Insight

Meet an ICA member: Jonathan Harris-Moss

Written by #MeetAnICAMember on Thursday November 1, 2018

Creativity and compliance

Jonathan Harris-Moss (Channel Governance Manager at BT Enterprise Corporate) recalls the importance of ICA Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance to his learning journey.

If I’d been asked earlier in my working life to consider a career in compliance, I might have turned my nose up on the grounds that I was trying to become one of those ‘creative types’, unrestricted by rules. Fast forward several years and here I am in 2018, a fairly new entrant into the governance, risk and compliance (GRC) profession.

Having stumbled across the world of GRC, I have discovered that I had a number of attributes that lend themselves well to making the most of that move. For me, however, most of these attributes remained uncalibrated, somewhat untested and only modestly developed. Cue the ICA Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance…

The ICA Diploma framework was to be a vital part of my formal GRC education. International Compliance Training (ICT) was integral to delivering this, providing an in-house course for our cohort to learn and develop together.

Having not formally studied for a few years, there was definitely a sense of anxiety amongst our cohort. Our first of four workshops was enlightening. Our tutor, Rod, urged us to discuss the syllabus themes, but did so in such a way that encouraged analysis, humour and the sharing of experience. It was also profound – we were all once more ‘learning to learn’. We challenged, argued, and grumbled. Travelling home from London, my head hurt, but I felt energised and excited to share what I’d learnt.

The super thing, however, is that when you tire of one leaning method, you can switch to another – pushing back the office chair to watch one of the many ICA webinar videos was welcome ‘therapy’.

Slowly, but very surely, the dots began to join up and I was convinced that February’s deadline for the first 3,500-word assignment would be achievable.

The BT Enterprise cohort had regular ‘virtual’ meetings to discuss our study methods and it became fascinating to see how we’d each interpreted the tasks differently. Whatever the correct answer, there’s much selfish solace to be taken in knowing that you’ve got exactly the same challenge as everyone else.

I’m immensely satisfied with my final Diploma result, but my ‘credentials’ goal seems to have matured along the way. I’m somewhat more inquisitive about what I do with my experiences and how I keep my learning alive and fresh, as opposed to simply acquiring it. My colleagues also seem to feel this way and there’s a developing uniqueness about helping GRC mature and evolve.

Belonging to a professional body is also a substantial benefit, which is for me, arguably more significant than the Diploma itself. Having now joined as an ICA MICA member, I’m beginning to understand the responsibility I have within the GRC profession, to contribute towards its innovation and development. Now that I have a more developed and tested understanding of how GRC fits together – both between its component parts and within an organisation – I see the scope for creativity as being enormous.

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