As someone that regularly speaks to members regarding their professional development, I am often asked how they can justify time out of the office for training or opportunities to their line managers or companies.
As we explored in our previous blog on CPD, not all learning requires formal training – in fact the 70:20:10 model explains that most learning actually occurs as part of experiential learning or on the job training (70% of learning is made up of it). However you may still need to take time to record and reflect on your learning during work time in order to get the most out of it.
Some larger or more perceptive companies will already recognise the benefits of CPD and will have formal development schemes to help meet skills gaps or provide succession planning, but smaller or niche employers may struggle to see the benefits when balanced against the requirements of day to day business. They may also fear that by developing candidates that graduates or those who seek to progress their own development will take any skills with them to a new company if they receive a better offer.
The important thing when explaining to your employer that you require development, is to explain how and why this will help them. They may not fully understand the motivation, or the obligation that you have as a professional engineer and this is something that can easily be explained if you plan not only your own development, but the benefit to your employer in you progressing and learning.
The IET provide simple and user friendly online options for recording and reflecting on your CPD, and if this is a regular habit it will take little time to keep your records up to date and provide detailed and compelling reports which you can also use to explain the impact of such development to your employer.
If you are in a management role, or have already achieved professional registration then your commitment to your professional development can ensure that you act as a role model and motivate junior or developing staff within the team with their own development.
By undertaking further development, you can build on initial training (providing a return on investment where they company has already supported you with time or financing for training) and reduce risk exposure to the company.
Depending on your own motivations, a supportive culture for staff development within the company can actually bolster rather than fuel staff turnover as it encourages internal development and expansion – it may be worth emphasising to your employer if your motivations are job satisfaction or stability rather than seeking a promotion outside the company as this will provide reassurance for them that you are not seeking development in order to leave them.
There is also support material available online at: www.theiet.org/cpd which explains the requirements of CPD and what you have to do to demonstrate this which can help to explain to those who are not in engineering the commitment you have to the profession as a member of a professional engineering institution, or you can view our video at: https://tv.theiet.org/?videoid=7421 which explains the process in more detail.
We have now opened the Declarations Window, so you can submit your 2015 CPD Activity Record as soon as you are ready if you have opted in to the voluntary scheme. We will select a number of these Declarations for review and feedback; those not selected will still be able to view statistics to compare their CPD records with those of their peers.