Effective CPD Doesn’t Need to Follow a Fixed Model
With more than fifteen years of delivering learning and development solutions for insurance broking firms, the Development Zone team has attained a detailed understanding of how brokers conduct continuing professional development (CPD). That experience has shown that there is much variation in how firms identify learning needs, allocate training, and involve employees in their development.
Development Zone is used by well over 700 general insurance intermediaries across the United Kingdom, from sole traders to national firms with hundreds of employees. Across these organisations, approaches to CPD reflect the culture of the business, its priorities and the resources available to support learning. The maturity and resourcing of the learning and development function is also influential, including whether the firm has a dedicated team or whether responsibility sits alongside other management duties.
There is consequently no ‘typical’ firm around which to design a CPD programme. A single prescribed approach would overlook differences in how firms operate and how their employees engage with learning. As such, a flexible approach is required.
How firms organise CPD
Some firms centralise the allocation of learning. A manager determines the programme, assigns courses, and monitors completion. This approach provides a means of coordinating shared requirements and directing attention towards business or regulatory priorities.
Other firms connect CPD more closely with supervision and appraisal. Learning needs emerge through discussions about an employee’s performance, career aspirations, or changing responsibilities, and development activity is agreed as part of that process. Here, the organisation of CPD follows the relationship between the employee and their manager.
Some firms encourage employees to self-enrol on relevant courses. This gives individuals scope to respond to questions arising in their work and pursue subjects connected with their career ambitions.
Of course, these approaches frequently coexist. A firm may assign a core programme to all employees, agree additional learning through appraisals, and allow individuals to select further courses. The balance may differ between departments or change as the business develops.
The influence of learning and development resources
The resources available to support CPD affect what a firm can deliver. A dedicated learning and development team may have the capacity to design role-specific programmes and review learning needs across the organisation. In a smaller firm, a director or manager may undertake these activities alongside operational responsibilities, which can prove challenging.
The effectiveness of CPD depends on how well development is embedded in everyday management, as well as the resources available. Firms without dedicated learning specialists may still have established appraisal processes, clear expectations for progression and effective oversight of development.
A flexible learning management system can support firms at different stages of L&D maturity. Development Zone, for example, gives firms a practical way to strengthen their approach to learning without having to build extensive internal L&D capability. It provides the structure and oversight needed to manage CPD consistently, while allowing firms with established processes to configure learning around their own priorities, people and ways of working.
The system supports central assignment, programmes linked to individual development needs, and employee self-enrolment. Firms can use these functions in combination. This allows the platform to support existing working practices and adapt as those practices evolve.
Alongside the platform, the Development Zone team offers consultancy support to firms implementing a training and competence scheme. This may be particularly valuable where responsibility rests with managers who have limited time or specialist support. An experienced partner can help the firm establish an approach suited to its circumstances, connecting learning activity with the wider management of competence.
Differences between individual learners
Variation within firms is equally relevant. Employees bring different levels of knowledge and responsibility to their learning, alongside different expectations about what they want to achieve.
Someone encountering a subject for the first time may prefer an introduction with clear explanations of the main concepts or a structured pathway helping them building confidence and understanding. An experienced colleague, however, may want a concise refresher or an opportunity to examine a difficult aspect of familiar work. An employee taking on a more senior role may seek greater depth in an area that extends beyond their current knowledge.
Preferences about format also influence how employees choose to study. Some value engaging written material that they can work through at their own pace and revisit in detail. Others welcome video explanations or opportunities to ask questions during a live session.
These preferences can change with the subject and the circumstances. An employee who finds a short video useful for refreshing their established knowledge may prefer a detailed written course when approaching an unfamiliar topic for the first time. When planning and organising learning, this means allowing sufficient choice in depth and format while retaining a clear view of the overall learning goals.
Match learning provision to the need
Matching content to learning needs can take several routes. Development Zone offers bitesize introductions, detailed multimodule courses, videos, refresher materials, interactive scenarios and live CPD sessions, allowing firms to select the depth, format and level of interaction appropriate to the learning goal.
Each resource has a clear purpose. Introductory learning can establish core knowledge, detailed courses can develop broader understanding, and refresher content can address a specific need without requiring an employee to repeat an entire programme.
Firms can also create and assign their own content through Development Zone, connecting technical learning with internal procedures and role expectations. This helps employees apply the subject within the context of their organisation.
Effective CPD is therefore defined less by the model a firm adopts than by how well learning reflects its priorities, resources and people. Development Zone gives firms the flexibility to make those choices, combining appropriate content, delivery methods and oversight within an approach that can develop with the business.
Author: Nicola Mathias
Nicola is a Training and Competence Consultant who draws on her experience in insurance and recruitment to support firms in meeting their training needs.
