Soft Skills CPD can make a Real Difference

Continuing Professional Development

My last blog introduced the importance of continuing professional and personal development.

Now I want to amplify what a difference soft skills development can actually make.

Professional Personal Development

Although here at Impact Factory we call what we offer Professional Personal Development, in the world of work, the umbrella term is CPD: Continuing Professional Development.

Many organisations have well-thought-out plans for their people’s soft skills development and embrace CPD as part of those plans.

Soft Skills

Most do not and what tends to happen is that their people take soft skills courses in a rather haphazard way, so that they are dealing with issues as they arise.

There are many reasons why individuals do courses:

• They’re up against some difficulty
• They want to progress and need better skills
• Their line manager may have identified a gap or area it would be useful to develop
• They’re in some kind of ‘trouble’ and it’s hoped a course will sort it out
• There are also a variety of reasons why soft skills CPD isn’t taken as seriously as we believe it should be.

Not A Priority

Companies don’t see the merit, they don’t have the time, it’s not a priority, it feels too complicated, it sounds too expensive, they don’t have the buy-in of their employees and/or leadership teams, the day-to-day takes precedence.

All perfectly valid reasons to put CPD on the back burner or ignore it altogether.

Valid reasons or not, an individual’s CPD is key to things such as staff retention, employee satisfaction, a happier workforce, better lines of communication and more fully realised collaboration and creative partnership.

Staff Retention

Not only that, with companies increasingly having a global reach and with people having a far more fluid attitude to their careers, a more formal approach to how people develop their soft skills is needed, in the same way that ‘regulated’ sectors have formal requirements.

And by formal, I mean thought-through. Rather than a reactive approach to soft skills, a far more productive and beneficial process is a two-way relationship where developmental goals are identified and discussed, and career aspirations are included in this.

Staff Engagement

There’s a lot of talk these days about staff engagement and when you clear away all the jargon and ‘fluff’ around it and really get to the heart of what genuine employee engagement means, the outcomes are impressive.

When people feel their organisations honestly care about their well-being and development, morale is higher, and stress is considerably lower.

Resilience

People take fewer sick days, their mental health is more robust, and they are more resilient and self-reliant.

When organisations invest in their people, their people will invest in them with their commitment, loyalty, professionalism and abilities.

Soft Skills CPD equips individuals with the kind of skills that benefit everyone. When individuals thrive, companies thrive!

Find out more about our CPD Open Courses

Continuing Professional Development

Impact Factory runs

Open Personal Impact Courses

Tailored Personal Impact Training

and personalised

One-to-One Executive Coaching

for anyone interested in

Personal Impact and Effectiveness

Personal Impact Training in London