How to approach CPD

The emphasis of the CPD scheme

The aim of CPD is that it helps you to develop your skills, knowledge and abilities which will ultimately impact on your effectiveness in your job and consequently may help to further your career.

While we have set a minimum hours requirement for our CPD scheme, the real emphasis of the scheme is on ensuring that the CPD you are doing is having an impact on your work and your career. The most important aspect of CPD is that you reflect on what you have learnt and how you will apply this. Consider what has changed as a result of you doing the CPD and what value has been added. The minimum hours requirement is a framework in which you can do this.

Because reflection on your CPD activities is so critical, a continual cycle of CPD planning, activity and evaluation is the best approach. You can read more about the CPD planning cycle here. As part of this planning process you should continually evaluate any CPD you carry out to check that it has met your needs, to work out how you can best use any new knowledge or skills learnt and help identify future CPD needs.

Perhaps the most important message is that one size does not fit all. Wherever you are in your career now, and whatever you want to achieve, your CPD should be exactly that: YOURS.

What should you consider?

CPD is not just about developing your technical knowledge and skills, you should aim to develop yourself professionally in every way. CPD is about professionalism and being a professional encompasses developing knowledge, skills and behaviours. Therefore you should consider not only how to develop your ‘technical’ knowledge and skills but also how to develop your personal effectiveness in terms of other abilities – such as management, time-management, communication etc.

Remember that whilst training courses, conferences and events can form an important part of your CPD, attendance at these is not essential if you are on a tight budget. We would encourage you to attend appropriate courses and events wherever possible but work-based activities involving an element of learning are also valuable.

Working with your employer 

Wherever it is appropriate and possible, we would encourage you to plan your CPD in close liaison with your employer, as part of your annual review process. This not only helps you to understand how your CPD can benefit your employer but is also an opportunity to discuss any opportunities your employer can offer you. It also enables your employer to gain a fuller appreciation of your development needs and activities.

We recognise that our Members work in a wide variety of organisations and that your CPD does not have to be specifically company secretarial in nature. However, it can, if appropriate, reflect the governance and running of organisations in your particular field.

Best practice

CPD should be viewed as best practice. Most of you, as Chartered Secretaries, will already be carrying out considerable CPD activities, many of you above the minimum hours required under the new scheme, and we would encourage you to carry on doing so. The introduction of mandatory CPD is simply a way of ensuring you record and reflect on these activities in a way that may best enhance your professional development.

Ideally, CPD should aim to re-energise and maintain professional values. It should centre on ethics, professionalism and leadership and model good behaviour.