The New BCM Manager: Build Competency

The previous article mentioned about one mistake a new BCM manager should avoid. In this blog, I discuss what I feel is a vital yet often neglected success ingredient for new BCM managers - making sure that this professional and his or her team of BCM professionals are properly equipped with the knowledge and skills to perform their roles.

You As A Organisation or Business Unit BCM Coordinator

As an Organisation BCM Coordinator or BCM manager in your organisation, you are the go-to person in BCM matters. You and your team must be familiar with standard BCM methodology and good practices, industry regulations, and also have good sensing of the work culture in the organisation.

You are expected to possess fairly advanced knowledge of BCM concepts, practical skills to design and execute BCM operations, such as risk assessments and business impact analyses, and be able to guide business units in formulating strategies and developing realistic response and recovery plans.

Business Unit (BU) BCM Coordinators or representatives are your extensions into every part of the organisation, and they should have a good understanding of the nuts and bolts of their respective units' operations.

They should also receive training on the BCM roles they play. For example, Business Unit BCM Coordinators need a working knowledge of basic BCM terminology, plan development process and basic test procedures.

BCM Competency

Given the above, one of the things a new BCM manager should look into is BCM competency - the team's competency, business unit coordinators' competency, and general staff competency. Competency could be acquired by way of attending external courses or seminars.

Getting a BCM Certification is one way (but certainly not the only way) to build credibility and recognition of one’s expertise in BCM. Be discerning about the BCM courses you attend, and make sure that you select courses that are structured to meet your needs and objectives.

BCM Institute employs a 3-tier KNOW-DO-MANAGE competency model in the design of its BCM training courses:

• the Organisation BCM Coordinator or BCM Manager and his BCM team would require the highest level of competency (KNOW-DO-MANAGE),
• the Business Unit BCM Coordinators would just need sufficient knowledge and skill to carry out business continuity functions for their respective business units (KNOW-DO), and finally,
• the other Staff Members would make do with a brief but concise knowledge of BCM, its importance to the organisation, the governing policy, and key emergency responses (KNOW).

Start asking yourself this question "What is My BCM Competency Level?"

BCM Institute’s Competency Model

To learn more about BCM Institute’s Competency model and BCM training courses, click here

Training could also be delivered on the job. However, to avoid major missteps, I generally advise the BCM manager and his team to acquire some formal training before plunging head-on into the role. One mode of training that is gaining popularity, especially among busy professionals is e-learning.

A drawback of e-learning stems from a lack of interaction and sharing. In view of the COVID-19 outbreak, online learning has become the mode of learning.  This challenge to improve learning can be overcome by designing a blended training programme, with e-learning used for knowledge-based learning, and an interactive classroom component focusing on knowledge application and skills development.

To explore BCM Institute’s e-learning courses, click Planner Level Certification.

BCM Events and Seminars

Lastly, the BCM manager should try and make time to attend BCM events and seminars to keep up with the relevant issues of the day, and explore ways, with his team.  Attending webinars during COVID-19 should not be discounted as it is the only safe way of continuous learning.

In my next article, I will discuss why it is so important to learn and understand your organisation and the encompassing eco-system in which it operates, and some of the ways a new BCM manager can get this done. It is also from networking with other professionals, to identify potential threats, their impact on business and how they may be addressed. To explore BCM Institute’s events and conferences, click here.  Webinars continue to be mainstream for seminars and conferences.

	Understand Your Organisation	Build Competency	Common Mistakes to Avoid	Various BCM Roles	Perform a Gap Analysis on Your BCM Program	Improve BCM Competency and Skill	BCM Job Description

 

Due to the pandemic outbreak, BCM Institute will be conducting its certification courses via interactive video conferencing, online and e-learning mode. Find out more about the Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Crisis Management (CM) Blended Learning (BL) courses.

For this period, the content will include the managing and implementation of the Pandemic Influenza plans.  Perhaps you'd like to check out our latest blended learning in view of the COVID-19 Outbreak Restrictions?

Business Continuity Management [BCM-5000]	Crisis Management [CM-5000]	Crisis Communication [CC-5000]

IT Disaster Recovery [DRP-5000]	ISO22301 BCMS Lead Audit [BCM-8530]

Contact us today to find out more at sales.sg@bcm-institute.org