Simon Gosney is currently studying for the CIPD Professional Development Scheme (PDS) by CIPD Flexible Learning.
Starting the Flexible Learning programme
I wasn’t in Learning and Development when I started on the Flexible Learning Scheme so my aim of doing it was really to help the passage into that as a career, so that was my motivation for doing it.
The study materials
How it works for me is that I tend to rely quite heavily on the workbooks. I’m quite a visual learner I find the CD’s helpful, but I prefer to be able to see things particularly when the workbooks have got plenty of diagrams and modules in them. Generally what I do like about them is that they are quite bite sized and what I eventually worked towards was time tabling that I would do a workbook each week. Not only would I then cover the workbook, but I would also go off and look at some of the references that it was giving me - go and find suitable or appropriate articles from People Management and so on, and so I kind of used the workbook really as a frame work really for my study for each week.
Transferring new knowledge and skills in the workplace
It’s opened me up to loads of themes, ideas, concepts, writers, people, contacts - all these things that I didn’t have before. It’s just been something that I’m interested in where as this feels that there is actually some kind of transfer back into the work place for me. It feels like it’s been an investment in my career.
The impact on working life
There’s a number of ways it’s helped me, but I think the biggest way really has been confidence; it makes me feel that I can operate at the right level with my peers at work and colleagues at work. I don’t feel flummoxed by questions that I would have been completely baffled by only twelve months ago.