Martin Burns underlines the importance of committing to continuous learning & development
Qualifying as a chartered surveyor, or other professional, is only the first step in what, for many, is a lifelong learning process. For anyone who wants to maintain a career in their chosen sphere of professional practice, there needs to be a commitment to continuous learning and development.
Out of date
Just recently I came across a situation which demonstrated just what can go wrong when someone, working in a professional capacity, fails to maintain regular training and development.
A chartered surveyor, who had been acting as an expert witness in an arbitration hearing, had been made to look a fool under cross-examination.
He had been asked by Counsel for the claimant about his fee arrangement with the respondent, ie his instructing party. The surveyor cited the 3rd edition of RICS guidance for expert witnesses, which allowed for fee arrangements based on the relative success achieved by the instructing party.
The problem was the guidance was out of date. Fresh guidance had been published two years earlier, and he had not
