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Thanks to the EEA Grants, a Head of Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia improves strategic management knowledge in Harvard program

The Financial Intelligence Unit of Latvia (FIU Latvia) is implementing the European Economic Area (EEA) project “Improvement of Employee Knowledge in Combating Money Laundering in Latvia”, which provides extensive training opportunities for FIU Latvia employees. In order to strengthen management skills, the Head of FIU Latvia – Toms Platacis, attended the Strategic Leadership Program at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education.

In late November this year, Head of FIU Latvia – Toms Platacis, participated in Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education “Strategic Leadership” program. The program is designed for managers who have several years of experience in a management position. Its main objectives are to improve knowledge of the most important contemporary management skills, to learn how to build talented, resilient and effective teams, to gain knowledge in solving various problems, and to learn how to manage change as successfully as possible.

The course took place in Boston, United States. It was attended by 39 participants from all over the world. The participants came from a wide range of industries and manage teams of all sizes, from teams of a few people to managers coordinating large teams of several thousand people. Participants included executives from well-known organizations such as Microsoft, NASA and AstraZeneca.

Toms Platacis, Head of FIU Latvia, said that he thought the final training day on change management was excellent – what to consider, what not to forget, what mistakes organizations most often face in the change process. The topic was particularly relevant as FIU Latvia will centralize sanctions issues in Latvia from 1 April 2024, which also implies a number of changes in FIU Latvia tasks and team composition.

When asked about lessons learned, the Head of FIU Latvia Toms Platacis drew attention to the term “psychological safety”.

“Everyone in the team has to feel safe, everyone has to be ready to express their opinion without worrying about what others will think. Employee wellbeing and motivation also has a strong impact on productivity. In turn, productivity also affects team performance and organizational results.”

Toms Platacis also highlighted the high level of professionalism of the lecturer and how well she was able to engage the participants and complement the training with instructive examples.

“I can safely say that it was one of the best leadership trainings I have had the opportunity to attend so far!”