‘The golden thread throughout was applying psychology’

A psychologist with a wealth of experience in leadership and governance has been appointed as the new Chair of the British Psychological Society's Board of Trustees. Dr Carol Cole, who has been a member of the BPS since her undergraduate degree, spoke to Ella Rhodes about her career and hopes for the future of the Society. 

Can you tell me about your journey through psychology?

I studied psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Glasgow – the actual degree was in General, Experimental and Social Psychology. During that time there was an opportunity to apply for a Medical Research Council award at University of Birmingham. And I thought – why not? Fortune favours the brave! I applied and ended up doing a doctorate in behavioural psychology at Birmingham and then a master's in clinical psychology. 

After qualifying I became a probationer psychologist in London with what were then called mental handicap services, now learning disability. I was really interested in that because I was, by inclination, interested in behaviour and how to improve things. Something that was particularly positive, and which the clinical course at Birmingham got across, was that in learning disabilities it wasn't about 'removing a pathology'. You don't approach LD with the idea of getting rid of something that isn't as it should be. It is much more about helping find out what individuals can do and how to enhance their skills to be as fulfilled as possible. I was very fortunate to have that opportunity and went on to work in the NHS as a clinical psychologist for several years. 

How did you move from working in clinical practice to supporting organisations? 

In my clinical practice, where there was only a very small team working with several hundred residents, I found myself being drawn upwards to looking at the culture, how wards were managed and what the leadership style was, in order to help individuals in a way that one-to-one therapy, given our resource constraints, could not. You had to lift your gaze to look at the culture of the institution to have an impact higher up, which might then improve the lives of those lower down the organisation. In this way I became exposed to the concept of managing change in terms of culture and leadership. When the opportunity to train as a Change Management Consultant with the NHS Training Authority came up, I put my hat in the ring and was one of nine selected, which was great. It was a bit of a gamble for me, and I was the youngest recruited… it was probably a bit of a gamble for them too, but it paid off. 

The appointment was for three years and was fantastic. It was just what I wanted to do, particularly as I was able to draw totally on my clinical training. Both roles were all about gathering data, making a formulation, deciding on a course of action, and helping people to implement it, but with the change management consultancy it was at a more systemic level in the organisation. 

This was a very innovative scheme, which unfortunately only lasted a few years, but it did involve a joint initiative with Royal Dutch Shell on change management which was quite unusual and brought exposure to how a big, global organisation managed change. As a result, when the three-year NHS contract finished I moved to Shell on a three-year contract as an organisation consultant. Although it might seem an unusual 180-degree turn, in actual fact the issues were the same. Where are we now? Where do we want to get to? How can we get there in a way that's as productive and effective as possible? In that sense, it wasn't very different from what we as change management consultants had been doing in the NHS. We were helping enhance health and safety on North Sea oil platforms, for example. After the Piper Alpha disaster it was all about encouraging people to think and behave in a safe way, how to embed a safety culture, and the leadership required. We also explored issues of business effectiveness and what makes for successful organisations. 

That work really resonated and led to a decision to go into practice myself as an organisation consultant, which I did for 25+ years. About 50 per cent of the portfolio was in the NHS and public sector and the other 50 per cent with a range of different organisations in energy, oil and gas, engineering and government. But the golden thread throughout was about applying psychology. Working as a facilitator with organisations and latterly boards, particularly NHS boards, to help them be more effective, in turn led to an interest in good governance. I realised, in effect, that that was what I'd been doing all my working life – looking at what makes for a successful organisation, team or culture and how best to design and facilitate this. 

Could you tell me more about some of your work in governance? 

The organisation development work with boards resulted in my applying for a number of trustee and non-executive roles. The first was with Deafness Research UK, a small research charity, partly because my mother was partially deaf. The charity therefore had a personal meaning and that's been the case for everything since – the importance of having personal relevance. I ended up as Vice Chair of Deafness Research UK and from there went to the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. I also served on the board of the Royal Air Force Museum, because of an interest in military history, and because a lot of my family were in the RAF. But, again, the golden thread was, how can we make this organisation successful and productive for its stakeholders, for staff, or visitors in the case of the Museum, or if it's for RNID, for the 11 million people in the UK who have some kind of hearing loss. I have always kept that concept in mind – what part can the board play in making the organisation as effective as it can be? 

I also served on the boards of two NHS Trusts, ending up as acting chair. Eventually these roles timed out – you can only do them for certain terms of office – so the timing was perfect when the BPS was looking for a new chair for its Board of Trustees. 

What drew you to apply to this role?

The BPS is the voice of psychology and has been for 120 years. It is in a fantastic position to influence some of the most pressing issues that we face today as a society and as individuals. One of the articles which recently appeared in The Psychologist quoted Roman [BPS President] who said, "psychological thinking combined with evidence-based research can make a significant contribution to creating good policy which enhances people's lives". The CEO Sarb Bajwa has said that if ever there was a time for the discipline to shine, it is now. 

As a member since being an undergraduate, I always think of myself as a psychologist, so this role was thus the perfect mix of my membership of the BPS, my self-identity as a psychologist and recognising the potential that psychology has as a force for good. All of those aspects came together and so I decided to submit an application and take my chances in the hope that I might be able to offer some knowledge, skills and experience that the panel considered relevant. Everyone has already been so welcoming. 

Can you tell me about some of your hopes for the future of the BPS during your time as Chair?

I'm coming in with a very positive mindset, keen to form strong working relationships with fellow trustees, who all give so much of their own time and energy to the board and to the Society, as well as with executive colleagues and BPS staff, so that, together, we can help make the board as effective and well governed as possible, since a high performing board will facilitate and enhance the ambitions, success and impact of the Society.

The BPS strategy 2024 implicitly acknowledges that the Society hasn't always got things right in recent years. It talks about re-energising the BPS, reinvigorating it, revitalising it and that there is now an opportunity to build for the future. That's a really powerful message. Our members are the beating heart of the Society and as a chair and as a board, we need to listen to that heartbeat. We need to listen to the voices of the psychologists who are our members – if there are no members, then there's no Society. We have more than 60,000 members with diverse needs and expertise, skills, talents and expectations; they're a hugely rich resource and as a board, we can harness that by listening to them and using their wisdom and insights to make the BPS a force for good with an impact, beyond what the Society is already doing, both nationally and internationally. That will involve ensuring there's good governance, that we're working in partnership and, as trustees, that we're acting in the Society's best interests.

Looking back on my days working in learning disability services, it was about asking what we can do more of, what we can do better, and in a similar way, the role of the board is about asking how we can harness the strengths of the organisation to make the Society more relevant, effective and impactful. 

The panel asked about the role of Chair of the Board of Trustees. In answering, I commented that it was not dissimilar to the predominantly Scottish Olympic sport of curling. In curling, there is a granite disc which uses momentum to head towards its target. People keep their eye on the disc to see how close it gets to the target. They tend not to pay as much attention to the two people in front, who are brushing furiously, but what the sweepers are doing is keeping an eye on the disc and an eye on the target, and making small, focused interventions to enable the disc to arrive as smoothly and as close as possible to where it needs to get to. And that's part of what a chair's role is about – making small, nuanced interventions to facilitate productive outcomes. 

The BPS describes itself as a home for everyone who loves psychology; we need to harness that passion to make it as successful as we can: as I said, fortune favours the brave.