Unlock the secret to stretching your staff training budget by tapping into every CPD style on your team – in Part One of this series ‘Which CPD Style are you?’ Emma Gray helped you discover your CPD style
Now Emma returns to help you turn that self-awareness into action by learning how to harness those styles across your whole team and build a thriving learning culture. Because CPD is not just about you or even about individual staff. It’s about creating a balanced culture of professional growth that helps everyone thrive, staff, pupils, and leaders alike.
Why teams need all four styles.
Just as a school needs a mix of personalities, your CPD offer needs a mix of styles.
- Explorers bring fresh ideas and energy, ensuring a school’s CPD doesn’t stagnate.
- Planners provide strategy and alignment, making sure training links to improvement plans.
- Firefighters keep CPD practical and problem-solving, tackling immediate challenges.
- Connectors build relationships and culture, ensuring staff learn from, and with, each other.
Rely too heavily on one style, and you risk imbalance, all excitement but no follow-through, all planning but no action, all quick fixes but no long-term growth, or all sharing but no structure.
Spotting styles in your colleagues
Think about your leadership team or business support staff:
- Who’s always the first to volunteer for external training? (Explorer)
- Who asks, “How does this link to our strategic goals?” (Planner)
- Who turns CPD into a solution for the problem in front of them? (Firefighter)
- Who organises informal peer support or WhatsApp groups for sharing? (Connector)
By noticing these patterns, you can harness their strengths rather than fight against them.
Move from Me to We
Here are four ways you can create a balanced CPD culture by leveraging each style:
- Let Explorers Scout Ahead
Give your keenest learners the chance to pilot new training or attend conferences, then ask them to share the highlights with the team. This channels their enthusiasm into collective benefit. - Empower Planners to Map the Journey
Involve your strategy-minded colleagues in aligning CPD with improvement priorities and budgets. They’ll ensure every opportunity has clear outcomes. - Use Firefighters for Quick Wins
When there’s a pressing challenge, call on your practical colleagues to identify CPD that offers immediate solutions. But support them to think beyond crisis mode too. - Make Connectors Your Culture Champions
Encourage those who naturally build networks to set up peer mentoring, lunchtime learning sessions, or staff-led workshops. Their gift is turning CPD into a shared, social experience.
The Leadership Lesson
As an SBL, your job isn’t to fit everyone into the same mould. It’s to create the conditions where all four styles can flourish, balancing energy, strategy, action, and culture.
By moving from “me” (knowing your own CPD style) to “we” (recognising and valuing the styles in others), you’ll not only stretch your limited CPD budget further but also foster a professional learning culture that has lasting impact.
And remember, the real winners here aren’t just your staff. It’s the pupils, who benefit most from a team that is always learning, always growing, and always improving together.
