Summary. An individual development plan is a document created by an employer and employee that outlines the employee’s development needs to reach their career goals. Development plans should include current expectations and performance goals for them and an action plan to reach those goals.
Improving performance and growth within your career is important for employees. Not only is it beneficial for an employee, but it’s also beneficial to the employer, their colleagues and team, and the overall company.
An individual development plan is a great way for an employee to improve their job performance. In this article, we will go over what an individual development plan is, how to create one, and how to implement it with your employees.
Key Takeaways:
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An individual development plan is not a punishment for an employee and should encourage them to grow and develop their career.
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Be sure that you set SMART goals that are achievable with your employees.
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When implementing these plans with employees, you have to be honest with them about what it is and set time aside to create the plans with each of them.
What Is an Individual Development Plan?
An individual development plan is a plan created by an employer and an employee that outlines an employee’s development needs and career goals. This document will include details about any new skills that are to be learned, what areas of their performance need to be improved, and if there is a specific time frame that it needs to be done.
An IDP is not a punishment for an employee, but it should help encourage them to grow and develop within their career. It’s also an opportunity for the employer to help identify the employee’s strengths and weaknesses, which can help the employer understand their employees better.
A development plan also benefits a company by aligning an employee’s training and development with the company’s mission and goals.
How to Write an Individual Development Plan
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Employee name and the date. The first thing on the plan should be the employee’s name, job title, and current date. This helps the employee know that the plan is specifically for them. The date is important because it will allow you to know when to track progress and see any changes.
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Current expectations and performance. The only way someone is able to develop and set up goals for their professional goals is to know where they are currently. Make a note of their expectations for their role and what they do to measure them currently. This step will also help you and the employee determine where to start with goal setting.
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Set goals. This step should be done together with the employee and the manager. The goals that you are setting should be SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely) goals. The goals can be long-term or short-term goals, whatever works best for the employee.
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Strengths and talents. Be sure to list any strengths and talents that the employee has. If the employee has a previous performance review, use it to help you with this step. These should be as specific as possible because positive feedback and knowing strengths help an employee gain the confidence to face new challenges and grow.
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Development opportunities. List any development opportunities that correspond to the goals that have been set in this plan. This could include learning from a mentor, taking an educational class, or attending training.
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Action plans. The action plan should be achievable and tailored to each employee. This should include the actions that the employee must take to achieve their goals. For example, leading a meeting or taking on more challenging tasks for their current role are common actions that allow an employee to achieve their goals.
Individual Development Plan Template
Employee name:
Date:
Position or job title:
Professional goals and aspirations:
Talents and strengths:
Development needs:
Development opportunities:
Action plan:
Schedule or timeline:
Measurement:
Signatures:
Individual Development Plan Example
Employee name: Jamie Stark
Date: March 27, 2023
Position or job title: Customer service representative
Professional goals and aspirations:
Long-term: Become a customer service manager
Short term: Work on customer service skills
Talents and strengths:
Communication skills with coworkers
Time management skills
Organizational skills
Development needs:
Work with customer service managers to get feedback for performance.
Improve skills in speaking with customers and selling products.
Development opportunities:
Attend service culture training for employees.
Work with a senior customer service representative who will mentor and help improve customer service skills.
Action plan: Work on improving communication skills with employees to be able to sell better and help them with their needs. Attend new training sessions to gain new experiences to grow and climb the ladder to becoming management.
Schedule or timeline:
Long-term: Within the next two years
Short term: By the end of next quarter
Measurement: By getting feedback from managers and mentors. Receiving scores from the different training sessions.
Signatures: Jamie Stark (employee), Denise Smith (manager)
How to Implement Development Plans
Employees won’t be doing a development plan on their own, so as their employer, it’s important that you get them started on one. It can take more than just handing them a piece of paper and telling them to get started. Here is how you should implement a development plan for your employees:
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Create your own plan. Your first step in implementing development plans is to create your own as an employer. It’s important to lead by example, and most employees will follow your lead. Doing the same thing as your employees is a great way to build trust with them and build better professional relationships.
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Talk with employees. It’s important to keep your employees informed about the things that are going to be happening. Be sure to inform them and answer any questions that they may have about the development plans.
After that, have them fill out a questionnaire to help them identify their goals, what motivates and inspires them, what skills and talents they have, and opportunities for development. Having this information ready will help when it comes to creating plans with them.
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Schedule meetings. Once you get back the questionnaires, schedule one-on-one meetings with your employees. Be sure to schedule enough time with employees so they don’t feel like they are being rushed during their meetings.
Try to let the employee lead the discussion about any goals that they have. You will also be able to answer any questions that they have. During this process, you can also provide feedback on the skills and talents that they have provided and add any if necessary.
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Create plans with your employees. The last thing that needs to be done is to create the actual development plan with each employee. This is why it’s important to schedule enough time with each employee. You can use the development plan that you created for yourself as a guide for what the employee should be doing.
They should be filling out most of the plan, but you are there to help guide them in the right direction. Once they fill out the plan, review it and add any changes or offer feedback. Once you are both satisfied with the plan, both you and the employee should sign off on it. Review it frequently once the employee starts.
Individual Development Plan FAQ
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What is the difference between an individual development plan and a performance review?
A performance review is a process of identifying and documenting a specific area of an employee’s job performance, while an individual development plan is a document that encourages growth and development.
Performance reviews can typically happen annually or when an employee’s permanence isn’t doing well. Development plans are given to everyone within an organization, even employees who are performing well.
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What makes a good individual development plan?
Self-reflection and deciding and understanding what is most important to you are what make a good individual development plan. You should take into consideration your strengths, development opportunities, and your long-term career goals when creating an IDP.
Revisiting and reassessing your plan frequently allows you to make any changes or adjustments to make the plan better for the best success outcome.
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What is personal development?
Personal development is a way for a person to assess their skills and qualities and focus on ways to better themselves.
Personal development brings self-awareness to what your full potential can be and allows you to create a plan to improve. This can result in improving your quality of life and help you advance in your career.
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Is an individual development plan necessary?
Yes, individual development plans are necessary to help an employee grow professionally. When employees improve and grow professionally, it can be very beneficial for a company. Investing in your employees and their careers will also make them happier and reduce your turnover rate.
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What are SMART goals?
SMART goals stand for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. They mean:
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Specific: You want to be as specific as possible when creating the goals.
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Measurable: Your goals should be able to be measured. It’s important to be able to track your progress during this process.
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Achievable: Don’t pick a goal that is unrealistic. Be sure to make a goal something that can be achieved in the time that you set.
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Relevant: Be sure that you are choosing something that relates to what you want to improve and grow.
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Timely: Create a schedule for when you want to achieve your goals. If your goals are short-term or long-term will also determine the length of your timeline.
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Final Thoughts
Investing in your employees and their improvements and career developments benefits not only them but the overall company. Follow the guide above to help implement individual development plans to make sure all of your employees improve.
References
Author
Taylor Berman
Taylor is a freelance writer from Pennsylvania. Taylor got into writing because she enjoys writing articles that help people and loves creating stories that inspire. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and public relations with an interest in communications media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
