No matter the company size, board training is essential and is no longer just a matter of preference and reputation. Now, board training has always been part of corporate governance discussions, what has shifted are legal and regulatory expectations.
From ESG literacy to cybersecurity oversight, boards that fail to stay informed risk more than just poor decision-making. Indeed, they now risk legal liability.
The ultimate challenge for general counsel and corporate secretaries lies on navigating governance training efficiently. After all, regulations keep evolving and they must keep up with the pace, but how can they do so? Let’s dive into it.
What has Changed – Europe Focus
Across Europe, multiple regulatory frameworks are converging on a common principle. Board members must demonstrate ongoing competence in the face of complex, emerging risks.
European Union
One of the most significant recent shifts in the governance landscape is the heightened focus on Corporate Sustainability. Today, board members—and even corporate secretaries—are expected to possess at least a basic level of ESG literacy to meet mandatory regulatory requirements.
While legal teams generally provide valuable support in this area, boards that lack ESG competence risk missing deadlines, misinterpreting regulatory expectations, and creating misalignment with the organization’s overall strategy.
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) specifically requires boards to report on ESG governance structures and oversight in a thorough and well-documented manner, making continuous education in this field not just a best practice, but a compliance necessity.
United Kingdom
A parallel shift is taking place in the United Kingdom, where governance expectations have expanded beyond traditional financial oversight to include ongoing director development. Board members are now expected to demonstrate that they possess the right skills and knowledge to address both emerging and long-standing risks effectively.
The UK Corporate Governance Code explicitly highlights board training and professional development as key components of effective board composition and annual evaluation. This places a clear responsibility on organizations to ensure that their board members continuously build and refresh their expertise.
These examples reflect a growing trend: regulators expect boards to be competent, not just composed. Board appointments are no longer the finish line—they’re the start of a legal and professional journey that requires continuous learning.
When boards lack structured, ongoing education, they expose the organization to multiple risks:
Regulatory Non-Compliance
Few things are more damaging than failing to demonstrate compliance and facing the severe consequences of a missed deadline or an overlooked requirement—especially in critical areas like ESG reporting. Board members, along with any other stakeholders involved in the decision-making process, must possess a baseline awareness of key governance topics such as data privacy, cybersecurity, and ESG, as discussed earlier.
In many cases, the risk of non-compliance is entirely avoidable—it comes down to having a clear understanding of the regulatory environment in which your organization operates.
Strategic Blind Spots
By now, we’ve established that board members are expected to go well beyond their financial expertise. When boards ask the right questions and work to align emerging challenges with the overall corporate strategy, they can be considered properly equipped to govern effectively.
Without ongoing discussions on critical topics such as AI ethics, climate risk, or geopolitical challenges, board members risk overlooking key signals that could affect long-term performance and erode stakeholder trust. The biggest danger in this context is that boards treat these issues too superficially, resulting in weak corporate resilience and a lack of real awareness about the business impact of developments like AI, just to name one example.
Avoiding these strategic legal blind spots requires a commitment to continuous learning.
How to Avoid Such Risks?
Rather than treating board training as a box-ticking exercise, legal departments should position themselves as strategic partners. This approach is a great opportunity for in-house legal professionals to share their expertise. They can also champion such an important aspect of corporate governance.
1. Advocate for a Formal Board Training Policy
This might sound obvious, but it isn’t always the case in practice. Legal teams are in a strong position to propose, draft, and help enforce policies that mandate regular training on specific regulatory topics. This simple step transforms training from an optional, nice-to-have activity into an operational and strategic requirement that boards can no longer afford to overlook.
2. Leverage External Expertise
In-house legal teams are great internal partners for compliance topics. Nevertheless, there are times when external expertise is needed to address more specialized issues, such as a jurisdiction-specific regulatory change. This becomes particularly relevant for global enterprises managing operations across multiple countries or regions, where local legal nuances can easily be overlooked without the right external support.
3. Track and Document Participation
Board training loses its strategic value if organizations fail to track and prove that it actually happens. Relying on informal attendance or undocumented briefings isn’t enough—regulators increasingly expect evidence-based governance. This is why it’s more important than ever to count with the right LegalTech solutions that provide easy decision tracking and audit trails.
4. Integrate Training with Board Evaluation
Training isn’t a stand-alone activity—it should be fully embedded into the board’s annual evaluation process. The UK Corporate Governance Code specifically calls for annual performance reviews that assess the board’s composition, skills, and development needs. This integration also supports succession planning, helping boards identify skill gaps and future competencies needed to meet evolving risks, from AI governance to sustainability oversight.
From Obligation to Opportunities
Board training is a legal requirement, we are beyond simple legal expectations. This is a unique opportunity for legal teams to pave the way, as they can position themselves as champions on the subject.
By formalizing training, leveraging technology, and creating accountability, legal departments can protect the organization while empowering the board to govern more effectively.
One of the most practical ways to embed board education is through digital governance platforms. For instance, the proper Board Management solution can centralize important resources for training and sharing knowledge. Furthermore, with such tools, it is easy to track changes and flag relevant topics that can threaten corporate resilience.
