2025 Global Leadership Programme: Strategic Governance, Risk and Compliance for Directors, Board Members and Senior Management Leaders.

Background

Given the current rapid business changes where corporate governance, risk management, and compliance are pivotal to organizational integrity and success, the FITC Global Directors Programme on Strategic Governance, Risk, and Compliance equips board members and senior management leaders with advanced technical competencies required to navigate their complex oversight functions. The programme is specially designed to deep-dive into the intricacies of strategic governance frameworks, risk assessment methodologies, and compliance mechanisms, ensuring participants are proficient in implementing robust oversight and control systems. Also, the programme will ensure top leaders gain the technical expertise needed to steer their organizations through complex regulatory landscapes and dynamic risk environments.

The programme will focus on how GRC has evolved from a lose grouping of siloed, compartmentalized and often disparate or amorphous areas to a comprehensive function with the express purpose of supporting strategy formation and execution. In contrast to traditional GRC, modern “strategic” GRC, as discussed in the programme, takes its shape from its successful adoption by leading organisations where it has been value-enhancing. Adopting more experiential presentation styles, robust in-class exercises and case studies, the programme addresses both ideal structural models as well as common GRC challenges. The programme will also offer extensive opportunities for technical networking, where participants can exchange insights on the latest governance, risk, and compliance technologies and best practices with peers from various industries.

Therefore, it is against the above background that FITC is pleased to design and deliver this programme, titled, “Global Leadership Programme: Strategic Governance, Risk and Compliance for Directors, Board and Senior Management Leaders”. Among other things, the programme offers a deep dive into advanced governance frameworks, sophisticated risk management tools, and comprehensive compliance systems, enabling participants to implement and oversee robust corporate controls.

Target Participants:

This aim of the programme is to prepare existing and future board leaders and members as follows:

• Board Chairs, Directors, Non-Executive Directors, Board Members of all Organisations; DGs, Presidents, Managing Partners/CEOs, C-suite and Senior Management leaders from both public and private sector organizations, across industries in Sub-Sahara Africa, in related GRC functions.
• DGs and Directors of Regulatory Agencies, such as: Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NDIC, SEC, NAICOM, NGX Group, FMBN, DBN, Federal Ministry of Finance, Police Service Commission, etc.
• Participants might be current and future Chief Risk Officers (CROs), CFOs, Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs), as well as future participants in related GRC functions.

Learning Outcome

• Develop more proficiency in applying governance maturity models, deploying governance frameworks, and using board evaluation tools to enhance governance effectiveness and board performance.
• Develop more robust understanding in applying quantitative risk assessment techniques such as probabilistic risk assessment, risk modeling, and scenario analysis to identify and evaluate potential threats systematically.
• Gain more expertise in overseeing deployment of compliance management software, conducting compliance audits, and integrating compliance metrics and reporting tools to ensure regulatory adherence and mitigate compliance risks.
• Ensure more strategic oversight role by the board through consistent crisis simulation exercises by the management team, develop comprehensive crisis response strategies, and use contingency planning tools to effectively lead their organizations through crises and unforeseen challenges.

Learning Objective

• Develop an in-depth understanding of advanced governance structures and assessment tools.
• Equip Board members and Senior Management team with the ability to use sophisticated risk assessment methodologies.
• Enable Directors and top leaders to design, implement, and manage comprehensive compliance management systems using advanced technologies.
• Strengthen directors’ decision-making capabilities through the use of advanced analytical tools and decision support systems.
• Develop technical proficiency in designing and implementing robust crisis management and contingency planning frameworks.

Course highlights:

• Understanding the business case for GRC
• Role of Governance, Risk and Compliance in increasing value by enhancing performance
• Measuring GRC using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• How GRC can be shaped to support common strategic initiatives (e.g., digital transformation, M&A, corporate investment, innovation, etc.)
• Gauging Risk Culture, including reticence, resistance, ignorance and pushback
• Implementing GRC along COSO ERM and best-practice lines
• Distinguishing KPIs and Key Risk Indicators (KRIs)
• Developing an Engagement Process for stakeholders
• The CRO, CCO and Corporate Secretary Roles in GRC
• Ownership in GRC
• Challenges to Effective GRC: Conduct Risk, Weak Risk Culture, Bias at the Board- and Committee-Levels

Programme Focused Areas

Day One Sessions

• Overviews of Emerging Issues in Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
• Implementing Strategic Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
• Obtaining a modern definition of GRC
• Broad
• Elements taken from:
  • COSO ERM 2017
  • OECD Governance definitions
  • ISO definitions
• Defining Risk Governance
  • Understanding Risk Exposure
    • Why it is a board and executive-level concern.
    • Why managing risk requires the attention of CEOs and business heads
    • Why risk and strategy are tied
    • Why risk MUST be forward-looking and strategic
  • How misunderstandings of risk, call for the risk governance
    • Misperceptions of risks
    • Misidentification of risks
    • Miscalculation of risks
    • Miscommunication of risks
    • Mishandling and mismanagement of risks
  • Risk governance as a solution.
• Evaluating the State of Risk Governance in Your Company
  • Risk Perception
  • What it means
  • Biased views
  • Cognitive biases and the psychology of bad thinking
  • Major problems biases lead to

Class Exercise

• Risk Identification
  • How do we identify risks?
  • Backward-looking versus forward-looking
  • Risk exposure that we commonly ignore
    • Emerging risks
    • Reputation risks
    • Social-media risks
    • Customer-service-related risks
    • Strategic risks
  • Weaknesses in typical risk identification tools
  • Exercise: How do you identify risks in your company
• Governance Challenges and Scenarios
• Case Studies and Discussions

Day Two Sessions

• Risk and Enterprise Risk Management
  • Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Strategy
    • Elements of ERM that can address risk governance lapses
      • ERM as a process that involves everyone from the board downwards (addressing misperceptions of risk)
      • ERM as a forward-looking, strategically-linked initiative (addressing misidentification)
      • ERM as a mechanism for quantitatively vetting strategy (Addressing risk miscalculation)
      • ERM as a RELEVANT framework for supporting the business (Addressing miscommunication of risks)
      • ERM as a means for addressing risk exposure before events happen (Addressing mismanagement of risks)
  • How Enterprise Risk Management Works
    • The strategic-, executive- and board-level linkage
    • Chief Risk Officers interacting with other executives
    • The ERM Process Steps
      • Establishing Context
      • Identifying Strategic risks
      • Analyzing and quantifying risks
      • Integration of risks
      • (Re-) Assessment of risks
      • Treatment/Monitoring
  • Developing a Risk Governance Framework using ERM
    • Necessary ingredients
      • The right structure, people, tools, etc.
    • Developing a Risk Management Strategy (RMS) using the ERM Process
      • Interacting with other executives at EXCO, Risk ManCo, ALCO, etc.
      • Use of a “risk” SWOT
      • Joint development of an RMS
    • The Risk Strategy Report (the main Risk Governance “Deliverable”)
      • Drafting a report that business people can use
      • Contents of the report
  • Class Exercise

Day three Sessions

Applying Risk Governance in Your Organisation

• • Risk Calculation
    • Backward, data-driven tools
      • Control self assessments
      • Risk registers
  • Forward-looking tools
    • • SWOT analyses
      • Risk ratings
  • Class Exercise
• Risk Communication
  • Famous cases of risk communication breakdown
  • The consequence of miscommunication
  • Why risk is miscommunicated
  • Tools and frameworks to better communicate risk
  • Class Exercise
• Strategy and the Role of Governance and Risk in Strategy
  • Good strategy/Bad strategy
  • Forging a good strategy
  • Good execution/Bad Execution
  • KPIs and information flow
• Strategy formation and The Process of Engagement
  • Relevant Case Study
• Compliance:
  • Example Compliance measures that affect most companies
    • IFRS9
    • ISO measures
  • Example Compliance that affects mostly financial institutions
    • Basel II & III compliance
    • MiFID II
• Creating a Compliance Program that can integrate with Strategic Governance and Risk
• Roles & Responsibilities in GRC
  • Management responsibility
  • Board Responsibility
  • GRC Heads
• Relevant Case Study

Day Four Sessions

• Challenges to GRC

• • Remaining and unaddressed topics
  • Weak Risk Culture
    • Indicators of a Sound Risk Culture
    • Cognitive biases and skewed risks
  • Conduct Risk
    • Conduct Risk Case Study
  • Group-Level Risks
    • Bias at the Board Level (Case Study)
    • Group-level biases
  • Challenges to GRC
  • Summary of Concepts

Day Five Activities

• Field Engagement/City Tour