These notes are a combination of notes produced prior to the meeting and also reflect some of the topics discussed at the meeting.

Transcription

1 This presentation was given as part of the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) Professional Statisticians Forum (PSF) meeting held at Errol Street on 19 th November The meeting was primarily a discussion forum, enabling the (GradStat & CStat) participants to provide input from their own experiences and situation and to gain understanding and ideas from the experiences of other participants. This presentation provided a structure for the discussion in the meeting, covering a range of topics that contribute to an understanding of Continuing Professional Development and how to make it effective. Aspects of the presentation reflect the current thinking in the RSS about Continuing Professional Development. However, the presentation as a whole is the personal view of the presenter. Presenter s career: 8 years in academia (Lecturer in Mathematical Statistics) 22 years in multinational pharmaceutical company (Consulting statistician -> VP for Development Operations) 8 years as an independent statistical consultant (primarily working for biotech/pharma clients) These notes are a combination of notes produced prior to the meeting and also reflect some of the topics discussed at the meeting. 1

2 The presentation is structured as indicated on this slide. First of all it is important to define what we mean by Continuing Professional Development (CPD). It is a term that has evolved in meaning and usage over recent years and so we first start by clarifying the current understanding of what CPD is, both in the RSS and in many other professional bodies (including the 25 or so that are licenced by the Science Council for the award of Chartered Scientist). If we wish to examine how to make CPD effective, we need to answer the question Effective at doing what? Answering this question leads us to discuss a little more about how CPD fits into some broader topics, such as professionalism, career and development planning, and the retention of professional awards (such as the CStat and CSci awards). We will then take a look at the CPD Policy of the Society which was introduced in 2004 and updated in Finally, we will pull together from the previous discussion some key views on effective CPD practice. 2

3 So the first topic to cover is What is Continuing Professional Development?. We start this discussion by looking at the definition in the Society s CPD Policy which can be downloaded from 3

4 This broad-based definition is relevant to professionals at all stages of their careers. It covers both maintenance and development of knowledge and skills; and is not restricted to technical skills, instead embraces the full range of knowledge and skills that are required to enable you to make an impact in your current professional role and/or support future career aspirations. One misconception is that CPD is only relevant for career young professionals. It is equally relevant even for those who may be experienced and have been in a similar job role for many years. The reason is that even if you are in a role that is not changing (and/or has no prospect of changing), the world around you is changing. Our subject is constantly evolving, whether it is new methodologies relevant to your area of application or new software tools being released for use. Also the business, scientific or educational setting in which you are working is constantly evolving and to be relevant and effective in your role you need to keep up to speed with these developments. So just maintaining expertise in a particular role requires learning new things. Also for someone in the twilight of his career, like myself, it becomes even more important to plan CPD activity. Previously, I was immersed in professional activity and almost without knowing it undertaking CPD through fulfilling a challenging and varied role. Now I am semi-retired, working on a part-time basis, and although the core pharmaceutical statistics consultancy work I undertake calls upon experience built up over many years, in order to ensure my advice is up-to-date I need to keep abreast 4

5 with developments in regulatory guidance, application of statistical methodology, and medical practice in the therapeutic areas of my clients projects. So CPD is for all professionals, at all stages of their careers, although the nature and emphasis of the CPD may change as your career pathway evolves. Lets now say a little more about the scope of knowledge and skills that needs to be maintained, improved or broadened as part of CPD activities. 4

6 Technical knowledge and skill in statistical science is the foundation of attributes that are required by a professional statistician; without these you would not be employed as a statistician. This involves the ability to formulate problems, adapt and implement methodology and interpret the findings of exploring, summarising and analysing data. As your career develops inevitably your detailed knowledge of specific statistical techniques will deepen in areas relevant to your area of application and narrow to the focus of your job role. The assumption is that the breadth and depth of your statistical education that qualified you for the award of GradStat or CStat is such that you have the foundation that enables CPD activities to refresh or extend your knowledge in areas relevant to your current role. However, you need a broader set of knowledge and skill than just technical, in order to ensure your input is relevant, makes an impact, and is effective. To be relevant you need a knowledge of the context in which you are working. This context knowledge involves any legal or regulatory framework that affects the sector in which you are working, any standards that are established by your sector/employer for how work gets done (including how data are processed or disseminated). In addition it involves gaining and maintaining a knowledge of the business setting in which you are working. Here the term business is used broadly and includes the business of education, the business of government, the business of pharmaceutical R&D, the business of market research, the business of manufacturing automobiles, 5

7 the business of operating as an independent statistical consultant, etc. And at the next level down knowledge of the scientific, medical or social context in which data are collected either by survey or experimentation. To make an impact, you need the interpersonal skills to effectively communicate with co-workers and deliver your technical contribution; such skills are often captured under the broad heading of consultancy skills and encompass skills of active listening, influencing and negotiating amongst others. Many statisticians work in multidisciplinary teams and in this context your team working and leadership skills are valuable to ensure that the team as a whole delivers and that your statistical contribution enhances team performance and the quality of the team output. Finally, depending on the size and nature of the organisation you work in, there will be processes in place to support people and deliver tasks. Knowledge of these processes and the skills to manage, facilitate or operate within them can greatly increase the effectiveness of the contribution you can make. To be specific, these processes include processes to appraise staff and set their goals, mentor and coach colleagues, allocate resources to projects, manage project delivery, re-engineer the way work is done, implement and sustain change, solve problems and make decisions. So CPD covers developing and maintaining knowledge and skills in all these areas. Now lets turn to the types of activities that can be undertaken to achieve this professional development. 5

8 The categorisation on this slide is that recommended in the RSS CPD Policy (download from ). In the appendix of the CPD Policy there is a definition of each category and a series of examples of activities. The principal value of the categorisation is to demonstrate the broad range of activities that can be used to support your professional development. Two specific points to make here. Firstly, formal training sessions do contribute towards your CPD, but they are by no means the only way of doing so and will typically make only a minor contribution towards your overall CPD programme. Secondly, do not forget about the major contribution that work-based learning can make towards your CPD. Some people incorrectly totally ignore this category of learning whereas others incorrectly list all the activities that appear in their job description. Typically it is the case that many activities in your job role do have a learning component and it is legitimate to count these in your CPD summary. (See the concept of learning hours covered later in the section on the RSS CPD Policy.) This is particularly the case when you are developing into a role or your current role is evolving. In these cases you will need to undertake activities/tasks for the first time, often with the help and support of more experienced colleagues or after doing some background learning (either attending a course or more informal self-directed 6

9 learning). It is worth saying here, that it is possible to make the case for a particular activity falling into more than one category. So don t get hung up on the categorisation. Just allocate an activity to a category you can justify. The key point is that you should be thinking of using the full range of activities available to you to support your professional development. 6

10 So having expanded a little on what CPD is, let us move on to the reasons you might want to undertake it; so you can then address how to make it effective in fulfilling these objectives. 7

11 If you are on top of your game then you enhance your job satisfaction. So this is one reason for actively managing your professional development to ensure that you have the knowledge and skill set to be confident in fulfilling your job role. As professionals you have typically signed up to a code of conduct or ethics. In most professions, such codes include a section on professional competence. For example, the RSS Code of Conduct (which can be downloaded from ) has such a section which includes the following: Fellows shall seek to upgrade their professional knowledge and skill and shall maintain awareness of technological developments, procedures and standards which are relevant to their field, and shall encourage their subordinates to do likewise. Fellows shall seek to conform to recognised good practice including quality standards which are in their judgement relevant, and shall encourage their subordinates to do likewise. So there is an obligation on professionally qualified fellows of the Society to undertake CPD. Furthermore with the introduction of revalidation for CStat (as well as for CSci) there is a requirement to undertake CPD (and record it) in order to retain professional status (if you are professionally active). Increasingly there is an expectation from employers and clients that professionals are 8

12 undertaking CPD and so professional development is increasingly expected as a section on your CV and your work is expected to be informed by recent developments in your technical area and in the context in which you are working. Finally, if you are looking to develop your career, you are typically looking to take on a role that has a different or increased scope and so in order to position yourself well for this career advancement or change you need to develop the knowledge and skills that are required. There are probably other reasons for undertaking CPD but for now the above suggest that we should look further into Professionalism Career planning Criteria for retaining professional status (CStat/CSci) The CPD Policy of the RSS 8

13 Throughout this presentation we have used the term professional statistician. So let us spend a little time saying more about what is expected of a professional these days; and where CPD fits into thoughts about, and definitions of, professionalism and what it is to be a professional. 9

14 There are many definitions of professionalism. One of the more simple ones that captures the essence of the more complex definitions is Professionals are expected to be trustworthy, ethical, up-to-date and competent. Clearly CPD contributes to the latter 2 attributes of a professional being up-to-date and competent. Most professionals are obliged to follow a code of conduct. This is true of professionally qualified members of the RSS (i.e. CStats). The RSS Code of Conduct can be downloaded from The RSS code is split into 4 sections as indicated on the slide and as mentioned previously the section on professional competence and integrity includes a reference to CPD as follows: Fellows shall seek to upgrade their professional knowledge and skill and shall maintain awareness of technological developments, procedures and standards which are relevant to their field, and shall encourage their subordinates to do likewise. The connection between CPD and the more general concept of professionalism was discussed by Ali Orr, Registrar of the Science Council, in his presentation Current thinking on professionalism in science at the RSS 2012 Conference. The model of professionalism presented by Ali is shown in the following 3 slides. The model aims to illustrate the role of professional standards (as articulated in codes of conduct) in embedding professionalism, and the centrality of CPD as a tool for maintaining professionalism. 10

15 The foundation of professionalism is the defined knowledge and practice required by scientists, sometimes referred to as technical competence. Initially this might be thought of as the education and experience requirement necessary to gain professional status. Subsequently it will have been updated through professional development and practice. 11

16 Building on this underpinning technical competence is the ethical competence which is laid out in codes of conduct. So the focus hear is on how the professional undertakes work both undertaking tasks and working with colleagues and clients.. in accordance with the guidance and requirements laid down in a professional code. 12

17 The step which completes the model is the professional practice itself, engagement in CPD and reflective practice, which in turn serves to maintain and develop the technical and ethical competence. So for the first time we are coupling CPD (carrying out activities to develop knowledge and skills) with reflective practice. Reflective practice being the means by which the benefit of the CPD activity is assessed an essential part of ensuring that the CPD is effective in delivering benefit to your professional practice and/or enabling you to deliver benefit to your clients/employer. If you wish to know a little more about reflective practice take a look at the following 2 links: l We will say a little more about reflective practice and how it fits into the CPD cycle in the next section of the presentation. 13

18 So this next section is on Career Planning and Development Planning. In order to motivate the need to consider Career Planning in a presentation about CPD, let us build on the mention of reflective practice in the previous section and look at where undertaking CPD activities and the reflective practice to assess the benefit gained fit into the full CPD cycle. 14

19 If you look in the literature there are several interpretations and representations of the full CPD cycle. The one given on this slide is a typical example. If we start at the bottom of the slide. Action - undertaking activities to enhance knowledge and performance is where we started our discussion of CPD looking at the activities we undertake. Evaluation and Assessment capture the process referred to as reflective practice; here split into two stages. Firstly assessing the benefit gained from undertaking the activity and then asking the question in view of what I have learned from CPD activities that I have undertaken, what are the next steps in my professional development?. what do I still need to know and learn? This leads us to completing the cycle, by using the output from the reflective practice to Plan the program of CPD for the coming period be it 1 month, 6 months or 1 year. I guess we could reasonably say, we should have started with Planning as the programme of CPD activities you undertake should have a pre-planned purpose. It is true that some activities will arise opportunistically (e.g. talks in a seminar series organised by your local community of statisticians and co-workers) but the core of your development programme should be pre-planned and ideally linked to the appraisal and goal setting process of your employer. 15

20 However, to plan your professional development you need to know what roles (present and future) you are developing knowledge and skills for. Which suggests that planning your professional development should be done in the context of your Career Plan. 15

21 This slide draws out the distinction between Career Planning and Development Planning. Career Planning is about identifying your medium to long term objectives; whereas Development Planning is about identifying the skills and knowledge that you need to develop, the experiences you need to gain, and the activities you need to undertake; in order to position yourself to be able to fulfil these career objectives. We now take a look at one of several models in the literature for Career Planning. 16

22 This model is taken (and adapted) from the book Manage your career published by A&C Black, London (2006). The model has five steps as indicated in the slide; which are covered in more detail on the following two slides. Some like to follow the detailed structure of such models; others like to use them more flexibly to give general guidance on the creation of a career plan. Either approach is fine, and leads to a framework of career objectives (however detailed or formally described) which provide a backdrop against which to consider putting together a Professional Development Plan. 17

23 Step 1 is about being self aware. That is gather together the relevant information about your career to-date, the aspects of the roles you have undertaken that you find rewarding; and other skills and knowledge which you have not yet had the opportunity to use but would like to in the future. Also think about the constraints you may have on the future direction of your career. For example, any constraints on the geographical location of your work, the salary you need to achieve to fulfill financial obligations, the time/travel demands of the job, etc. Step 2 is to do some research (if necessary) and gather information about relevant sectors of employment, the opportunities they provide both today and in the future for the career paths that have potential appeal to you. It may be that you are content with the organization you work for in which case you could restrict your information gathering to opportunities within that organization; or extend to your current sector; or extend to investigate possibilities more broadly. 18

24 Step 3 is the step of putting together a Career Plan. This includes identifying the characteristics of the job role that you would like to fulfill in 3 years time. These characteristics might include the organization (or type of organization) you would be working for; the major features of the role; the management structure for the role; the package of remuneration and benefits. This model suggests splitting down getting from here to there in stages by creating a plan; including time horizons of 1 month, 6 months and 1 year on the way to achieving the 3-year career objective. For most people this might be too structured, but certainly at least one intermediate step would seem to be a good idea in order to check that you are on track to meet your 3 year career objective. Step 4 brings us back to Development Planning; using the objectives set in the Career Plan to identify the knowledge and skill development needed; and the preferred order to undertake the development. We will come back to putting together a Development Plan and implementing it a little later in the presentation. Finally, step 5 draws attention to the value of mentoring and coaching in the process of planning your career development and implementing it. A good mentor provides a sounding board for your ideas and helps you to refine your thinking and deal with opportunities/set-backs that may arise on the way. A mentor can also act as an advocate and help identify other influential advocates, who if aware of your career aspirations, skills and achievements may be of potential help to you fulfilling your career objectives. 19

25 In summary then, this model for Career Planning focuses first on pulling together information about yourself and the external job market; using this information to develop a realistic Career Plan with interim steps; implementing a Development Plan to position yourself to follow your preferred career pathway and ensuring that you have the support and advocacy of influential colleagues to help you achieve your career objectives. OK so lets return to Step 4 and Development Planning as part of the CPD cycle. 20

26 Putting together a Development Plan need not be an extensive bureaucratic process. It can be as little as jotting something down on the back of an envelope not that I would advocate such a minimalistic approach. But if you are going to use the back of an envelope, this slide indicates how I would suggest you structure the information you put on the envelope!! The first column is essentially the information on development areas derived from the objectives in your Career Plan. Another source of information (if available) would be the goals that have been set for you as part of the appraisal process run by your employer. Hopefully, your Career Plan and your goals are somewhat aligned. You then need to consider the most effective ways for you to achieve the development. Recall the 5 categories of activities mentioned earlier which emphasize the broad range of activities you could consider. In column 2 document specific activities you are going to undertake and in column 3 provide yourself with a deadline. The final 2 columns are there to support your reflective practice. When you put your plan together you should be able to articulate specifically what you intend to achieve from the development activity. Once you have undertaken the activity you can assess whether it lived up to expectations or not and decide what the next steps are (if any) to achieve your professional development goal in this particular area. 21

27 The RSS has an online CPD system (see for more details - you can access the system and also a user guide from this webpage). This system not only allows you to record your CPD activities and provide summary reports; it also allows you to create a development plan and allocate the activities you undertake to your development objectives. The Society does not insist on professional members using this system, but the system does provide an efficient way of collecting the information necessary for confirming compliance with the RSS CPD policy for CStat (and CSci) revalidation purposes. More on this in the next section. 21

28 In this section we cover how CPD plays a key role in CStat (and CSci) revalidation the process that needs to be successfully completed to retain CStat (or CSci) status. 22

29 In order to retain CStat (or CSci) status it is necessary to confirm adherence to the Society s Code of Conduct and compliance with the Society s CPD policy; this may be by declaration or by submitting evidence. Typically the revalidation process will be in two stages. Firstly all holders of the award will be asked to provide a declaration covering the above. Then a sample of members will be selected for audit and those selected for audit will be expected to submit information which documents their compliance with the CPD policy. Further details of the CStat and CSci revalidation processes can be accessed at and 23

30 This slide shows the typical set of information requested from those professionally qualified members selected for audit. A brief career summary (this enables the panel of assessors to confirm that the CPD activities you undertake are relevant for your current job role or your career aspirations). Annual CPD summaries for the period being assessed (1 year for CSci and up to 5 years for CStat). A reflective account of how the CPD activities have supported your knowledge and skill development and your service delivery to your clients or employer. A list of supporting information and/or a reference that you could provide on request to confirm or clarify the programme of CPD activities. Note the emphasis on the CPD being linked to the job role. Thus, for example, for those whose career/role has evolved to focus on activities other than technical statistical work (e.g. managers of statistical groups, leaders of multidisciplinary teams including statisticians amongst other disciplines) the emphasis of the CPD will be on the knowledge and skills required for their more broad-based responsibilities; only a component of which will be keeping up with relevant advances in statistical science. All the CPD should be recorded as the audit process aims to link the CPD with enhancing ability to fulfil the entire role. Examples of audit submissions from the CSci revalidation process can be found at 24

31 So let us say a little more about the CPD policy and how compliance with the policy is assessed. 25

32 As mentioned previously, the CPD policy can be downloaded from Also on this webpage is access to a report that provides further guidance on the policy and CPD reporting. The policy requires the professional member to maintain records of CPD undertaken. There is total flexibility in the approach (e.g. spreadsheet or employer system or RSS online system) used to record the CPD activities, however there is a need to categorise activities using the 5-category system mentioned earlier and to document the number of learning hours. The concept of learning hours in the CPD Policy is intended to recognise that the learning value of any particular activity (in whatever category) depends on the nature of the activity and its value to the individual. For example, experiential learning (i.e. learning by doing the job) typically occurs in activities that are not 100% learning in nature. As another example, typically only part of the time attending a conference is a genuine learning experience. To cater for this the policy uses the concept of learning hours and uses the following definition: Learning Hours = (Actual Hours) ("CPD Value", in range 0 1). "CPD Value" is a personal assessment of the learning value of the activity to the individual. Determining the CPD value is not a precise science; all that is required is a reasonable and honest assessment of the learning value of the activity to the 26

33 individual. The annual requirement is to undertake at least 60 learning hours of CPD and for the activities to be from at least 3 of the 5 categories. The latter requirement is there to encourage members to take full advantage of the range of activities that can be undertaken in support of professional development. Finally the policy encourages the use of reflective practice, not least to provide input to the planning of future activities as part of the CPD cycle. 26

34 Finally, I pull together from all we have covered some key pointers to effective CPD practice. 27

35 Although there is an element of being opportunistic in the programme of CPD activities undertaken, it is beneficial if the core and general direction of the programme is derived from a Development Plan which in turn is consistent with medium and long-term career objectives. Planned development activities are more likely to be undertaken, and are more likely to yield benefit, if the Development Plan (DP) is aligned with the goal setting process that is part of your employer s performance appraisal process. The advantage of having an active DP is that as part of the goal setting process you can ensure that your task oriented goals are linked with goals aimed at developing the knowledge and skills that are necessary for you to effectively deliver the tasks. Having said this, it is important to retain balance between development needs which are targeted at helping you deliver for your employer or client; and development needs which are more focussed on your longer term career objectives. So keep a balance between urgent and important development actvities. 28

36 Recording CPD is a little and often activity. This ensures that the activity is fresh in your mind when you reflect on the benefits gained; and that you can regularly update your development plan in line with what the reflective practice suggests is the appropriate next step. For each CPD activity think about the expected outcome before carrying out the activity (making it as measurable as possible) and compare with the actual outcome. Although, your DP can be refined on completion of individual activities, it is important periodically (at least annually) to reflect on the benefits gained from the programme as a whole and carry out a major review of your Development Plan for the next period. As mentioned previously aligning this review with your organization s appraisal process is typically very worthwhile. Finally, and possibly most importantly, ensure that you have mentoring and/or coaching support in place to assist you with your career and development planning and the implementation of those plans. (Personally I have found this to be invaluable at all stages of my career.) This may not be just one person; it could be two or three people helping you with different aspects of your development. T. Lewis January