Continuing Professional Development

BCN members are committed to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and we have given below some examples of how we maintain our knowledge and skills. Our CPD sessions occur each calendar month except December, when we meet to celebrate with a Christmas dinner. Typically our monthly meetings include a CPD session, briefings and updates, peer reviews and socialising and networking.

1. Half and Full Day Training Sessions
2. Briefings and Updates
3. Peer Reviews

1. Half and Full Day Training Sessions

In addition to the regular business meetings and briefing sessions, we run training events for ourselves, at which guests are often invited.  We engage external trainers as well as our own members who are prepared to give a day of their time to helping other members develop their consultancy practice and skills. Members have delivered sessions on Marketing Your Consultancy Business, a Top Team Management Development programme (based on the business simulation  Integra).This latter programme helped to develop our team building, strategic and operational skills. Clinics and workshops have included Finance for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, ICT, Business Mentoring and Future Opportunities for Business Consulting.

2. Briefings and Updates

Members regularly take turns at briefing the group on a wide range of current and pertinent issues. We have had short sessions on using the internet and search engine optimisation, models of consulting, using bargaining currencies in negotiating consultancy contracts, and various personal development topics such as time management and maintaining a professional development record etc.

3. Peer Reviews

We bring completed Project Review Records (which clients complete at the end of assignments) to our monthly meetings and convene peer review groups to go through the client feedback. The reviews have a development and support focus, the intention being to help the consultant learn from the experience, whether good or bad, in the knowledge that colleagues are there to inform and help.  Sometimes the reviews bring up issues that show a lack of skill or knowledge - this can then be addressed by the individual consultant, or if there is a wider need, we organise a training session or group briefing on a particular topic.

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