Weekly Blog by Philiip King, CEO of the ICM - 'Promoting the credit profession across government'

I spent most of yesterday in a room at HM Treasury for a workshop with representatives from a number of government departments. We were discussing and exploring debt management across government, and I was the non-governmental participant invited to bring a perspective from the private sector and the wider credit profession. It was an interesting and fascinating day where a wide range of issues and views were expressed.

It would naturally be wrong to detail our discussions but suffice to say I was pleased to be able to share my thinking – as so often expressed in these blogs – about the importance of professionalism in credit management, the importance of providing a career pathway to that professionalism, and the importance of recognising that professionalism when it is achieved and delivered.

We explored the core values, behaviours, and skills required in a credit professional and there were no surprises in the discussion output. The effective credit professional has attributes and characteristics that are common regardless of the sector or industry in which he or she works and, of course, the ICM plays its part in bringing these attributes to the fore. Whether it is through our learning and development short-courses and qualifications, our Continuing Professional Development scheme, or our networking activity made up of branch, regional and national events and online forums, the ultimate objective is the same: to promote and enhance professionalism in our credit community.

Many of our members work in the public sector and add real value to their organisations; it was good to explore how that value might be further enhanced.

Finally, the LIBOR scandal that has overwhelmed us in recent days makes me wonder if any of the participants were members of professional bodies and subject to ethical codes. If so, I hope those professional bodies will be opening files within their complaints and disciplinary regimes. Very occasionally we have to deal with complaints and take action against an ICM member under our Ethical Code and it is right that we do so. Integrity is a fundamental part of the professionalism we all promote and want to see.

To find out more about the Institute of Credit Management visit http://www.icm.org.uk/ or follow http://www.twitter.com/icmorg or http://www.twitter.com/philipkingicm

Weekly Blog by Philip King, CEO of the ICM - 'Leading by example'

There's been much talk in recent months about mentoring as a tool to increase the survival and growth rate for businesses, and I make no apology if this week's blog reads a bit like a commercial!

In July 2011, the mentorsme web portal http://www.mentorsme.co.uk/ was launched as an online gateway to mentoring services for SMEs. It was one of the 17 initiatives coming out of the British Bankers' Association's Business Finance Taskforce, and this was followed in November 2011 by an announcement by BIS that new grant funding of £1.2m was being made available to recruit and train 10,000 volunteer business mentors through the Get Mentoring project run by the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI).

Over 3,000 volunteers have already signed up for training and, as the BIS funding is only available until the end of March, the ICM was asked last week to promote SFEDI's new online training which is now available at http://www.getmentoring.org/. This online platform will make it easier for business people to get involved and benefit from training that will help them develop the skills to become effective business mentors.

In the recent press release, Mark Prisk said: "Get mentoring is about businesses helping each other to succeed." The release went on to say that mentoring has been shown to increase the survival and growth rate for businesses, and can be a great way of boosting capability and capacity within a sector or supply chain. It can aid the professional development of both parties, enhancing leadership and management skills and improving soft skills (eg business confidence and aspiration) and business performance (eg turnover and profit). Mentors must be willing to offer at least one hour per month free to their mentee(s).

As credit professionals, many of us deal regularly with SMEs, and getting involved in this way could enhance our outlook and understanding of business generally, and especially the challenges faced by smaller businesses.

If you think you might have the necessary skills and experience to become a mentor, why not sign up today at http://www.getmentoring.org/ and start making a difference. I have.