Reap The Benefits Of Continuing Professional Development

Continuing Professional Development

An article in bizjournals.com made a very good point. “While experience is a great teacher, it often means that we tend to continue what we have done in the past. Professional development opens us up to new possibilities, strategies, knowledge and skill areas. It also goes on to enumerate why if you are an employer – you need to invest in the professional development of your employees. It’s a win-win situation both ways. Continuing Professional Development is too important to be ignored.

The concept of professional development might be new to you, but it is a very important aspect that should be, in one way or another, involved in all of the lives. Professional development is all about being aware of the decisions that you tend to make, the way you think about them, and the way you handle different kind of situations. The concept behind professional development is the idea that you have untapped potential, and to not settle with what you actually have if you want more out of life. Professional development is the process of continually progressing as well as refining your character and qualities as a parent, a teacher, a secretary, a doctor, a lawyer- as whatever or whoever you are. It is all about life-long learning and growing as an individual.

Positive thinking as well as professional development go hand-in-hand. If you think you can be better, then you actually can be. If you don’t like your job or are totally ready for a change, and you tend to tell yourself there is no hope, you will be continually unhappy. However, when you tend to start looking at things in a very positive light, you will be able to put more energy and absolute effort into everything you do, because you really know that you are working towards the end goal. 

Professional development is the best for goal-setting. Setting obtainable or realistic goals is quite imperative to attaining what you need or want. Goals should be measurable and they should have a timetable for them to be accomplished. If you have set a goal that cannot be measured, it often becomes difficult to see how far you have come or how much you have progressed from the very beginning. At the same time, goals that do not have a set timetable have a tendency to become a fantasy instead of a reality. Timetables will give you focus and a sense of urgency in everything you intend to do when it is related to your goal. Being able to measure your progress as well as setting a timetable will give you a sense of accomplishment and keep you thinking positively.

Past failures and the negativity from family, friends, or colleagues can be very difficult to overcome. However, professional development is all about moving beyond- learning from those experiences and becoming a better individual because of it.

 “While experience is a great teacher, it often means that we tend to continue what we have done in the past. Professional development opens us up to new possibilities, strategies, knowledge and skill areas.” It also goes on to enumerate why if you are an employer – you need to invest in the professional development of your employees. It’s a win-win situation both ways.

(This post first appeared in a ProfEd blog)

By Ethan W

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