I intend to be a twenty-first century ambassador for psychology, cracking open the psychology profession to a whole new world of people.

As President, I would focus on building a network of outreach volunteers, similar to STEM Ambassadors, to go into schools and arrange talks and other activities, engaging with students who are starting to explore careers, at the point of choosing their A-levels and degrees.

Once we attract a more diverse workforce into psychology and welcome them to the BPS, my focus would be on inclusion, listening and effective representation.

In my role as Chair of Senate, I have experience in enabling our members to share best practice in EDI and to learn from each other.

I seek to facilitate a truly inclusive profession and I am clear on the benefits it would bring to all.

It is important that the membership of the BPS reflects the diversity of the population and that our diverse membership is represented in leadership roles at the BPS.

The volunteers' activities are the engine room and heart of the BPS, but our diversity as an organisation is not reflected in the make-up of our leaders,
including Chairs and committee members and our events do not always represent our diverse membership.

As President, I will champion the active mentoring of under-represented groups into leadership positions within the BPS and to expand current training to include leadership skills in a charity context.

Diverse psychologists are better equipped to serve a diverse society. By welcoming a greater diversity of people to our profession, we become more accessible and better psychologists, as we are able to tailor our expertise and better serve our clients.

Furthermore, by the society becoming more inclusive, we will all benefit as we broaden our knowledge and learn about each other's perspectives on work and our lived experiences of the world.

This will deepen our understanding of psychology, and afford us greater opportunities to impact individuals' lives, and society in general, positively and substantially.

Members of the BPS enjoy being part of a professional community with whom they can work, network, and develop ideas and best practice.

Post-Covid there is a hunger to reinvigorate our networking groups in person which the Branches will be instrumental in leading, and I will be sure to champion.

I see it as a vital part of the President's role to help energise our members, in terms of attending and organising events, and getting involved with committees.

I have come to know the whole organisation and people's concerns and interests well, as Chair of the Division of Coaching Psychology and Chair of Senate, Member of the Practice Board and host of The Coaching Psychology Pod.

Thanks to the podcast I have also introduced our membership to a wide variety of guests, including members from different Divisions of the BPS.

I have held one-to-one meetings with people from many Member Networks and I have advocated for what members want to the relevant BPS staff and Chair of the Board of Trustees, particularly around events, budgets and training.

We must clearly articulate the value of membership. What deliverables do we get from being members? We need to communicate this explicitly through Member Networks and on individual webpages.

We need to increase the real value of membership (not the price!) by, for example, creating a library of CPD videos based on webinars which would be a rich resource for our members.

The podcast which I set-up and host is extremely popular with our members and is an innovative way of engaging them in the psychological issues of the day.

Hosting the podcast has given me the rare privilege of speaking in depth with key stakeholders and psychologists from different contexts, including schools, prisons, business and sport, better positioning me to represent them in our society.

The podcast, especially Series 2, will help familiarise members with the work of the organisation.

As President, I will help members better represent themselves to each other, sharing between us an understanding of what other psychologists are doing, their burning issues and future plans.

Although there are several forms of communication, including the Research Digest, our journals and Member Network newsletters, I think we can increase our knowledge flow to members to update everyone about what is happening in psychology and how this pertains to current societal issues.

I also believe the 'user experience' of our website is challenging for members to navigate and I would like to oversee the development of useful resources for our members as academic and applied psychologists.

As it stands, it is not the first port of call to look up information. It is also not public-facing enough.

As the custodians of cutting-edge psychological knowledge and practice, our online presence could provide more information about psychological issues and concepts for the general public.

There is massive public interest in mental health which we could respond to, precluding the need for people to consult Instagram for           psychological knowledge.

It is essential to have good governance at the BPS. We have recently restructured and we now have the opportunity to build on this.

I would focus on good governance, ensuring that we have regular reviews on what we are doing well and less well, and taking action as a result.

My three core values are transparency, accountability and integrity. I am an open and accessible person, and make sure that any views I put forward are clearly evidenced and explained.

I relish respectful dialogue and challenge, and welcome being held to account for actions I have supported and agreed to take.

In my current role as a Trustee, I hold others to account, and make sure decisions made are transparent, sensible, and in the best interests of members, clients/patients and the society.

My professional ethos is about breaking down barriers. Some barriers in the BPS are around excessive bureaucracy and we need to make sure that the language and processes used in BPS communications is inclusive and accessible.

I will strive to ensure that documents are clear and the main issues are summarised so that our busy members can engage with them efficiently.

I will also undertake full charity governance training, so as to uphold the highest standards of good governance.

I bring insights from different sectors to my role as a Trustee, with an understanding of a range of organisational  ssues from finance to human resources.

I have a track record of standing up for people and ideas. In my earlier career as a teacher, I was the union rep at my school for the then Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

I was the PsyPAG rep for Coaching Psychology, becoming the Secretary and now Chair. The Division of Coaching Psychology is one of larger Divisions of the BPS and has recently gone through a lot of change, and as a result, I have developed a good understanding of how the BPS functions, and how to get things done.

I hope to continue contributing to the Board by helping them support the BPS to enable it to look ahead and flourish.

As a school leader, I was an Assistant Headteacher involved in policy making, holding my fellow leaders to account and apportioning our large budget to different initiatives.

I also served as Development Governor of Christ Church Primary School, Barnet.

I will bring my strategic, yet hands-on approach to the role of President and conscientiously execute statutory responsibilities.

I am confident that I have the values, leadership experience and governance skills to continue to build on my current role as a Member of the Board of Trustees and take a more strategic position as President.

I am the right person to lead the BPS as President at this time, and, I hope you, as the members, will put your trust in me to represent our society.

In turn, I will give this role my characteristic energy, and imbue it with my values of transparency, accountability and integrity.

How long have you known the candidate?

Five years.

When have you worked with the candidate or come into contact with them?

I first met Natalie Lancer at a coaching conference some five years ago. I was impressed by her energy, passion for psychology and for coaching.

She has continued to demonstrate this and has developed her skills and capabilities along the way.

I have seen her in action at speaker events that she has hosted and co-ordinated.

Currently I am her mentor and have regular contact with her.

She also runs peer coaching sessions and her enabling and supportive approach is evident in that context.

Why do you think the candidate would make a great President-Elect and President?

Dr Natalie Lancer is a well-qualified professional chartered psychologist who demonstrates the core competencies that would enable her to be a positive, collaborative, and progressive President.

She brings energy, passion, and a drive for change. She couples this with highly developed people and relationship building skills and a practical,
down to earth approach to delivery.

She enables and encourages others, and she values the many volunteers who add their expertise to the society.

She has a strong focus on diversity, equality, and inclusion and would actively promote fairness, inclusion, and equality as President.

She recognises the importance of lived experience and has a track record of coaching, mentoring, and enabling others to succeed.

As the current Chair of Senate, she appreciates the challenges faced across the BPS membership and the need for close collaboration with the BPS leadership team and staff to deliver meaningful results.

She has built and continues to build strong relationships with others, and she brings empathy and genuine understanding of them and their needs.

She has a background beyond the psychology remit through her experience in finance and banking, as a governor and through her career in teaching.

She has a depth of understanding around professional practice and takes accountability for her actions.

She appreciates the importance of governance, and how to work with others to achieve the end goals.

She is well versed in communication, social media and the benefits of technology to enhance regular two-way interactions with members.

Her positive can do attitude means that she seeks out opportunities to make a difference as well as working closely with others to overcome the challenges faced by psychologists and psychology in our everchanging world.

I am pleased to endorse Natalie Lancer to be President-Elect and a future President of the British Psychological Society.

How long have you known the candidate?

Three years.

When have you worked with the candidate or come into contact with them?

I have met Natalie through being involved with the Division of Coaching Psychology as a member of the Divison and been impressed by her capacity to solve large scale problems deftly and to take people with her.

During the initial change from the Special Group to the Divison again I was impressed with her calm pragmatism never getting caught up in all the emotional currents – just leading the substantial challenge of the chartership process.

I have discussed larger scale issues with her at Senate.

I selected her as my supervisor in Coaching Psychology having listened to her excellent podcasts where she places other experts in the limelight whilst she asks great questions on our behalf.

Why do you think the candidate would make a great President-Elect and President?

Natalie appears to me to have enormous capacity for hard work; clearsightedness about the prime objectives; and an enthusiastic leadership energy.

She does not engage in micro politics but applies a cool logic and analysis to issues; asking really good questions to enable us all to see the bigger picture and to move towards it.

She is an excellent ambassador for psychology as evidenced by her comunity work, webinars and podcasting.

I think she will have an ambition for psychology in the UK, and I think she has the talent and wherewithal to increase the engagement of members in BPS purpose.