Continuous professional development?

Around this time of year I am required by my professional institute to confirm that I have completed the mandatory amount of continuous professional development over the past 12 months. This is something that I've been doing for many years now - having participated in the scheme when it was voluntary, and maintained that now that it's mandatory. The Institute specifies a number of hours that we must achieve, but the rest is largely up to us.

So this morning I flicked through my diary for last year, highlighting the events that I attended and the major projects that I was involved in... and as ever, I easily exceed the minimum requirements.

So what does this have to do with developing discipline?

Well, it occurs to me that 'ticking the box' is easy to do - you just need to turn up to a few events. The discipline issue revolves around the reflective aspect - have I actually grown in the last year, professionally and personally?

To answer this question, I'm planning to write a narrative review of my cpd year (which I'll probably use in my personal performance appraisal in a few weeks). I want to think about the good things that I was involved in last year, and also some of the not-so-good ones. What have I learned? Have I adapted accordingly? What do I need to work on this year?

In my opinion, cpd will only be developmental if we move beyond compliance to growth - but that requires a degree of discipline!

Bellwethers and self-awareness

I was interested to discover the original meaning of bellwether – it’s the leading sheep of a flock, with a bell on its neck. So now you know too!

Of course it’s the other meaning that we tend to focus on nowadays – the indicator of a trend concept.

Why was I thinking about any of this in relation to self-awareness and developing daily disciplines? Well, over recent years I’ve identified a few triggers that indicate that I’m a bit off form. I don’t mean anything dramatic, just little things that happen ordinarily when I’m OK, but somehow slip away when I’m not. I use them as wee warnings that I need to take some time to work out what’s going on. Sometimes it’s simply physical (for example, I’ve had a cold recently), but it’s harder to recognise when it’s emotional. Of course, the change in demeanour doesn’t (usually) happen overnight. Hence the bellwethers, the wee things that might show you that everything’s not quite hunky-dory.

Some of the things that are indicators for me include:
- Reading the newspaper every day
- Trimming my beard regularly
- Polishing shoes

There are others, but it’s quite a dull list – those three are the highlights!! The point of this entry – if there is one – is to suggest that developing these bellwethers might just help you to spot that things are heading south, as early as possible.

Of course, once you spot it you need to do something about it!

One degree of change

If anyone is still keeping an eye on this blog, you must have noticed a bit of a gap between entries.

The thing is that I've gathered piles and piles of material relating to daily disciplines and practices, but I didn't want to start posting here until I had organised it thematically with at least an inkling of the order that I would use for the first few entries. Well, surprisingly, the pile has grown and is more disorganised than ever.

How can this be?

Well, one of the disciplines that I need to develop is organising! And another is to stop procrastinating.

So I'm going to post here more consistently - it might be a bit random and disorganised, but maybe as I start to work through the material things will become a bit clearer. If not, I might have a bit of fun along the way. And, at the very least, I'll manage to get rid of some of the paper that's piling up in the study!

It's one degree of change - a small shift which might lead to big results.

Back to work: Keep going

The final couple of thoughts/rules - call them what you will!

Firstly, tackle the backolg methodically. You'll need to work out your own method. I have some thoughts, which I might post another time - but I would advocate that you do not start at the top of the pile (physical or electronic) and work your way down.

Secondly, set realistic daily targets and stick to them. making progress against these targets is a great incentive to keep going - especially mid-afternoon on day 3, when you feel thoroughly jaded (the Scots word 'scunnered' covers it very well!).

Finally, take a few moments as you're tackling your mountain to remember something positive from your break ... then start again until you hit your target for the day!

Back to work: Hold your nerve

Some more rules for going back to work…

Plan ahead – assuming that you know when you’re going to be away from work for a while (apart from sickness etc), plan your diary for your return. How you approach this will depend on the type of work you do. I try to keep the first day back as clear as possible. This allows me to make a dent in the backlog and – importantly – to wander round and have a chat with my colleagues and staff group. I also like to keep a couple of half days clear later in the week, to allow for further catching up and to provide space for meetings to deal with anything important that has cropped up while I’ve been away.

Having said this, I must confess that planning ahead isn’t always successful - in which case…

Count the days properly – If your diary is packed with meetings, or attending conferences etc as soon as you return to work, then you can’t expect to catch up during that time. I draw a distinction between ‘calendar day 1’ – the first day that I’m officially back at work - and ‘virtual day 1’ – the first day that I have control over my diary. I then plot my progress in eliminating the backlog from virtual day 1.

Keep up! – earlier in my career I would try to prioritise the backlog and then add in new work as it came in. I found this to be very frustrating and it seemed that I never managed to catch up with the backlog. Nowadays, I endeavour to keep up with the incoming stuff, rather than adding it to my backlog. This might be a bit idiosyncratic, but it works for me!!

Final batch of rules to follow…

Back to work: DON’T PANIC!

Just like the warning on the Hitch-Hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy - not like Corporal Jones in Dad's Army!!

Going back to work after holidays seems to turn normally rational people into gibbering idiots.

I was speaking to a colleague recently who was lamenting that she hadn’t caught up with e-mail by lunchtime of her first day back (after two weeks holiday). For several years now, I’ve taken the view that unless I’m completely redundant or ludicrously over-resources with staff, there will be a backlog when I return to work. Nowadays it’s mainly e-mail for me – but whatever it is, don’t make the mistake of knocking yourself out by trying to catch up all at once.

I’ve developed some rules/ approaches – call them what you will – which seem to work for me. I’ll share them over the next couple of days.

My first rule is DON’T PANIC. If your organisation didn’t collapse while you were on holiday, the chances are that it will survive for a few days while you catch up on the backlog. Alternatively, if it’s on the brink of collapse because you’ve taken a holiday, it’s probably not worth catching up anyway!

My second rule is the rule of ‘double time’. This doesn’t mean that I get paid extra for catching up. Nor does it mean that I put in heaps of extra time to focus on it. It does mean that I set myself a target for restoring stability – if I’ve been away for a day, I give myself two days; one week = two weeks; two weeks = four weeks. (At this point I’m going to assume that you can multiply time by two and, therefore, not provide any more examples.)

More rules to follow shortly…

Moderation

I think that I want to moderate some of what I said in my previous entry - it was maybe a wee bit self-centred.

I'm a morning person - always have been. So my encouragement to get up early and spend time reflecting was based on my own preferences and habits. It would have been more appropriate to have encouraged readers to find some time during each day to be still and think about the things that are of ultimate importance to you.

If you can do it at the same time each day - that's great. If you can't (maybe working irregular shifts), you'll know best how to fit it in.

A thought was triggered this morning (listening to a sermon on podcast) - for many people, summer is a pretty good time to try to find this kind of space. A lot of regular activities take a break, so there can be fewer commitments. In my particular example, it's easier to get up a bit earlier when it's daylight outside and relatively warm (I'm hoping that it's an established habit by the time winter comes!). It's also a time when there seems to be a positive feeling in the air, and maybe holidays provide an opportunity for reflection - as well as relaxation and fun.