What's the point of ongoing professional development?
In "My CPD Life", a short series of blog posts to coincide with the launch of the AXELOS Professional Development Programme, experienced practitioners share their views on the value of keeping your skills and knowledge up-to-date.
The AXELOS Professional Development Programme - an online annual membership programme aligned to AXELOS’ global best practice frameworks - has been designed for individuals to ensure their skills and knowledge remain current while supporting them in their professional development.
Concerning the spirituality in professional development
I believe we (as human beings), are put here to learn, develop and become more enlightened. I also believe that the longevity of our soul far exceeds that of our current incarnation, which is by all accounts a blink of an eye in comparison.
With this in mind, I see continuous professional development as one of several avenues that we invest our time in to become more enlightened – others include family, friends, career, travelling and general day-to-day living.
The subject of enlightenment of the soul and spirituality is addressed in two of my favourite books, the first being "Many Lifes Many Masters", by a psychiatrist called Richard Weiss. The book describes his experience of providing regressive hypnotherapy (past life regression) as a way to help people combat their fears. Whilst working with one of his clients he discovered a communication passage that connected him with "older" more "enlightened souls" who explained that when a soul learns it escalates up the enlightenment ladder (that's my terminology not his).
Secondly, for those of you that are interested in more of a project management focus, you should read "The Importance of Spirituality in Project Management”. This was written by Judi Neal and Alan Harpham, I recall having many a fascinating chat with Alan on this subject and the book provides a great overview of the connection between the evolution of humanity and corporate consciousness.
The sentiment that we are here to learn, and the more we learn the more enlightened we get has been a driving force for me personally over the years so it’s great to see AXELOS start the professional development programme to help people continue to learn, develop and ultimately become more enlightened.
Craig Kilford is one of the world's leading thinkers in portfolio management, and co-author of AXELOS's Management of Portfolios Guidance. You can follow his popular portfolio management blog at www.MrPortfolioManagement.com @MrPortfolio.
Read Craig Kilford's previous AXELOS Blog Post MoP® and PMI - the Yin and Yang of portfolio management.
More posts in AXELOS' My CPD Life series
My CPD Life - ITSM Consultant Barclay Rae
My CPD Life - independent PPM trainer, coach and consultant Steven Deneir
My CPD Life - project leadership coach and mentor Elise Stevens
My CPD Life - Consultant Joanne Molesky
director John Earwood
My CPD Life - Project Management Expert Centre Leader Dave Watson
My CPD Life - IT service management consultant Colin Rudd