LGC ASSURE Insights Edition 10 - July 2023

Being the top of your profession

Welcome to the tenth edition of LGC Assure Insights, a free digital newsletter to support your food safety management journey. This edition explores how to keep at the top of your chosen field through training and continued professional development.

One way of doing that is to ensure you remain aware of the broad issues affecting your sector and the intention of this newsletter is to assist you in doing just that by providing you with an overview of some highly topical issues including Listeria monocytogenes, sustainability and food fraud.

LGC Assure Insights is different from other news sources as it combines otherwise unpublished food safety management data held across the LGC Assure Network of companies with real-time events to provide an unparalleled view of current and emerging issues and trends. And, of course, it is free.

So, this month is focussed on the element of our jobs that is often sadly neglected and that is continuous professional development.

Reflections on Continuous Professional Development

Most of us will have some form of professional qualification that has enabled us to enter our chosen profession and the training we received will have undoubtedly contributed to a successful start to our careers. However, while education by its very nature provides a good foundation it will lack the breadth and depth necessary to fulfil the specific needs of most jobs.

Starting a job is usually the beginning of a journey in learning that for many of us focusses heavily on the specific technical skills necessary to ‘do the day job’. However, businesses recognise the importance of broader skills to support individuals to work in teams, develop or lead others. It is therefore common for us to encounter some element of management, leadership and behavioural training in our roles. As we take on the day-to-day challenges of most roles, we gradually lose focus in continued professional development (CPD), the very thing that we should cherish and nurture. CPD keeps us informed of the latest developments to enable us to be the best we can be in our respective disciplines.

There are many concepts in training and development, and I don’t intend to cover them in this overview. There is a useful article on the topic from the Harvard Business Review and some useful tips from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and LGC Assure.

Good for the individual and the organisation

Investment in training and development is good for both the individual and the organisation. In the 23rd Annual CEO Survey published by PWC in 2020, CEOs with more advanced upskilling programmes cited improved engagement, innovation and ability to attract and retain talent. In comparison to organisations beginning the upskilling journey, more advanced upskilling organisations reported:

• 37% higher corporate culture and employee engagement

• 26% higher workforce productivity

• 22% greater business growth

• 31% improved talented acquisition and retention.

This is further reinforced by an article on the essential components of a successful learning and development strategy published by McKinsey in 2020 showing that companies that invest in developing leaders during transformations are 2.4 times more likely to hit their performance targets.