Credit Management magazine October 2017

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EDUCATION Creating the A-Team Does your team have a unique identity? Are you making the most of your CICM membership? Debbie Tuckwood, CICM Head of Education and Professional Development, challenges you to look critically at your team’s human resource management and gives tips about how CICM can help transform your team’s skills and profile. WITH threats of interest rate increases and Brexit deadlines looming, the role of credit management and collections has never been more critical in supporting profitable sales and maximising cashflow. Debbie questions however the extent that credit management teams get the recognition they deserve: “Too often I meet credit managers who feel undervalued. Some may argue that managers should manage stakeholders better to showcase the role of credit management and put in place reporting which highlights the responsibilities of other departments to keep queries and DSO down. “From a team perspective though, credit managers often have little HR support, limited training budget and are faced with reduced headcount. At best, they are offered with general finance, or customer service training which although useful, does not build core credit management knowledge and skills. Under resourced and with little time for strategic thinking, success rests often solely on a manager’s determination and ability to motivate and inspire the team.’’ Debbie believes that by simply taking a short time out to engage with CICM would pay dividends. “You need to establish a credit and collections focus in all aspects of your HR management. Your CICM membership gives access to a wealth of advice and support which could transform your credit and collections operation and more importantly raise the profile of your team, regardless of your budget and experience in this area. As the saying goes, ‘It is not what you do, but the way that you do it’. Concentrating energy on HR management, even if temporarily to establish the basics, would build skills and establish that credit management focus needed in your team’s HR management and relationships with other departments. In my opinion, this is the best way to create an A-team and raise the profile of credit management.” Do these issues apply to you? Rate your HR arrangements against the criteria below to measure how near you are to being an A-team. Note any gaps and see the tips and advice below about how CICM can help you address these. A. Job roles mapped clearly to credit controller/collector industry recognised standards, qualifications and CICM membership, including detailed job descriptions and personal specifications. The new Credit Controller/Collector Apprenticeship Standards are based on the job descriptions of some of the best credit management and debt collection operations in the UK. B. Job descriptions for managers and senior roles include activity that encourages cross organisational responsibility for cashflow management. Place credit management at the centre of operations. CICM membership gives access to an array of best practice examples, many from managers of CICMQ accredited operations C. New starter induction programmes combine company CICM A-Team criteria briefings with credit and collections and role specific training. Too often training in credit and collections teams is ‘sitting next to Nellie’. Search the CICM Training Directory for examples of credit management/collections specific training and lunch time webinars. Look out next year for new online learning for CICM members to help build specialised knowledge. D. New credit controller/collectors have the support of a more experienced colleague or trainer over an initial period who phases in more complex work as skills and experience grow. E. New credit controller/collectors complete an assessment of their knowledge and skills before involvement in more critical or customer-facing work. The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / October 2017 / PAGE 14
EDUCATION Visit CICMOS for personal assessments and make full use of CICM’s growing online learning resources coming next year. F. All key members of the credit management/collections department, including all learners are registered as CICM members and are qualified to the industry recommended level. This is critical to raise standards and a sense of professionalism. Build pride by encouraging members to wear their CICM badge. Find out the benefits of CICM corporate membership and learning partnerships such as significant savings on CICM training and membership. G. All members of the credit and collections team understand the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for their role and have access to specialist technical training to address any gaps and develop skills further. New CICM self-assessment is coming next year to help measure your knowledge and skills against industry standards. H. All have access to CICM qualification programmes to develop high level knowledge and skills. Do key people have the right level of knowledge and skills? Check they are qualified to the right level. Look out for CICM qualification courses recruiting now. Book early to secure a place on the popular CICM virtual classes. Benefit from the extra knowledge and skills that qualified members bring to the team. Also deter talented team members from leaving by supporting their qualification ambitions. I. Line managers/trainers encourage a rich learning environment which includes access to a range of credit and collections activities which develop an external perspective. CICM membership offers a range of support. Maximise the benefits of membership by encouraging attendance at CICM events, e.g. Regional Workshops, Best Practice events, Branch Events, Education Conference, Law Conference, CICM Open Training. Learn from Aggregate Industries, a CICM Centre of Excellence, by creating a CICM event calendar and encouraging the credit staff to attend each event. Also make the most of advice and guidance delivered direct to the workplace through Credit Management magazine, member lunchtime webinars, open access training webinars, eBuzz, In Brief, Technical Briefing, LinkedIn Credit Community discussions, CEO’s blog and CICM news items delivered through the website, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. J. Line managers hold monthly one-to-ones to discuss progress towards learning and performance goals and set priorities. Make time for regular one-to-ones because they are critical to developing strong teams. Use the time to focus on individual development, starting with reviewing CPD records to make learning ‘visible’, and steer progress by identifying worthwhile development activities, e.g. shadowing a more experienced colleague, reading an article or undergoing further training or a qualification course. K. CPD is a mandatory departmental requirement, and line managers discuss progress with continuous professional development (CPD) in one-to-ones and submit records to CICM for certification annually. CICM membership fees cover certification of your CPD records. Are you making the most of this? Add ‘CPD hours’ to annual appraisals to emphasise the importance of keeping upto-date and building knowledge and skills. Don’t rest on your laurels, your team needs to keep up with their peers or your operation will be slipping backwards. Also, more motivated team members could seek a more forward-thinking employer. L. Regular team meetings focus on key targets and help resolve any issues. Learn from other CICM members about the best ways to conduct these. Many large CICMQ accredited teams have daily ‘huddles’ around large movable boards that summarise progress towards key targets and highlight any issues and success. M. Managers run events periodically to build commitment to stretching credit management targets, involving other departments to help achieve goals. CICM membership gives access to a wide range of best practice ideas to make such events fun and successful. Go for CICMQ accreditation to gain access to the CICM Best Practice Network to learn more about inspirational CICMQ company events which have smashed targets by setting spectacular goals. N. Mentoring arrangements with other credit and collections specialists are in place to provide relevant additional support and encourage progression. CICM will be recruiting hundreds of mentors at all levels towards the end of the year to join a new online mentor platform for members. Whether you are just completing your first CICM award or credit controller/collector apprenticeship or you are a more experienced member, sign up as a mentor to support another CICM member. Look out for more information in forthcoming months. O. Managers recognise, praise and reward the success of their credit/collections team regularly. Do you thank and congratulate your team enough? This could simply be a ‘thank you’ email to a team member who has achieved outstanding results, resolved a particularly difficult issue or shown exemplary behaviour. Copy in a senior manager to give the opportunity for further recognition. Go for external recognition, such as CICMQ accreditation or a British Credit Award. Don’t underestimate the sense of pride and impact of gaining either of these accolades or even being shortlisted for such prestigious awards. You have to be in it to win it. How did you score? FEW GAPS Brilliant. You are probably CICMQ accredited, a CICM learning partner or corporate member. If so, why not consider going for CICM Centre of Excellence status. This month, two companies, Aimia Foods and Adecco UK & Ireland, achieved this highest accolade, joining longestablished Centres of Excellence – Aggregate Industries (UK) and Veolia Environmental Services UK. GAPS IN FIVE TO TEN AREAS You have basic HR arrangements in place but they are probably not credit management/collections focused enough. Contact the CICM Learning and Development department to find out how CICM learning partnerships and corporate membership could give you that focus and make savings on CICM membership, training and qualification fees. GAPS IN MORE THAN TEN AREAS You need to build from scratch. Contact the CICM to find out how you can get started and make the most of your CICM membership. You could probably benefit from some credit management specific training. Interested in finding our more? Email info@cicm.com with details about your main areas of interest so that we can find the best person for you to talk to. Good luck with creating the A-Team! The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / October 2017 / PAGE 15
Page 1 and 2: CREDIT MANAGEMENT CM OCTOBER 2017
Page 3 and 4: OCTOBER 2017 www.cicm.com CONTENTS
Page 5 and 6: Notall credit collection systems ar
Page 7 and 8: NEWS IN BRIEF It's new visual ident
Page 9 and 10: Goldman Sachs to launch new consume
Page 11 and 12: INSOLVENCY Pre-packs - back on the
Page 13: For more information call 01206 322
Page 17 and 18: THE CREDIT CONTROL RECRUITMENT SPEC
Page 19 and 20: VIEW FROM THE SEA FRONT AUTHOR - DA
Page 21 and 22: OURAML SOLUTION WILL HELPYOU SEAL T
Page 23 and 24: THE RECOGNISED STANDARD CICM Britis
Page 25 and 26: w HQ PROFILE - MEMBER ENGAGEMENT Su
Page 27 and 28: TRADE TALK The importance of Free T
Page 29 and 30: CURRENCY UK BREXIT GLOOM WE'RE not
Page 31 and 32: Who we are covering 96% of the worl
Page 33 and 34: COUNTRY FOCUS AUTHOR - ADAM BERNSTE
Page 35 and 36: THE B2B DEBT RECOVERY SPECIALISTS T
Page 37 and 38: OPINION AUTHOR - ADAM BERNSTEIN bec
Page 39 and 40: PAYMENT TRENDS Sector Sector Scotla
Page 41 and 42: OPINION Unintentional consequences
Page 43 and 44: LEGAL MATTERS compounded by ten per
Page 45 and 46: OPINION AUTHOR - CHRIS SANDERS that
Page 47 and 48: EDUCATION IN BRIEF: ABB is a pionee
Page 49 and 50: THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND
Page 51 and 52: OPINION How to make your CV stand o
Page 53 and 54: Proud supporters of CICMQ With over
Page 55 and 56: Stalemate -aposition counting as ad
Page 57 and 58: NEW CICM MEMBERS THE INSTITUTE WELC
Page 59 and 60: BRANCH NEWS 60SECONDS WITH FULL NAM
Page 61 and 62: SENIOR CREDIT CONTROLLER BUILD STRO
Page 63 and 64: Cr£ditWho? CICM Directory of Servi
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Cr£ditWho? CICM Directory of Servi
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Credit Management magazine October 2017

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