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Director Training - Professional Directors Program
The Professional Directors Program (PDP) is a comprehensive educational series of courses and tutorial sessions that challenge, engage and teach the skills necessary to be an effective credit union director. All of the PDP programs are specifically designed to meet the regulatory competency standards. In addition, the PDP offers Individual Director Assessments and Board Self Assessments.
Individual Director Assessments
Every credit union board of directors is expected to work together as one cohesive team. The success of any team is based on the knowledge, skills and commitment of each individual director.
Individual Director Assessment Profile (DAP)
Directors bring education, personal skills and a wealth of real life practical knowledge to the boardroom and these should be included in the self-assessment process. In order to capture these important elements we have created the Director Assessment Profile (DAP). The DAP is like a living resume made up of two documents. First is the Director Self-Assessment Questionnaire and second is the Level Five Workbook. Once completed the documents are submitted to Level Five for review and assessment. An overall competency report highlights the directors skills and competency levels and identifies the gaps. This information
allows Level Five to build a comprehensive Learning Plan. The Learning Plan is a valuable tool that supports directors in meeting the regulatory requirements in the expected timeline.
The DAP becomes a living document that can be updated as director competency levels change.
Training Courses
Level Five offers both classroom and on-line courses that are designed to meet the regulatory requirements of all nine core competencies. Upon successful completion of the courses and exams, a director is recognized as having reached a Good Competency Level.
Courses
PDP I Governance & Ethics – Board and CEO Performance
PDP II Financial Literacy – Risk Management
PDP III Credit Union Operations – Regulatory Environment
PDP IV Strategic Planning
PDP V Audit and Compliance
PDP VI Leadership and Communications
Tutorial Sessions
In order to move from a Good to Strong Competency Level directors must demonstrate an understanding of the concepts through application. Tutorial sessions are delivered in-house and followed by a questionnaire. Upon successful completion of the questionnaire directors are recognized as having reached a Strong Competency Level.
Board Self-Assessment Program (BSA)
The Board Self-Assessment Program offers insight into how well the board perceives their own performance and how consistent that perception is across the entire board. This tool assists the board in understanding its strengths and weaknesses, and which areas they need to focus on in order to operate at a higher performance level. The BSA also compares the board’s performance against the Corporate Governance By-law #5 requirements. Each director completes a Board Self-Assessment questionnaire and submits it to Level Five. The two scoring methods used measure the average responses and the degree of correlation which when used in tandem reveals very important factors about the board. The BSA also includes a Management Self-Assessment component that is mapped to comparative questions in the BSA. This process identifies the level of agreement between the board and management in areas impacting corporate governance support. The BSA and MSA are mapped directly to the Governance areas under By-Law #5, which will have a direct impact on deposit insurance premiums paid by the credit union.
Phase 1 – Summary Self-Assessment Report
The Summary Self-Assessment Report identifies specific questions and areas where the board is strong and also where the board is weak and may not meet the required standards. The assessment will identify the areas that the board will need to develop plans to strengthen their abilities and overall effectiveness.
Phase 2 – Analysis & Governance Improvement Action Plans
The Analysis and Governance Improvement Action Plan is the next step in reaching Board Governance best practices. Using the Phase I results that identify the areas of weakness, an action plan is developed to address these shortfalls. This phase will include interviews with directors to clarify interpretations and perceptions and obtain a better understanding of the major issues. Action plans are created to address those areas and the plan becomes the basis of a report that outlines the proactive steps the board will take to improve their governance standards to meet the regulatory requirements.