Learning and development take centre stage

Airmic chair Nicholas Bailey is urging experienced risk managers to become more involved in the association’s training and career development activities, and to encourage their junior colleagues to participate in them. He highlighted mentoring and speaking at academy sessions or master classes as two areas where some experienced members are already contributing but where much more could still be achieved.

“Traditionally Airmic has been an association for risk managers and insurance buyers once they’ve become well established in their careers. This type of member is still very important to us, but it is one of our key goals to involve younger professionals. They are the future, and we have so much we could offer them,” he says.

A new committee under board member Patrick Smith is overseeing Airmic’s learning and development activities. As well as more Academy sessions and some new master classes, it is investigating how alternative electronic methods of communication could make training and expertise more accessible to members. It will look, for example, at how www.airmic.com might be used to download videos and other training materials.

Looking at Airmic’s wider position, Bailey is happy that the association has a strong base from which to expand its appeal, not just to younger people but also to professionals who might not normally look to join. The executive committee, attended by the chair, the two deputy chairs (Chris McGloin and Helen Hayden) and immediate past chairs (Paul Taylor and Nicola Harvey) plus John Hurrell and Paul Hopkin from the secretariat is a strong one. With a ten-year strategy already agreed by the Board last year, they have a clear purpose and direction.

Furthermore, he says, the association is financially stable and well established as an increasingly authoritative voice. This is illustrated by the number of organisations, such as the FSA, that consult Airmic or want to work with it on specific projects.

It remains, though, a priority to expand Airmic’s appeal and continue the recent upward trend in membership and involvement. He sees SMEs and risk professionals at larger companies as the kind of people that the association should be targeting. “The wider the representation, the greater our authority,” he points out, whilst stressing that support for corporate insurance buyers will still always be at the heart of Airmic’s activities.

When it comes to insurance, he sees Airmic continuing to be proactive on a number of issues, most notably law reform (see article page two). Although things are relatively quiet on that front at present, he predicts “that we will have to deal with whatever the insurance world throws at us in a professional manner.”

The technical agenda will continue to go “from strength to strength”, he predicts. Top of the list is the report ‘Roads to Resilience’ that the association plans to unveil at the annual conference in June. Based on research by Cranfield University, it will be a follow-up to the highly successful ‘Roads to Ruin’ research. This time, instead of looking at corporate failure, it will seek to identify the common factors that enable companies to overcome crises or to avoid them altogether.

Finally, as luck would have it, he takes over the chair as the association approaches an historic landmark; 2013 is its 50th anniversary year. Getting that bit right, so as to celebrate the achievement whilst remaining forward-looking, is clearly an important challenge.

So, how would Nicholas Bailey define a successful year in the chair? Another bumper conference, further increases in the number of members and their level of engagement are at the top of his list. In other words, it is a very member-centric agenda. As he puts it, “What are we doing all this work for? We’re doing it for members. They will be the judges.”

Nicholas Bailey profile in brief

An Airmic member for fifteen years, during which time he has attended every annual conference, Nicholas Bailey has been group risk manager for BBA Aviation plc for the past decade. He previously chaired the Programme Committee (now Events and Membership), which oversees the annual conference, and has been on the Insurance Steering Group since 2009. He first became one of the two deputy chairs in 2010.

"It is one of our key goals to involve younger professionals. They are the future, and we have so much we could offer them"

Nicholas Bailey

The wider the representation, the greater our authority

What are we doing all this work for? We’re doing it for members. They will be the judges