C3. Guidelines for managing competences
To mature the business development unit professionally, start with the people. For talented and high-calibre individuals with a strong career motivation which characterises many business developers today, managing and developing both personal and professional skills is a vital point of succeeding with business development.
"If business development is there to stay, it is there to enter a structured professional development plan on par with all other organisational units within the organisation"
Depending on the role of the business development unit within the organisation, some competences will be more important than others. It is the role of the business development manager to co-ordinate and develop these competences so that the unit can solve its tasks successfully at all times. Developing business developers is an integrated task for the HR organisation, yet a completely overlooked area of responsibility for many HR organisations. But if business development is there to stay, it is there to enter a structured professional development plan on par with all other organisational units within the organisation. We believe the following guidelines can be used to more effectively manage the business development competences
•Revisit the purpose, role and areas of responsibility
‒clearly articulate the business development role and area of responsibility
•Map the unit's current competences using the competence spectrum
‒allow for a 1-5 scale to plot both professional and people skills
•Involve HR in constructing a professional development plan individual by individual
‒using the competence spectrum plot as a point of departure
•Build a compensation scheme that also rewards professional development
‒allow for inclusion of soft measures in bonus schemes and long-term career planning
•Follow up biannually on needed development points and corrective action
‒making the most of HR templates, tools and techniques
Besides "qualified creativity", the other intangible competences that are important in the discipline of BDM are
oAbility to be humble According to Professor Flemming Poulfelt, Copenhagen Business School: "Business development is too important to be left to business developers"
oAbility to navigate According to Professor Anders Drejer, Aarhus Business School, business developers must "accept and deal with the insecurity and unpredictability – there is no fixed agenda of business development"
oAbility to engage According to Professor Anders Drejer, Aarhus Business School: "The need to anticipate the context – the organisational, managerial, cultural and market context – and moving within and in between different contexts is pivotal to business developers"
oAbility to translate Peter Læssøe, Business Development Director, Nykredit, states that "business developers must be able to talk strategy so that everybody understands it and knows what to do"
oAbility to impact According to Nicolai Hesdorf, Arla Foods, business developers must be "empathetic tough nuts that are not afraid to state their opinion and speak up" As with the competence spectrum, it is important to stress that all business developers within a unit need not be excellent in all competences. However, when it comes to the intangible competences, the manager of the unit is an exception. As the face towards the management and the organisation, it is necessary that the manager acts as a role model and contains all these intangible competences or traits.
2. MANAGING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Not all business developers must be excellent strategists, executioners and facilitators at the same time. Neither should they be specialists in project management only. Business developers must be knowledgeable of several disciplines and roles and while being proficient in them all, they must also know how to activate and make use of them through others.
2. MANAGING
C2. Competences in a BDM context
The range of competences necessary to carry out tasks varies according to the role that the business development unit fulfils in the organisation.