Shake up to shape work potential

The secret to fulfilling your desires and potential at work lies in a focus on your needs and wants through training and development, reveals Indy Agnihotri.

March 2018

We are told to continue our professional development once we qualify as an accountant. We are told it’s good to continue educating ourselves, to keep our technical and business skills as well as our industry knowledge up to date.

The process should involve:

• Reviewing our learning needs and wants 
• Carrying out this learning and training during the year 
• Reflecting on and recording at the end of the year the skills, knowledge, experience we have gained

However, many of us don’t do this. We see training and development more of a tick box exercise, with the completion of the self-certifying CPD forms at the end of the year.

See also: Be honest, you want that new job 

But is it time to change all this? Is it time to shake up how it is done? Instead, do we need to focus on needs and wants, business as well as personal?

Shake up and make up

Let’s challenge the current learning and training process with three statements:

1. The current process is ineffective and out of date
2. It should instead be output/needs led
3. It should be carried out in a collaborative way

The current process for CPD lends itself to an end of year process where there is little requirement to really review CPD needs. It encourages a process driven, obligatory signing- off culture. A requirement and deadline that means too little to many.

Instead, what if we decided to focus on our needs and desires as a starting point? What if we started the year reviewing our training needs in light of where we are, and where we want to be?

At the start of the year, we should ask ourselves questions such as:

• What are my skills, knowledge and experience right now?
• What will I be working on/what do I hope to work on in the next 12 months?
• What skills and knowledge do I need to acquire in light of the above?

In shaking up the process and working out what we want, what about working with others?

What if we spent time with our colleagues and associates to answer these questions? Would it not be so much better if we worked with them throughout the year?

Whatever you may think of all the above, I would challenge you to stop now and ask the following questions about what you want to achieve over the next 12 months in your business.

1. What is it I really want?
2. What do I need?
3. What do I really desire?

Only then think about completing last year’s CPD form.

Indy Agnihotri is a business coach consultant, strategic finance director and trainer. Contact Indy.

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