It takes time and energy to fit in professional development. How often have you arrived exhausted at a training or course after a busy week tying up urgent work tasks? And returned to a crazy schedule of catch up? I’ve heard colleagues wonder whether it is worth it to take the time away. Still, we know professional development is critical to the effectiveness of our practice. The space away from our everyday often leads to inspired ideas and a refreshed sense of purpose in our work.
So if you are wondering what happened to the great ideas you had at your latest workshop, I’m going to suggest something radical. One way to gain added value from your professional development experience is to take time afterwards to reflect. One colleague of mine takes an extra day away when she travels to a course (my idea of luxury!). Others set aside a realistic window of time to integrate their thoughts into their everyday practice. They set specific goals around their new knowledge, with clear time frames for action before they step back into the Frey.
We sacrifice time, money and energy to attend workshops and courses. To wring the most value from that time away from work and family it is worth planning how you can integrate your new learning into your practice. Set some key points you want to gain from your experience: for instance networking, latest updates, new theories or practice techniques. Take note of your light bulb moments and bring them to supervision and reflect. I can help you to identify some SMART goals to translate your ideas into actions. Why not schedule a supervision session soon after your next conference, course or training?
