I guess that it’s not often an economic proposition to ‘see a penny, pick it up’, although the habit is so deeply ingrained in me that I have been known to dig foreign coins out of pavement cracks even when they are quite, well, deeply ingrained. But there are some free things that are surely well worth a pause. Given the charges that apply for the acquisition of CPD from some sources, I was amazed to discover last week that only a small percentage of SCL members actually take advantage of the ‘free’ CPD courses available on the SCL site. Scrawled in the margin of the notebook carried to the meeting was my instant reaction ‘too rich or too stupid?’ – you’ll note that I thought ‘stupid’ was a bit strong for a blog post title when describing those that pay my mortgage. On reflection, I can see that there might well be many other explanations beyond extravagance and ignorance – I am just not entirely sure what they are.
Most obviously, not all SCL members need CPD. And I suppose these CPD online courses are not entirely free – partly because they require the payment of the SCL membership and partly because the member has to spend some time and effort listening to a podcast or reading a magazine and then answering questions designed to allow the member to demonstrate that he or she has indeed listened or read. But then you have probably paid the SCL membership anyway and even a course about something totally useless, where you spend most of the time eating rubber chicken (disguised in wax sauce) and answering client queries on your mobile device of choice, reduces some of your chargeable time.
I did wonder whether the questions were too hard but that idea doesn’t really wash. Perhaps firms have already put CPD plans in place that make the SCL scheme otiose. Or perhaps you just did not know that the option was available.
I’d be genuinely interested to know why people don’t use the scheme so do leave a comment.
If I get a number of comments saying ‘I am too rich {i}and{/i} too stupid’, I shall be e-mailing members seeking their help in extracting a £10 million legacy that Nigerian red tape is making it difficult for me to access.
