You’re doing relevant CPD without realising it...

All CPD activities should form an integral part of your own personal development plan. Yes, it should be planned rather than a random collection of activities undertaken as and when convenient. In planning appropriate CPD, emphasis should be on the purpose and aim of activities together with the outcomes in terms of the skills development and additional knowledge that you will gain.

The activities you undertake as part of your professional development may be diverse, but must be relevant. They should relate to the theory and practice of the professional services you offer your clients and customers. This is important as the IRPM membership consists of property managers, accountants, training and development managers, and various types of support staff – a wide variety of property management professionals.

Many activities count as relevant CPD provided you can show what you have learned from it (e.g. improving your technical knowledge, honing your leadership ability, developing your customer service skills). Your CPD should reflect a cross section of the activities and should demonstrate what you have learned, how you have developed, and what you are able to bring to your role that you were perhaps unable to 12 months ago.

Below is a table of ‘Acceptable CPD’ and some Examples.

Your 15 hours CPD should be made up as follows:

• At least 10 hours technical learning - activities directly relevant to your role in property management - e.g.s credit control, building maintenance, property law, service charge accounting, health & safety training).
  
  
• No more than 5 hours of 'soft-skills' learning - activities that help you develop your ancillary skills - e.g.s coaching, motivating, leading others, team-building, presentation skills training, improving how you deal with difficult customers, improving your computer skills. 

It is recognised that 'soft skills' learning for a property manager (e.g. how to make effective presentations to large groups) may be classed as technical skills for a training and development manager. 

Of your technical learning CPD, at least 7 of the 10 hours should be training courses, seminars, conferences, workshops and similar. The remaining 3 hours may be devoted to personal study, revision, reading journals/periodicals or similar.

Likewise with 'soft skills' learning CPD, at least 3 of the 5 hours should be training courses, seminars, conferences, workshops and similar. And the remaining 2 hours devoted to personal study, revision, reading journals/periodicals or similar.

Some examples

It is worth pointing out that your priorities will change from year to year and so will the amount of time you will devote to certain (relevant) activities. If one year you wish to focus on your studies towards a particular qualification, for example, this may be disproportionate to the amount of time you have to spend attending workshops and seminars. And in the next year, you have may have no studies and prefer to focus more on externally provided courses.

Click here to see a profile of a property manager who has been logging her CPD throughout the year.

Suggested Reading...

• • CPD - Profile Example
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• Courses & Webinars
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• What is CPD?
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