Professional Development (PD)

Ross Woods, Rev. July 2014

Professional development means any kind of activity that develops an individual's skills, knowledge, expertise, and professional characteristics. They can be either formal or informal.

Managers should take the initiative. You should have a PD plan in place to encourage staff to attend training courses and to take up other development opportunities. You should give staff opportunities for focussed PD. PD is also about attitude: getting them to want to learn and improve, and to apply what they learn in the workplace. In the current training quality standard (currently called the SNR), PD is relevant to continual improvement, currency of staff skills, and staff performance reviews. But the point is not that you should do it because the SNR says so. The point is that you need to ask, "What do our people need to learn to do their jobs better?"

In some organizations, PD has a bad name because it refers to boring lectures of policy updates and announcements. Although it falls into PD, it only keeps people up to date and doesn't really foster improvement. Most people feel they are a waste of time.

As a supervisor, you should evaluate any prospective PD activity and ask, "Will the improvements be worth the costs in time and/or money? Will they build our organizational capacity?" Then go with those that give the most benefit for the cost.

Options for PD are various. Many are free, but they all require considerable personal commitment.

For managers

1. When done well, staff meetings are the simplest means of PD and perhaps one of the most effective. Lead discussions on difficult cases that have come up, how they were responded to, the options for improvement, and how to do better. Then follow up your team to make sure that they actually improve.
2. Assign new units that staff have never taught before. Their research and preparation will be part of their PD.
3. Pass around a reading file. Everybody has to read it, date and initial the cover sheet, and pass it on. It leaves a paperwork trail and is simple, time-efficient, and cost-effective.
4. Do an individualized performance review for each staff member, and work with them to make a personal PD plan with a list of relevant development activities.
5. Hold PD days for developing real skills and solving real problems.
6. Identify gaps in skill and expertise, and develop a plan to fill them. Get agreement on it and implement it.

Staff

Staff can also do PD on their own, often without any help from supervisors:

1. Study toward higher qualifications
2. Take RPL of skills aquired
3. Attend PD days, short courses, workshops, seminars, and conferences
4. Write textbooks and articles
5. Give orientation and induction
6. Participate in moderation or validation
7. Participate in professional associations or other learning networks
8. Do research projects
9. Participate in on-line forums and MOOCs
10. Take skill coaching or mentoring on the job
11. Have a deliberate program of reading books and periodicals