The new CPD: Confined Professional Development

Written by: Lynne Edwards

When the first round of local lockdowns and travel restrictions were introduced earlier this year, we shared how understanding yourself can help you cope in confinement.

As we say in that article, you can’t control what is happening around you, but you can control how you process your thoughts and react to the situation.

Now that many of you are either back in lockdown or continue to navigate ongoing challenges let’s look at what else you can control.

Take control of your professional development

Your continuing professional development (CPD) is something you can affect. While your goals may look a little different right now, there are still many opportunities for CPD, or, as we’re calling it, Confined Professional Development.

The pandemic has marked a paradigm shift in training and development, especially in the luxury hospitality industry. Virtual training in everything from leadership and managing teams to bartending and food safety and sanitation can now be done from the comfort of your home or crew cabin.

While service professionals in hotels and superyacht crew are accustomed to taking part in onsite training programs, remote learning does bring with it its own benefits.

The benefits of learning online

We all know there are many benefits to continuing our professional development, from maintaining and enhancing knowledge and skills to being more effective in the workplace.

Investing in ourselves also helps us to stay up to date with changing industry trends and it creates new opportunities in our work and personal lives. The benefits are endless.

These benefits also apply to remote or online learning. While the delivery method is different, many of the advantages are the same if not additional, such as:

You can do it from anywhere there is an internet connection. Online training is location independent, so as long as you have access to a computer and a steady internet connection, you can take part in training programmes from wherever they originate in the world.
You have more control over your professional development schedule and can learn at your pace, not at the pace of others. You get to decide when and where you take part in training programmes and you can learn at the time of day when it best suits your schedule and energy levels.
You will build competencies other than the technical skills being taught in a particular course. That is, you will learn focus and self-discipline, two key skills needed to successfully learn online, and skills needed for every modern career.
If a course allows you to take part in live chats and group discussions, you will benefit from online networking. Fellow participants may become lifelong contacts and even friends. Such social benefits are especially important for yacht crew who are living a long way from family and friends.
Even after a training programme has finished, you can access the training materials afterwards. This is great should you need to go back and review specific content.
By its nature, remote learning courses bring together a more diverse group of participants. This can expose you to more and different cultural approaches and a richer learning environment.
Last but not least, organisations like Franklin Covey, Maritime Food Authority and IAMI GUEST have allowed training organisations like LH to adapt their online learning offers in order to provide their valuable certification to their students.

Never stop learning and applying what you learn

At Luxury Hospitality, we firmly believe in the power of continued professional and personal development. There is always something more to learn, to improve and to understand. It’s the foundation of our training and mentoring, and we take this approach to all of our technical and leadership programmes.

Our specialist trainers and subject matter experts have been working hard behind the scenes to develop different programmes to aid your professional development.

Our online courses are designed to enhance your skills and continue your CPD journey wherever you are in the world. You can now choose from the following five programmes:

Insight online – gain a deeper understanding into you and your career.
Leadership on demand – enhance your leadership skills and take your team to new heights.
Talent Dynamics – discover your skills and strengths and what it means to work in ‘flow’.
The Art of Bartending – learn all the essential tips and techniques from our resident bartending expert.
Food Safety and Outbreak Management – the online version of the Manager in Charge of the Luxury Yacht certified programme.

Continue your professional development journey

Even in the age of virtual training, we recognise that human interaction and personal touch are important. People innately crave personal connection and thrive on the energy that comes from face-to face interactions.

Our philosophy and approach to online learning at Luxury Hospitality is not to replace the human touch. However, in the current circumstances, we are committed to supporting you in your training and development by providing engaging content online until we can meet face-to-face again in the future.

For more information on any of our online courses or to enrol, visit our website or send us an email.