Credit Management September 2018

EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2018
Cultivating an agile credit
and collections team
Over 80 delegates attended the annual CICM Education
Conference in Birmingham, looking to learn more about
new CICM standards and resources to develop agile
credit and collections teams.
AUTHOR – Debbie Tuckwood
FIRST sessions focused on
new CICM standards. Philip
King FCICM, Chief Executive,
emphasised the importance
of skills development and
setting personal and team
standards to build a ‘growth mindset’.
Claire Bishop, CICM Head of Membership
Administration, followed with an outline of
new CICM membership expectations and
how individuals can apply online or arrange
a telephone assessment. Debbie Tuckwood,
CICM Head of Education and Professional
Development promoted the new credit
controller/collector apprenticeships and
described new CICM qualifications in
credit and collections. Learners will have
until 2020 to complete their qualifications
under current arrangements. Building on
earlier communication, CICM will write
to employers and learners in the autumn
about their options so that learners are
ready to start new programmes in January
2019 if they prefer.
Jules Eames MCICM(Grad), CICM Lead
Teacher and Education Adviser, followed
with a presentation highlighting how
we are all unique and have different
learning objectives. She demonstrated
that we may need the same training to
acquire key knowledge and skills, but
ongoing development varies according
to our interests and career goals. She
offered advice on how to set goals and
regular routines to create a culture of selfled
learning. She showed how the new
CICM Knowledge Hub and Mentor Hub
platforms are perfect for achieving our
learning and development goals.
Creation of best practice learning
programmes is clearly more challenging
for multi-site global teams. Ruth Howard,
Issue Resolution Specialist at Verizon,
and Dave Dyer, Operations Improvement
Consultant at ABB Management Services,
explained the outstanding programmes
for their global teams. Both have
combined company elearning with CICM
qualification courses, and face-to-face
or webinar training. ABB has learners
spread globally as far afield as Australia,
America, Europe, Asia and the Middle
East. Verizon has learners in Reading,
Poland, India and Hong Kong.
Afternoon workshops focused on
apprenticeships, study skills, and the
Knowledge Hub and Mentor Hub. Debbie
Tuckwood stood in for Lynette Fegan and
described how HSC Business Services
has driven business performance by
nurturing a best practice culture based on
CICM corporate membership, training,
qualifications and CICMQ accreditation.
Philip King concluded with a round up
about CICM Credit Champions and other
developments to raise the profile of the
profession and support members. He
encouraged delegates to spread the word
and be proud of the profession.
All delegates agreed that Education
Conference had once again been a
worthwhile event and left enthused about
the new CICM Knowledge and Mentor
Hubs. Look out for next year’s Education
Conference, which is free to members,
and find out more about apprenticeships
and new membership criteria at
cicm.com.
Debbie Tuckwood, Head of Education
& Professional Development
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / September 2018 / PAGE 46