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ATD Blog

Taking the Leap to CPLP

Monday, February 13, 2017
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My CPLP journey has been a long one. I remember when I first learned about the CPLP certification more than 10 years ago. I immediately knew I wanted to become certified. My degree is in business administration, and although I had several certificates from ATD and had worked hard to learn about the industry, I still wanted the credibility that came along with the certification.

I’ve never really thought of myself as a procrastinator, but if my CPLP journey is any indication, I guess I am. I purchased the ATD Learning System, and I even started studying. I just never made the leap to actually register for the exam.

But I didn’t stop learning; I attended several ATD annual conferences and TechKnowledge conferences. My team loved and feared the week I came back, because I was always inspired to apply what I had learned to our organization.

So what pushed me to finally take the leap? It was either turning 50 or being cheap. When I found out that the price was going up in 2016, I clicked the link in the email, registered, and immediately questioned my sanity. What had I done? Was I ready for this?

I had a test date, purchased the new Learning System, and registered for the online instructor-led preparation workshop. I had three months to prepare. I set up a schedule to study, with the goal to be finished two weeks prior to the exam so I could go back and review. I studied the old-fashioned way—reading through all the material and highlighting as I went. I took the quizzes at the end of each section and highlighted the questions I got wrong. After my first read-through I went back and made flash cards for the content I needed to work on. The week before the exam I retook all the quizzes and reviewed my flashcards until I had them memorized and could get through them in a “flash.” Throughout my preparation process I felt energized and renewed. As I read the material I was reminded of things I knew, but may not have been practicing, and felt validated by things we were doing and inspired by new ideas.

I was nervous on the day of the Knowledge Exam, but felt confident when I left. I knew my preparation paid off because I had passed!

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I took a week off between the Knowledge Exam and preparing my project for the second exam. I knew my CPLP journey wasn’t going to be easy, but once I began working on the project I realized just how true that was.

Attending the online instructor-led workshop was unbelievably helpful, especially because I was able to communicate with others submitting in the same area of expertise (AOE). It was also helpful to read through the entire Certification Handbook to develop a road map for my project.

I have always been an overachiever, so when I was preparing my project I went for “exceeds expectations,” one of the scoring categories. My AOE was managing learning programs, and I went through each Key Action to ensure I fully understood the scope.

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The wait for the results was agonizing, but finding out that I passed and was finally a CPLP made all the hard work worthwhile. I proudly updated my email signature and my LinkedIn profile, adding CPLP after my name. I recognize the value of those letters and know they were earned.

About the Author

Denise Wilson serves as director of corporate development for Capital City Bank. She and her team are responsible for learning strategy and technologies, knowledge management, performance improvement, and leadership development for 900 bankers. Denise has more than 25 years of experience in workplace learning and performance. She is passionate about organizational learning, particularly about blending new and existing approaches to meet learning needs and improve bottom-line results. Denise has been an active member of ATD and served as president of the ATD Tallahassee Chapter. She is a dedicated volunteer, serving on several boards in her community.

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