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The transformational impact of the pandemic on the way we live and work has highlighted a need for employers to adopt more technology and upskill their workforce to improve productivity and drive growth. As a result, organisations are shifting their mindset when it comes to professional development and its importance. According to Linkedln’s Workplace Learning Report 2021, 63% of professionals agree that learning and development should have a seat at the executive table and is a crucial aspect of business growth. The same can be said for individuals. Linked In data also revealed that 94% of employees said that they would stay at a company longer if there was an investment in their learning and development. However, despite a renewed interest in learning and professional development, according to the City & Guild’s Annual Skills Index 2021, 30% of workers say they have not received formal workplace training in the last five years. This is why professionalising the profession is extremely important.
CILT work closely with a number of organisations to help them provide learning and development opportunities to their employees and they are working hard to ‘professionalise the profession’.
CILT believe that professionalism is not a label that you give yourself, but a description that others will apply to you through their observations of your competence in your role and the behaviours you display in achieving goals and objectives. They (CILT) understand that an example of a professional is hard to define. The key to understanding ourselves as professional is to define what we expect from others and we strive to support their members in every step of their professional journey.
From CILTs apprenticeship and student programmes with the NOVUS trust and accrediting university degrees – to working closely with organisations to recognise their programmes to align with the journey through the membership grades, CILT offers several opportunities to professionalise the profession and support all of our members, at whatever stage they are at in their career or in their learning and development journey.
Becoming a professional is about output and competence and not a job role or title and CILTs professional standards and competency framework, aligned to their assessed membership grades have been designed to represent that. With skills shortages continuing to wreak havoc across our sector and the UK economy at large, professionalising the profession is now more important than ever.
According to the City & Guilds Annual Skills Index 2021, more than 22 million UK workers do not feel they are equipped with all the skills they need to unlock new opportunities in the next five years.
If this statement resonates with you, CILT invite you to reach out to your Institute to find out more about the ways in which they can support you in your career and ensure that you are well-placed to meet the future demands of the increasingly complex business environment.
Credit: CILT Tania Barker, Director of Education and Professional Standards, CILT(UK).