Published on: 7th January 2019
The challenges of keeping up-to-date - Continuing Personal Development (CPD) is not just a tick box exercise!
“Change is inevitable but personal growth is a choice” (Bob Proctor)
Whatever field of the health and care sector you work in, the ability to cope with change will be a necessary aspect of your role. Yet keeping abreast of changes presents a logistical challenge for even the most dedicated healthcare staff.
In years gone by staff received protected learning time to meet continuing personal development (CPD) requirements. However, in the current climate most colleagues that you talk to will agree that the increased demands associated with providing services combined with limited staffing as well as cuts to CPD time and funding mean that lots of staff are finding it harder than ever to update and access and attend training and development opportunities.
It is likely that anyone reading this blog will identify with the findings of a 2016 study carried out by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in which 34% of nurses told the NMC they completed ten or fewer hours of CPD training a year and gave reasons such as lack of time, backfill, funding and Manager Enthusiasm. This is despite the requirement to maintain professional registration through re-validation.
Who is responsible for your personal development?
If you were asked who is responsible for your own personal development how would you respond? There are a number of potential answers, the most appropriate of which is YOU ARE!
To help improve and assure the safety and quality of care for patients and the public, Organisations that provide health and care services have certain responsibilities to their workers in that they are required to provide minimum levels of training staff (often referred to as “induction” mandatory” or “priority training”). Good leaders and managers, recognising the benefits of personal development, encourage and support staff to regularly update their knowledge and skills. Ultimately, however maximum benefit and impact from training and development opportunities can only be gained if individuals are active in their own personal development process. This means each of us taking responsibility for our learning, planning how our needs should be addressed and undertaking development that will support our individual development and practice.
Why should I invest in my personal development?
When asked this question at a recent development event held in Leeds, administrative staff gave the reasons below:
- To improve my confidence and resilience
- To help me to fulfil my role to the best of my abilities
- To help motivate me/keep my interest
- I enjoy learning and bettering myself
- To help me to achieve my personal career goals
Personal development can simply be for fun. Most of us, however, find it easier to motivate ourselves to learn and improve if we have a purpose in doing so.
What Development options are available? - Be creative!
The good news is that there are on-going campaigns to increase time and money for CPD resources, however nothing is going to change overnight. If you are curious and want to learn there are plenty of both formal and informal options available that will provide development opportunities meaning that everyone can choose the best for them and their circumstances.
Whilst you cannot change how your manager feels, the pressures of work or the amount of money available, planning and actively seeking options are key to getting the most out of what is on offer to you within your own organisation and outside.
It’s time to get creative and ‘think outside the box’ for ways to address your CPD requirements. For example if going to traditional study days or workshops may no longer be possible don’t forget that learning doesn’t have to be in a classroom setting.
Things you might want to consider include:
- Social media: responsible use of social media can provide an efficient CPD solution, e.g. Twitter chats and Facebook discussion groups. If you need to evidence participatory hours don’t forget to take a note of the details (date, time and relevant learning) and whether you contributed to the chats or not. Check any relevant guidance on using social media.
- Virtual opportunities: Elearning, You-tube videos, podcasts and webinars can all be useful ways to build up skills and knowledge and can be viewed at a time that suits you.
- Spread the word: responding to consultations related to your field of practice can be used towards your CPD requirements. Locally, you may be able to participate with audit or quality improvement issues.
- Look for the learning in the everyday: most working days involve some degree of learning so get into the habit of keeping a reflective diary of your practice and include any feedback / onsite guidance you receive.
- Reach out: the reality is that you will all be in the same boat so are there ways for you to learn together? For example, can you pick a topic of the month or form a journal club? Remember that you could host discussions via a closed What’s app or Facebook group. Could you undertake some workplace shadowing, mentor another member of staff or access coaching?
- An Apprenticeship: as a result of increased eligibility for apprenticeships a funded apprenticeship learning programme could provide an opportunity for you to gain new skills and qualifications to support career progression whilst remaining in work.
If you like funded traditional face to face courses and development events check out those offered through the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Excellence Centre. See the Excellence Centre website and Skills Platform for listings
How do I plan my development?
When you are exhausted from busy and demanding working patterns even thinking about extra learning can seem like you have an insurmountable mountain to climb. So, let’s break it down into doable chunks.
Firstly, let’s explore What CPD means
Continuing Professional Development “CPD” is an obligation that is common to most professions. The term refers to the process of maintaining and enhancing the knowledge skills and experience that professionals gain both formally and informally as they work, beyond any initial training. It also involves ongoing tracking and documenting professional activities throughout a professional’s career. For workers in un-registered roles and the wider team a continuous process of self -development is just as important as for registered staff however the term “Continuing Personal Development” is sometimes used instead.
Planning your development and a personal vision
Your manager should be encouraging and supporting this activity through supervision, personal reviews and appraisal processes, but there is a lot you can do yourself. Taking a proactive approach can help you feel organised and in control.
Although personal reviews and appraisals provide a strong basis for identifying development needs and opportunities, you don’t have to wait until your review or appraisal to start making plans. You should, on a regular basis, review your work and consider how you can make sure that you:
- Work effectively and achieve goals that are important
- Plan to keep yourself updated and prepared for future challenges
- Proactively seek and use the opportunities available
- Contribute to the objectives of the team to which you belong
- Comply with any CPD requirements of your role or profession
Developing your personal vision - a clear idea of where you want to be in a few months or years, and why - is a crucial part of developing this purpose
Think about your working day - You’ve now started your development plan
One way to get started is to think about your working day. Ask yourself the following questions:
What are your strengths? What do you want to accomplish? What are your development needs? How do you plan to get there?
It might be helpful to use a Personal Development Plan template similar to the one below to record your thoughts and set realistic goals.
| PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skill | Current Ability | Target Ability | Development opportunity | Criteria to judge success | Time frame | Evidence | |
| Priority 1 | |||||||
| Priority 2 | |||||||
| Priority 3 | |||||||
Check out an alternative personal development action plan available on the Skills for Care website
Url /Documents/Standards-legislation/Manager-Induction-standards/E6Actionplanforpersonaldevelopment.doc
Remember to congratulate yourself when you have reached your goals as this helps with long term motivation and habit formation.
Hopefully, you can now see that there are many routes to the top of your CPD mountain and manage your on-going learning. To help the process don’t forget to be proactive in planning and managing your development, break it down, regularly review and look for alternative solutions. Remember that CPD isn’t just a tick box exercise!
