What was the last webinar you participated in? What was the last podcast you listened to? What was the last book or in-depth article you read to learn something new? The bigger question is do you have a continuous learning plan?

One of the things I love about working in healthcare and technology is the pace of change and that there is always something new to learn. But that is also one of the challenges. So how do we keep up?

Don’t doubt that having a continuous learning plan is important for your career. The most recent This Week in Health IT podcast was interviews with six CIOs. Bill Russell asked them each the same five questions. The last question was what did they wish they knew or had done before they started their current role. A theme in the answers was around staff development – needing their staff to develop new skills and developing their leadership teams.

There are many different options and formats for ongoing training and learning to consider. You may prefer reading or webinars or podcasts or classroom training. Most likely you need a combination of all.

A few observations and tips from my own experience:

Reading: What used to be a stack of publications piled up in my office to read has now become a lot of bookmarked articles to read online. I read a lot of articles each week and add more to my list, even though I may not get to them. Having a few good “go to” resources and knowing your key areas of interest help manage and filter out the noise.

Webinars: You could spend several hours a week just doing webinars. Focus on a few “go to” resources and register for the ones that are most relevant to what you need to know. Or register for something new that you want to learn about. Once you put it on your calendar, consider it like any meeting. Too often we register with good intentions and then decide we don’t have the time when that day comes. But, if you really can’t make the time, many webinars are archived and available later.

Podcasts: I find several times a week when I can be listening and learning – driving a long distance, gym workout, or walking the dog. Find the podcast series that are most useful to you and subscribe. Then go to your Podcast library and pick one next time you have 30 minutes to listen.

Conferences: IT budgets have gotten tighter over the years and far fewer people are able to attend conferences. As a CIO, I encouraged the “divide and conquer” strategy. Plan in advance, coordinate attendance at sessions and hold staff accountable for sharing their learning when they return.

Online courses: This is a new one for me. I’ve thought of going back to school to get more current in healthcare and technology emerging topics, but I really would just like to take some specific courses. I am hearing about  edX, an online learning destination offering a huge collection of online education courses, Also, there are MicroMasters programs, a series of graduate level courses from top universities.

Degrees and certificate programs: If you are considering going back to school for an advanced degree, more power to you. I got my MBA over a four-year period taking one course a quarter when my children were young, and I was already in management. It was hard to balance it all. But I had the long view on the value of getting my master’s degree and never allowed myself to say I was too busy to do it. I saw too many colleagues putting off starting a program and others skipping quarters – all because they thought they were too busy. A certificate program in a focused area is another option to consider. Most likely your company offers some form of tuition reimbursement. Make sure you understand the benefits and take advantage of whatever is offered.

I’m guessing that for those six CIOs who were interviewed and every CIO I know, one of their ongoing challenges when they review their IT budget is training and development. They want to invest in their staff and that takes time and money.

But far too often, the various institutional memberships we were paying for were way underutilized. I found the solution was to educate and promote the resources to my entire staff. If possible, try to work with the company to customize and target content that is most relevant to you. Organizational level subscriptions and memberships in HIMSS, Scottsdale Institute, Advisory Board, or Gartner to name a few should be leveraged to their fullest. If not, they will be the first line item to cut at budget time.

Some of the smartest and most successful people follow the “5 hours a week rule” – spending 5 hours a week learning. Busy people like former President Obama, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey follow it. So why can’t you?

Think about continuous learning like you do your gym workout schedule. Develop a plan that’s right for you. Make the time. And remember, it’s an investment in you.

Related Posts:

Tune in: recommendations for IT podcasts

7 HIT blog and podcast recommendations