Why better directors can build a better world - Natalie Sykes

I am a passionate advocate of lifelong learning. It has never been more important to build your skills and boost your resilience in an uncertain business, political and global environment.

Learning is not something that only happens during our formative years. There is an ongoing need to absorb new information and expertise from those around us.

Described as a ‘world first’ by The Guardian, the Chartered Director programme sets a gold standard for director training. The IoD remains the only Institute to offer qualifications for directors under Royal Charter.

In addition to myself, two of our branch chairs in Yorkshire, Richard Smith and Keith Jackson, have achieved Chartered Director status. We are among almost 2,000 Chartered Directors in the UK and beyond.

Keith Jackson, IoD South Yorkshire branch chair, said Chartered Director equipped him with “essential skills and tools that I use regularly in business.” He added: “As an experienced director in a rapidly changing world, I build upon this qualification with continuous professional development to ensure I am always striving to be a better director.”

Richard Smith, our West Yorkshire chair, said: “I am constantly meeting directors from many different organisations who do not really have an appreciation of what their legal and wider responsibilities are. Today, we are facing more wider societal challenges and it will be the boards of different types of organisations who will have to develop strategies to meet them.”

Chartered Director is the best qualification I have undertaken. It provides you with skills that can be immediately put into practice. It empowered me to push beyond my comfort zone of luxury hotels into new areas such as property and museums.

One of the greatest learnings I had during my Chartered Director training was not just from my tutors or the content. It was through the cohort which brought together a mix of industry sectors, experience and talent to challenge each other’s thinking and break down the issues we each faced in business.

The drive for ‘good governance’ is moving up the agenda following a string of high-profile business failures. But how about if we spoke about ‘great governance’ instead?

We believe that better directors build a better world. We continually develop the Chartered Director qualification to ensure it reflects what boards need to effect this change.

Our utopia would be to have a Chartered Director on every board.

Want to find out more? Join us in York for our next Director Skills Day when we welcome back Jo Haigh on 12 February. A multi-award winner and brilliant author, I was fortunate enough to be trained by Jo during my Company Direction Certificate, the first step in becoming Chartered.