CM July and August 2023 digital

using open banking), and the other which
integrates with a range of new products and
services we offer.”
Having spent nearly six years in his current
role, it is the variety of the job that keeps
him motivated. There is no such thing as a
typical day: “my day can vary from a call with
a CFO in Korea, to a meeting with a university
department about the welfare of a student
who may be struggling, to discussing internal
adjustment accounting with our auditors.”
Professional development
Gavin places great importance on professional
development, having completed a string of
qualifications including the CICM Level 3
Advanced Credit Control course and an MBA.
His qualifications have taught him a range of
useful skills that help him with his day-to-day
job of overseeing a wide range of customer
segments: “The CICM course was one of the
first professional qualifications I achieved.
It definitely started me down the route of
continuous professional development. It
teaches you a lot in a small space of time on
topics that range from accounting to law. I
still use most of these skills to this day.”
Being a member of CICM also brings with
it the benefits of being part of a network
within the industry. Within the Income team,
there are 12 CICM members and more that
our studying for their membership.
“The Income team work closely with the
CICM on a range of topics. We are constantly
in discussions about enrolling onto further
CICM training, and we ourselves have
contributed our expertise to various CICM
initiatives such as the being part of the
steering group for the new Professional
Standards, attending CICM Think Tanks, and
delivering best practice webinars and talks.”
CICMQ Accredited
Becoming CICMQ Accredited was another
milestone for Gavin’s team, one which
has helped improve the structure of
processes, procedures, documentation, and
development within their function: “The
Accreditation process highlighted the things
we needed to improve within our organisation
and that itself led to better results. We also
had the opportunity to network with other
CICMQ accrediting organisations, and we
learnt a great deal by discussing our shared
problems.”
The Accreditation has also been a useful
internal benchmarking tool that has allowed
the team to measure and celebrate their
efforts and successes: “We have improved
our cash application automation by 11
percent, freeing up Accounts Receivable’s
time for more complicated tasks,” explains
Gavin. “Our compliance has also seen
a huge improvement in the last year as
we implemented new programmes to
improve our payment security as well
as onboarding the anti-money laundering
function within Income.”
The Accreditation was a joint process in
which the Income team came together to
ensure that they were following best practice.
And it was another opportunity that further
strengthened Imperial’s relationship with
CICM: “The Accreditation is not a one-off
process. We need to get reaccredited every
three years, and we receive continuous
support from CICM to make this happen. For
instance, we’re in constant contact with CICM
members that have specialist knowledge in
certain areas. You can always reach out to
them to ask their opinion on certain issues
or to put you in touch with someone who can
help.”
Credit leadership
From improving overall delinquent debt
year on year to increasing customer contact
across various methods, Gavin is proud of his
team and what they’ve achieved under his
leadership. He credits his own mentors for
moulding him into an effective leader: “I’ve
been very lucky to have some amazing bosses
in my career. They’ve supported me and
pushed me to get qualified and to continue
improving myself. And they were kind and
patient enough to put up with my constant
questions. I’m doing my best to pay that
forward.”
Being a leader, however, also comes with
its challenges. Gavin has had to make hard
decisions and have difficult conversations:
“The toughest challenge I’ve encountered by
far as a leader was downsizing my function
within an organisation,” he says. “Having to
make decisions about redundancies or even
just watching your colleagues and friends go
through it is by far the hardest part of the job.
I was inspired to make this the subject of my
MBA dissertation as I wanted to understand
the potential mistakes organisation are
making when downsizing and find ways of
improving this process.”
Drivers of success
The desire for continuous improvement is a
consistent theme in Gavin’s career and has
been the driving force of his success: “If I had
to focus on one element of what I love about
my career, it would be seeing something
improved to how it was done previously in
whatever form that takes. Whether it’s a new
system, a new process or staff improvement,
I get a buzz out of knowing that my ideas and
efforts are producing tangible results.”
And the variety that his job affords is
another key driver for his motivation: “Every
role I’ve had seems to have grown and grown,
because there’s a great deal of freedom to
create opportunities for yourself. I’ve learned
new things and continue to do so; it’s a job
where you never know what the next day is
going to bring,” he concludes.
“The
Accreditation
process
highlighted the
things we needed
to improve
within our
organisation and
that itself led to
better results.’’
Gavin Jones FCICM
Brave | Curious | Resilient / www.cicm.com / July & August 2023 / PAGE 31