CPD in Professional Membership Organisations is critical. So why do most surveys reveal high levels of dissatisfaction? MRPC’s CPD research points the way towards a step-change improvement.
Towards a Gold Standard:
Mandated or not, the CPD, Continuing Professional Development, programme should be at the core of the membership offering. Research undertaken by MRPC over 40 programmes and 9 sectors gives some clues as to why so many programmes perform at a sub-optimal level.
But don’t just take our word for the importance of CPD; click here for an independent perspective.
For our clients we have captured ‘the best of best practice’, of CPD in Professional Membership Organisations and synthesised it into a Gold Standard specification under the following key headings:
- Content Provision
- Delivery Channels
- Management Tools
- User Experience
- Implementation
This template sets a strategic direction of travel focused on the user/member and answering questions for the organisation about charging mechanisms, in-house v. out-sourced decisions, identification of suitable providers both of systems and content, as well as forward governance.
Case Study (CPD in Professional Membership)
CPD, Continuing Professional Development Programme
Client: A professional institute of 45.000 members operating under Royal Charter
Assignment: A key element in growing and maintaining membership (and raising ‘value for the fee’ perceptions) is a mandated programme of Continuing Personal Development.
Objectives: The project aimed to design, develop and deliver a CPD programme for members that is simply best in class.
Process: The start point was a survey of over 40 CPD programmes over 9 sectors to uncover and define ‘the best of best practice’. Our findings were synthesised into a Gold Standard specification for CPD in professional membership under the following key headings:
- Content Provision
- Delivery Channels
- Management Tools
- User Experience
- Implementation
and this provided the template for the development work.
Gap analysis: (where we are against where we need to be) then provided the basis for an implementation plan developed along classic project management lines, and including recommendations on charging mechanisms, in-house v. out-sourced decisions, identification of suitable providers both of systems and content, as well as forward governance of the programme.