Empowering the directors and future leaders of Ireland to succeed

In a fast-moving world, firm and confident direction from a qualified Board and Senior Management Team is essential to keep a company on target in every aspect, from good governance to company finance to strategy and leadership. The Institute of Directors Ireland is committed to making Ireland an exemplar of corporate governance by offering up-to-date, practical courses and guidance for directors, to ensure they can be the very best that they can be in each role they take on.

Chartered Director Programme

A key example is their Chartered Director Programme, held as the gold standard in director learning and development. This Programme is a formalised qualification for directors and strategic business leaders.

The path to chartered director status, includes two cornerstones of the Chartered Director Programme, the Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction. Once programme participants have completed these two steps, they may also be eligible to go on to become a fully accredited chartered director. IoD Ireland is the only body in Ireland that provides the full designation and recognition as a professional Chartered Director (CDir).

However, the IoD’s Chartered Director Programme is far more than letters after your name, as Programme Director Eileen Gleeson CDir, explains. The programme is not just about gaining a qualification, it’s grounded in the real world, with an expert faculty who have practical and real time board experience. The Programme facilitates peer-to-peer learning with a senior group of directors and business leaders from a cross section of industry in Ireland.

Eileen added, “What is unique about the IoD Chartered Director Programme is the broad range of subject area and content it covers. While there are lots of great specific courses on governance or strategy or finance or leadership out there, this Programme brings all of these four key areas together in one place. It also gives participants the opportunity to take time out from their busy professional lives and invest in themselves, by taking this best-in-class professional development.”

Aimed at people at a senior level and/or at Board level, the Chartered Director Programme consists of three stages: a Certificate, followed by a Diploma, and then finally the full Chartered accreditation. “When a person signs up for the programme, they are committing to ten months of learning with an average of two days a month in class,” Gleeson explained. “They join with a cohort of 20 people who all start and continue that same journey together. It is designed for people in private companies, public companies, State boards, Charities, State organisations, social enterprises, international companies – all types of organisations. There is very strong peer learning and interaction in every class, plus networking – which is something that people find difficult to find once they get to that very senior level.”

First stage of the programme: The Certificate in Company Direction

Participants begin with the Certificate Programme, as Gleeson explained. “The Certificate is an exam-certified programme that covers four subjects: governance, leadership, strategy, and finance.

“One of the key benefits that we have in our programme is our faculty, our tutors. These are people who don’t just know the subject, but they are living the subject. For example, on the governance module, which covers what a great board should do, how a great director should perform, we have two top-level tutors. One is Carol Bolger CDir, who has just completed a term as Chair of An Post. She is also currently the Chair of a government department audit committee, and a director of a regulated financial services company, as well as being an Assessor of Boards with IoD Ireland Board Evaluation Service. The other Governance tutor is Marie Collins CDir, who is Chair of the Government’s Home Building Finance Ireland DAC and a director of Bank of Ireland's Dawson MT DAC and Dunnes Stores PT ULC.

“All of the tutors throughout the full Programme have similar top-level, relevant board positions and the quality of learning they can bring to the classroom is exemplary. For our programme participants, they can be assured that they get the academic knowledge that is relevant but also the real-world experience which is so important.”

This programme is designed for participants to immediately learn how to apply their knowledge to their own companies and teams, explained Gleeson. “We want programme participants to bring back their learnings to their organisation immediately; this is not something that you put into your back pocket in the hope that one day you get this wonderful board position – it is for people at a senior level in all sorts of organisations, even those that do not have a formal board structure, who want that organisation to have the advantage of knowledge, insights and direction which will help them prosper.”

Second stage of the programme: The Diploma in Company Direction

After participants have successfully completed the Certificate, which awards them a Certificate in Company Direction, they go straight into the Diploma phase, where the key areas dealt with in the Certificate are brought together in a practical way. “Our objective at Diploma level is that anybody coming out the other end would feel comfortable assessing any company, analysing its strengths, weaknesses, strategy, its risks, and be able to confidently help that company plot a sustainable, confident way forward.

“To be able to help an organisation plan a profitable and sustainable way forward, you need to be able to lead that organisation well, you need to have a great strategy, it needs to be very well governed, and it needs to be underpinned by substantial financial management. So, the Diploma phase brings together all the aspects from the Certificate module and helps our delegates feel confident in helping an organisation in its development.”

Becoming a Chartered Director

When delegates complete the Diploma phase, which awards them a Diploma in Company Direction, they can apply to become a Chartered Director. There is an eligibility requirement to achieve Chartered Status. “You need to have been on a Board for three years, anytime in the last 10 years,” said Gleeson. “Being a Chartered Director is not about ‘I will be a great director in the future’. It is about evidencing your skills as a director, so you need to be or have been a director”.

Many of those progressing through the Chartered Director Programme will not yet have the full eligibility to become an accredited Chartered Director but delegates have the academic qualification – Diploma in Company Direction – and can transfer that into Chartered accreditation any time in the ten years following completion of the Programme. Many people undertake this Programme to get the skills to be on a board or SMT, and then they complete the last piece, the Chartered accreditation, when they are ready to do so.

The aim of the entire process is to instil confidence in a director to bring what they need to their role: knowledge, experience, expertise, skills, mindset – these enable them to help the organisation on its road forward. No matter what your sector is, these are the skills you need.

“As a director, you don’t need to be an expert at everything, but you do need to have an independent, curious, slightly challenging but also supportive mind,” said Gleeson. “You know you’re there to support the business in becoming the best it can be, to challenge some of the assumptions so it can improve, to ask the right questions to help the company move forward in the correct way.”

IoD Ireland also have an active alumni network for past and present Chartered Director Programme participants, that is bespoke for them, to help guide them on their future journey as a director. All participants on the Chartered Director Programme are also members of IoD Ireland’s membership community and collectively become a voice and driving force behind a dynamic future Ireland. So long after the classroom experience has concluded, members continue to be empowered, informed, and supported by a network of fellow pioneering directors – and all the more ready to lead in times of ceaseless change.

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Learn more

The Chartered Director Programme has two commencement points in each calendar year, January and September. Places for the September 2024 programme are currently open for booking. Learn more on the IoD Ireland website.