BEING a company director is one of the most responsible roles an individual can undertake, but surprisingly it is not illegal to hold this position without any formal director qualifications.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) has developed programmes to remedy this knowledge gap and to equip directors with all the tools they need to discharge their director responsibilities to the highest level of professional competence.
Luckily for Manx directors and aspiring directors it is not necessary to leave the island to gain this director qualification.
The Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction Programmes have been run on island since 2002 and many of the island’s prominent business leaders have graduated from these programmes.
For example, David Hester, Isle of Man Newspaper Awards for Excellence Business Person of the Year in 2012, is a graduate of the 2010/11 programme.
David said: ‘The IOD Certificate and Diploma was an excellent way for me to follow a well proven and structured syllabus, delivered by experienced professionals, covering just about all the knowledge areas I needed to transition from a management role to a director role.
‘It has certainly helped me, as general manager of Swagelok Ltd, to manage and grow the business 30 per cent in the last two years, even through the difficult economic climate.’
The chief executive of the Manx Electricity Authority, Philip King, is also a graduate of the programme.
Philip has gone on to attain the ultimate recognition of his competence to act as a director by being awarded the status of chartered director, an accolade only open to those holding the Diploma in Company Direction.
As the Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction have been designed by directors for directors, studying for these qualifications is less onerous than might be imagined.
There are no assignments to complete and the class contact time required for the entire suite of courses is only 13 days spread over one year. The programme is delivered as a blend of class contact and e-learning. The 2013 cohort begins in June.
For those interested in hearing more about the programme an evening preview is being held at The Nunnery, Douglas from 6pm to 7.30pm. on February 11.
This will provide an informal opportunity to hear about the programme from, and to ask questions of, past delegates.
David Hester and Philip King will be joined by Chris Gledhill of PDMS Ltd and Andrew Lodge of Nedgroup Investments.
If you are interested in attending the event you can book a place by emailing j.a.kennedy@salford.ac.uk
