Our range of services

These examples are included for illustrative purposes, to provide insight into the type and variety of work we have been, and can be, involved in. The activities referred to within these are not exhaustive. Our engagements with our clients can vary enormously across the types of activities referred to under the range of services offered by Praxis GRC, and you should feel free to contact us to discuss your requirements. 

Sometimes only experience will do

In reflecting on some of the challenges that have arisen during involvement in GRC related activity over the past three decades, it’s been interesting to consider just how many times it has only been by experiencing a particular occurrence that the learning from it really hits home. Reading and researching best practice (of course), considering examples and learning from those with more experience (again, of course!), all excellent opportunities to prepare and develop our thinking and approach in doing so. 

But without the actual doing our learning is only theoretical and that – when it comes to it – needs to be tested so that when we really need to be effective, practically, and when the pressure is on, we will be. But how to gain experience, before we actually have experience?! An ongoing conundrum for those seeking to establish or develop themselves in their chosen profession.
Well, we might not be able to experience every single aspect of a practical GRC role before we are called upon to do so ‘live’ but we can certainly experience and practice many aspects of this day-to-day in a way that stretches us, challenges us and allows us to build those professional muscles that, when applied to a specific GRC challenge and aligned with our knowledge and understanding in this area, stands us in very good stead. And that is where Mentoring and Coaching activity can have a significant role to play. Working with a coach allows for identification of specific need and provides opportunity 1:1 or in a group setting to be challenged, such as in practical scenarios or faux-interviews for example, in a way that can then be developed further in a practical work setting.

When we are faced with those GRC challenges and are called upon to draw on all of our preparations for this we can then apply that practical preparation, building on our experience gained in this whilst acknowledging just how different ‘live’ is to ‘simulated’. So that one day we can spend time reflecting on this and appreciate how sometimes, irrespective of how well we prepared, only experience will do in terms of learning – but how very grateful we are that we prepared when we did!  

We don’t always end up where we thought we would

Some of us, both organisations and individuals, are not entirely sure what we want, or indeed need. This applies to life more generally, of course, but also to the world of GRC related activity, with consequences for what is being asked of those professionals who support us, such as those who work with PraxisGRC.

In considering whether the services of a coach and/or mentor might be of benefit within a particular organisation or for a specific individual, our discussions can often stray rather far from the initial opening requirement – and often end up somewhere very different from what originally anticipated in terms of a particular project.

Such was the case in an interaction which began with a straightforward conversation around specific compliance business need and supporting a particular individual. This developed into a broader exploration of organisational change and consequent impact, investigating a number of avenues of thinking before reversing back to the original discussion and arriving at recognition of the need for a far wider range of organisational input before practical action could be taken. Subsequent conversations – with input from multiple business teams across the organisation, including front line units, HR, IT and numerous others not necessarily considered as essential for focused coach/mentor related activity in the GRC space – led to identification of a clear thread of business need that allowed all of us to step back and plan accordingly in a way which progressed well. And, most importantly, satisfied newly clarified business need.

Subject to regular review and ongoing participation of many of these new stakeholders, the time spent identifying such and linking this to coaching aims allowed us to support business operations on a number of levels, with multiple valuable relationships developed alongside.

Which just goes to demonstrate a slight twist on the old adage of the most successful path from A to B not necessarily being in a straight line…