BCI Mentoring showcase: Jayne Romanczuk MBCI
For many professionals, the mentoring relationship is a key element in their career development, particularly as it allows personalized guidance from an expert in your sector, information on how to develop your industry-specific skills, and the opportunity to increase your networking pool.
In this series of articles, we will take a look at a few stand-out examples of those who have used BCI Mentoring.
Jayne Romanczuk MBCI is the Operational Resilience Lead for Bupa’s BGUK Market Unit, where she is responsible for the ongoing governance of operational resilience, business continuity and crisis management across Bupa Global & Bupa UK. Here, Jayne discusses how BCI Mentoring has helped her in the journey to get there.
“Starting out in business continuity, learning on the job, I always looked to my peers to provide guidance, feedback, and advice. However, what I was missing was someone who was experienced within business continuity. As I progressed through my career my passion for learning and success made me realise how beneficial it would be to find a mentor who could help me with my journey and knowledge,” she says.
With this in mind, Jayne set out a series of clear goals that she wanted to achieve by participating in BCI Mentoring. These included:
- Improving her knowledge
- Progressing in her career
- Achieving her MBCI
- Becoming more involved within the BCI.
Of course, this is where the mentor comes in. Jayne’s mentor, Russ Paramore FBCI, noted these goals and set about to help Jayne achieve them.
“My mentor has helped me achieve all my goals through listening and asking valuable questions, which have helped me both learn and become confident with many tasks/projects. Russ has helped me navigate many challenges through sharing his experiences, allowing me to come to my own solutions to help me overcome these challenges,” says Jayne.
In this, Jayne highlights two further advantages of the mentoring process; experience sharing and an improved confidence. Indeed, experience sharing is a common practice in the business continuity and resilience sector; we learn from the experiences faced by other organizations and grow more resilient as a result. It does, therefore, make sense to translate this process to our careers and learn from the experienced practitioners in the sector in order to navigate around some of the usual challenges that one might face.
If you do not yet hold an MBCI or FBCI grade with us, don’t worry, all Certified, Affiliate or Student Members of the BCI can apply to become a BCI Mentee.
The mentoring journey
In terms of learning experiences, mentoring offers an alternative to traditional methods by allowing the mentee to build their own pathway and continue their own unique professional journey, but with the expert guidance of someone who has already taken a similar path.
“Mentoring has had a positive impact on me professionally as it has helped me grow in confidence which enabled my success in the industry. It has given me insight and guided me to become my own authentic self within my work as I’ve not been “taught”. I’ve been encouraged and guided to make my own decisions and pave my own path which has allowed me to find my best suited methods, challenge working practices to drive improvement, and build my individual profile,” adds Jayne.
In addition, Jayne explains that mentoring is different from standard training methods in the way that it delivers knowledge tailored to the individual requirements of the mentee — a process which helps the mentee learn what works for them.
“Training courses give you knowledge, but a mentor will give you experience and help you take that knowledge and experience to create your own methods which best fit. What’s in the training books doesn’t always work, we often need to adapt those methods or our style, learning from others experience helps you find your own learnings to improve yourself and the work you deliver.”
On this, Jayne adds that this format has also allowed her to be flexible with the design of her own mentoring process.
“The mentoring sessions focus solely on me, the agenda is led by me, and I can decide the length/frequency of those meetings. The sessions are informal and are discussion based, making me feel comfortable to share my opinions and challenges.”
How did mentoring help your development?
It is also important to note that the impact of mentoring stretches wider than just the mentee involved in the process. For example, as a result of her mentorship, Jayne finds that she now has experience that she wants to share with others.
“Hearing about Russ’ knowledge and experience has been so valuable to helping me navigate the world of business continuity. It’s also helped me become a mentor for others by learning from Russ’ tips and guidance on how to be a great mentor.”
Jayne also adds that the mentoring relationship led to material changes in the way that she implemented business continuity and resilience practices by allowing her to identify the best way forward based on the information that she has, alongside the experience shared from Russ.
Jayne’s advice for others:
“Do it! Having a mentor is invaluable, it’s great to have someone independent who:
- Understands what you’re talking about
- Helps you to improve your confidence, and
- Recognises your potential.”
Russ Paramore FBCI also shared his reflections on the mentoring relationship:
“Jayne has been the model mentee for me. She is very focused on her career and able to clearly identify what her targets are at any specific time. We have meaningful in-depth discussions and she listens to my advice, which is based upon my knowledge and experience. Jayne always sets realistic timescales to achieve her objectives. She works hard to achieve her objectives and then sets new ones which enables her to continue on her career progression. After a break of 12 months, Jayne returned to me to assist her in achieving new objectives relating to a job promotion. Our mentoring relationship is based upon friendship, trust, and confidentiality which all occur concurrently.”
Mentoring is a powerful tool for professional development, as demonstrated by Jayne's journey. It provides a unique opportunity to gain industry-specific knowledge, build confidence, and receive expert guidance on navigating your career path. Whether you are an aspiring professional looking to improve your skills and achieve your goals, like Jayne, or an experienced practitioner who wants to share your wisdom and experiences, BCI Mentoring welcomes you. By joining and contributing to the resilience and continuity of businesses globally, you can start your journey towards success, either as a mentor or a mentee, with BCI Mentoring.
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