There are many different venues for corporate governance training, ranging from conferences that offer CEU courses to universities that offer degrees related to it. When looking for good corporate governance training, you should keep several things in mind. First, you should ensure you know what your goals are. Unlike a liberal arts degree, there’s really no reason to take classes you’re not going to use in the course of your business. If you need to learn about Sarbanes-Oxley, you should focus on training there. If your company is getting ready to open a new division in Europe, then you need corporate governance training on the specific issues you’re going to run into there.
Don’t just look at training outside your company. It may actually be cheaper and more efficient if you hire a consultant to come in and help train your executives one on one. This is especially true if you are focusing on a particular project, such as bringing your systems in line with the Sarbanes-Oxley act.
If you do choose to go outside for training, look carefully at the vendors that are available. Do you need the intensive training in a multiple-day workshop, or do you just need the basics that can be provided in a short training session? Do you have multiple needs that can best be addressed at a conference? There are also very good resources available in the form of online training and computer-based training.
What to look for in corporate governance training
You should always get a syllabus when planning to invest in any kind of training. Go through the syllabus and ensure that it meets all your objectives; if it misses something crucial, you’re out of luck after you’ve paid for the classes. Look through their class listings beyond the class you’re interested in; you might find trends you were not aware of taught in other classes.
Avoid taking the class in management du jour – instead, take the classes that offer good, solid foundations in corporate governance. Focus on classes that address specific issues directly.
Your classes should include such things as information on audit trends, new governmental regulations you need to be aware of in every country you have a presence, and software training. One particularly important training segment today is information risk management. For example, how can you properly safeguard your customer’s information? How can you safeguard the information in your own company? And how can you best prevent malicious software from getting on your corporation’s vital computer systems?
Maintain your skills after you’ve acquired them. We live in an ever-changing world, and the skills you learn today for corporate governance are likely to change by tomorrow. By staying on top of the skills you’re going to need tomorrow, you’ll ensure your company is always prepared.
Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.managementpilot.com. Learn about change management, interim management, project management, corporate governance, management consulting and business development.
