Business & Management

The Impact of Continuing Education:

for Individuals and Businesses

July 9, 2018

I finished my dissertation in August of 2017 and to be perfectly honest, after working on it for what seemed like forever, I never wanted to think about it again. However, as I do more continuing education and personal development activities myself, I’ve realized that its topic is as pertinent now as ever. You see my dissertation was focused on continuing education for physical therapists in Illinois. I chose that particular profession to study, because as a former lobbyist I had helped pass legislation that added continuing education hours for physical therapists into their practice act and I wanted to understand its impact.

Continuing education is also referred to as professional development or industry education. Regardless of what you call it, it’s a way for individuals to improve upon their existing skills or to learn something new. It can be formal or informal and there are a number of reasons that individuals take part in it. In a CNBC interview Bill Gates admitted that he never stops learning. He reads daily and learns new skills by watching videos and taking part in online learning. Many industry leaders like Gates continue to learn so that they can bring new skills and ideas to the table. It allows businesses to innovate and remain competitive. For that reason, many businesses encourage their employees to participate in industry education.

In some licensed professions such as nursing, physical therapy, real estate, cosmetology, insurance and financial industries, there are state licensing requirements that mandate a specific number of continuing education hours for individuals to maintain their licenses. In these cases, the intent of continuing education is to improve the knowledge skills and abilities of the licensee in order to protect the health and wellbeing of the population they serve. In essence to ensure their competency and/or compliance with state or federal law and regulations. But does participation in continuing education result in improved competency?

In my study of physical therapists, all of the participants ultimately felt that continuing education was a good thing and did have the capacity to improve their competency. The study participants believed that for continuing education to be effective for improving knowledge and skills the following factors were necessary:

• The mindset of the individual and their desire to learn.
• The quality of the course and the relevance of its content.
• Immediacy of the application of the course content (use it or lose it).

Additionally, participants indicated that their participation in continuing education offered several benefits, such as:

• Improved confidence in their skills and ability.
• Improved job satisfaction due to access to new resources and internal promotional opportunities.
• Pay raises, career advancement, and professional recognition.

Not only did the study identify a positive impact on the individual, it also identified a positive impact on the employers who supported the continuing education activities of its employees. Some of the employer benefits identified were:

• Improved patient outcomes (customer satisfaction).
• Increased revenues from being able to market the skills of their employees and through customer referrals.
• Improved compliance with federal/state rules and regulations.
• Information sharing between employees and enhanced employee performance.
• Ability to recruit and maintain top talent, as individuals want to work for an organization that will support their growth and development.

While this was a small phenomenological study and can’t really be generalized to other populations, it still indicated the importance of continuing education. It benefits both an individual’s personal and professional growth and development, and it benefits the employers who offer continuing education opportunities to their employees. As Bill Gates stated in a 2017 Time magazine article, “You don’t really start getting old until you stop learning.”

Millennial's v. Generation-X: Is there a difference?

June 15, 2018

Over the past few years I’ve overheard many Gen X’ers lamenting about the problems they have with Millennial's (born between 1981-1996) in the workplace. Comments include, “they’re lazy, entitled, they have no motivation or work ethic, they switch jobs frequently, they’re technology dependent, they need constant praise, they don’t come into the office because they’d prefer to telecommute or want flexible hours, etc.” There are articles, studies, seminars, and webinars devoted to managing and motivating Millennial's in the workplace.

Studies often cite that generational work ethics and motivations are a direct result of the parenting of the time and the economic and political times that generation experienced. As I listen and read about the generational stereotypes and the reasoning behind it, I wondered if the perspectives of Gen X’ers about Millennial's could be the unique experiences of their generation as identified by the Pew Research Center, or could it be based upon where they are in their life-cycle?

To answer this question, I went back and looked at several journal articles about the perspective employers had about Generation-X (born 1965-1980) when they were between 22-37 years old. In journal articles published between the years 1995 and 2000 Generation-X was commonly described as: lazy, arrogant, unreliable. They were characterized as being job hoppers, in need of immediate feedback, and wanting flexible work schedules/to be allowed to telecommute. Does this sound vaguely familiar?

Examine the following statements below and try to identify which generation it applies to:

• Technologically savvy
• Entrepreneurial
• Values/seeks work life balance
• Have a short attention span
• Self-oriented
• Money motivated
• Change jobs often
• Perspective impacted by economic downturn
• Adapts quickly to change
• Excellent at multi-tasking

If you guessed both, you would be correct! On the surface, it appears that Millennial's and Generation-X have more in common than many believe. To understand Millennial's and the factors that motivate them, organizational leaders need to revert to the needs of their 20-30 something year-old selves. Examining life-cycle differences, rather than generational differences, may be the key to creating understanding between these generations and lead to the creation of diverse and high functioning/performing workforce.