Education Month: Sharing Experience
Week three of education month focused on ‘Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring in Action,’ and was all about sharing experiences.
It was designed to delve into the value of mentoring and reverse mentoring as tools for mutual growth. Whether you're guiding others or gaining fresh perspectives, the week looked at how these relationships enrich a professional’s experience and strengthen the resilience community.
Career insights
In ‘From Support Desk to BC Mentor: A Journey of Growth and Giving Back,’ Sandra Bartley MBCI discussed her career journey from support desk team lead to a business continuity expert. She cites relationship-building and mentorship, and the power of collaboration, in showing how strong partnerships with the BC team opened doors for her to gain expertise and new opportunities. (LINK Sandra Bartley MBCI - My Experience of Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring | BCI)
She highlighted how receiving transformative mentorship naturally leads to becoming a mentor yourself. Through her role as a BCI Mentor on the BCI PushFar mentoring platform, Sandra also demonstrated how relationships drive career growth and how knowledge sharing creates a lasting impact for both individuals and organizations. (LINK Standard Mentoring | BCI)
Cross-generational support
Paul Wright MBCI and Catherine Windust MBCI presented ‘Cross-generational Knowledge Transfer in Practice,’ where they discussed the sweet spot where mentorship meets real-world crisis management. (LINK Cross-generational Knowledge Transfer in Practice | BCI)
Catherine and Paul talked about their own mentor-mentee partnership, giving behind the scenes insight on their professional journey, and shared candid case studies from both sides of the mentoring relationship.
At the heart of their story lies a compelling challenge: how do you create a business impact analysis (BIA) document that serves two masters? They talked about their collaborative approach to developing a BIA that's genuinely user-friendly during calm, everyday operations, yet transforms into a powerful, highly effective crisis management tool when disaster strikes.
Their insightful dual perspective showed how they tackled the complex puzzle of capturing all essential BIA components. This isn't just about technical documentation—it's about the learning, coaching, and knowledge-sharing that happens when experienced professionals guide rising talent through real organizational challenges.
Women in resilience
On the theme ‘Communication & Professional Edge: Career Success Habits,’ Kris Thorne and Candice Croydon MBCI, of the BCI Women in Resilience SIG, explored how mastering effective communication can elevate your career, support resilience-building, and foster leadership excellence.
This practical and engaging webinar explored how sharpening your communication, influence, and self-awareness can supercharge your CPD, mentoring experiences, and long-term career development. Among the practical takeaways were how to communicate with clarity and confidence in high-stakes conversations, and the art of navigating difficult discussions and getting buy-in.
They also discussed practical tools to build your interpersonal edge and embed resilience in your daily work and highlighted why habits like active listening and self-reflection are the hidden drivers of long-term growth.
In the session they also introduced the GC Index – a unique tool to help resilience professionals understand their impact style and how to lead through change.
The continuing journey
From the engaging coverage of the role of BCI membership in professional development to the power of the BCI community and many personal experiences, the month’s content is available to help members in their continuing career journey at Education Month 2025 | BCI
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About the author
Brian Runciman
Content Manager, The BCI
