CPD ensures that you continue to be proficient and competent in your profession. Whether you are a teacher, work for a business, or are a nurse, no matter the industry, CPD will help you to stand out and shine amongst your colleagues.
CPD can take many different forms, from peer coaching to team shadowing. So, why is CPD important? Let’s discover the importance of CPD.
What does CPD stand for?
CPD stand for continuing professional development, and this is a term used to describe supplementary learning taken on by professionals. It will help you to augment and enhance your abilities in the workplace. CPD encompasses much more than simply learning, helping to explain why continuing professional development is important.
What does CPD involve?
CPD makes learning conscious and proactive, enhancing personal skills for application in the workplace. It involves a wide variety of different methodologies, like conferences, online courses, and workshops.
Why does CPD exist?
Ensuring that your skills and abilities are expanded and enhanced throughout your career beyond formal training helps to make you more efficient – a crucial answer to the query “why is CPD important”.
CPD takes the learning process an extra step to ensure what you’re learning and the way you are learning it is structured, practical, and relevant. CPD takes further steps in the learning process and allows you to focus on specific skills and knowledge over a short time period.
PD learning types
- Structured CPD: This refers to CPD which is active learning. Structured CPD adopts an interactive approach underpinned by participatory learning, using activities like workshops, training courses, lectures, seminars, and e-learning courses.
- Reflective CPD: This is CPD that is passive. Reflective CPD is one-directional, with no participant-based interaction involved. This might include reading case studies, industry updates, reading articles, or listening to podcasts.
- Self-directed CPD: This refers to unstructured CPD. Self-directed CPD constitutes all unsupervised activities, including reading articles and publications like peer-reviewed books, industry journals, and trade magazines.
Importance of CPD for employers
Whilst the responsibility for engaging into CPD largely lies with the individual, as this shows the initiative and ambition to progress, where skills gaps continue, more employers are encouraging their employees to engage with CPD.
A common misunderstanding amongst employers is that CPD will take up too much time and effort, but it can be as flexible as it needs to be. A combination of online learning, workshops and events enables an individual to take on as much or as little CPD as they would like.
HR professionals are seeing the need to hire better skilled, more motivated and more committed employees. With these often in short demand, CPD provides employers the opportunity to offer focussed and relevant continuous professional development to their employees.
Importance of continuous professional development for HR professionals
As a HR professional you should be strongly invested in the personal growth of all your colleagues, as well as in yourself. It helps to keep your knowledge up to date, preparing you for greater responsibilities and strengthening the skills you require for your daily duties.
In fact, many industries may even require a qualification like the CIPD Level 5 Learning and Development course. Accredited CPD training, such as our CIPD courses online, will solidify your CPD knowledge and make you more employable.
Importance of continuous professional development for finance professionals
It’s important that accountancy and finance professionals keep up to date with the latest trends and updates to their industry, too. Staying abreast of new accountancy techniques, for example, will ensure you are performing your duties to the best of your abilities.
Discover accountancy courses to upskill and improve your employability.
How can HR encourage continuing professional development?
If opportunities and incentives are offered, it can be easier to encourage employees to take responsibility for their ongoing learning. Creating valuable employee training programmes, investing in upskilling training and performing formal learning and development work will make CPD more attractive to your employees. By showing that your company invests in CPD resources, you are more likely to attract driven and motivated applicants for job vacancies.
