Taking the Leap to CPLP

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!

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.

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.