personal development plan example for hr

The Ultimate Personal Development Plan Template That Will Get You Noticed

• What is a personal development plan?
• How to use a personal development plan
• How to make a good personal development plan
• Personal Development Plan Template
• What are personal development goals?
• Best practices for setting personal development goals
• Examples of most common personal development goals
• Personal development goals for work examples
• Common mistakes to watch out

Employees look for training and personal development opportunities at their respective companies. The lack of these opportunities is one of the main reasons they decide to quit. HR professionals and team leaders can avoid this using a personal development plan template to help employees reach their personal development goals. In such a case, it would be a win-win situation for both the company and the people working there. 

A proper template ensures you help individual employees work on their weaknesses and build up their strengths. This is a direct way to set personal development goals and find the shortest way to reach them.

According to a survey , 94% of respondents said they would stay at the company longer if it invested in their careers. In addition, professional and personal growth leads to higher retention. Besides, 58% of employees claim that professional development contributes to their job satisfaction. Moreover, employees who feel respected, empowered, and as if they are making a difference are much more likely to stay in a company—those who don’t have less than a 35% chance of staying. 

A proper template ensures you help individual employees work on their weaknesses and build up their strengths. This is a direct way to set personal development goals and find the shortest way to reach them. It enriches their experience at work and has a positive impact on their career. 

On top of that, it also attracts new hires to your company. Almost 60% of millennials list development opportunities as key factors in applying for a job. As this is the case, it’s high time you work on your employees’ personal development.

Let’s take a closer look at a personal development plan and see how it correlates with personal development goals to tap into each employee’s power. Keeping that in mind, we should start with a personal development plan and later proceed to personal development goals for everything to make perfect sense. 

A personal development plan (PDP) is an agreement between an employer and employee that outlines that team member’s objectives. It wants to empower employees to analyze their professional life and work on self-improvement. Employees can easily achieve goals when they have a clear picture of their performance. They understand what it takes to reach a specific milestone because of their personal development plan.

HR professionals and managers usually help employees create a personal growth plan. However, team members don’t need to wait for their next performance review to learn new skills and identify areas that require improvement. They can make a personal development plan themselves. Employees can establish short-term or long-term goals and set realistic deadlines to fulfill them.

Having a personal development plan template helps all parties. You can just fill in the required fields and create a clear plan for an individual’s development. Add an HR management tool to that equation, and you’re set to take your workplace to the next level.

  Related: Top 12 Performance Review Software in 2023 ‍

Remember that a PDP must be tailored-made for a specific employee. You can’t take someone else’s plan and expect it to work for them. Each person has different skills and experiences. The plan reflects that.

Why is it important?

 Personal development is all about a process of self-improvement. The plan helps employees:

• Outline specific goals and what they should do to achieve them
• Identify the strengths that ensure they grow in their personal and professional life
• Recognize what skills they need to overcome their existing weaknesses ‍

It is essentially a roadmap that guides them through the process of achieving goals. ‍

What kind of benefits can you expect from a personal development plan? Here are the improvements you will see with a good PDP in place:

• Boosts employee motivation – a personal development plan makes employees aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They can use their strengths to work more productively and learn how to minimize their weaknesses. This boosts their motivation and encourages them to do more. 
• Minimize staff turnover – it can cost more to find a new hire than it does to retain an existing employee. You should give your employees a personal development plan template to show them you’re committed to their improvement. They are more likely to stay at the company if they have a plan.
• Advances existing skills – employees create a career plan focusing on their development. They identify performance development areas so that they can grow in the workplace. While improving existing skills, they also acquire new ones to achieve career goals.
• Improves goal-setting – a PDP outlines both long-term and short-term goals. Managers can teach employees how to break down those goals to make them more achievable.

A PDP benefits both the company and the employee. Introducing personal development plan templates makes the process easier for managers and HR professionals. ‍

Let’s see how you can use a PDP.

According to research , 74% of surveyed employees think they don’t progress at work due to a lack of development opportunities. You can help them reach their full potential with a personal development plan.

A PDP is an effective way to learn a new skill or master a particular one. Employees can also use it to boost their careers. They just need help from their managers or HR team members. ‍

If you’re a team lead or an HR professional, you can use a personal development plan to:

• Conduct a skill-gap analysis – a PDP helps you understand which skills your employees lack. The company’s subsequent training efforts should strive to fill the gap.
• Identify employees who want to grow – this plan also identifies team members who want a promotion. For example, let’s say your company is looking for a Project Manager. Instead of hiring someone outside the company, you can promote one of your employees.
• Align employee goals with business goals – one-on-one meetings reveal individual goals. When you know a team member’s career growth plans, you can align them with business goals and help them grow. ‍

Related: 5 Meeting Agenda Templates to Use Right Away ‍

Remember, most employees crave professional development opportunities. If you disregard their development needs, you’ll have a team of dissatisfied members. How can a company grow when the employees aren’t happy?

You should go through several steps to create an effective personal development plan. We’ll list those steps below.

• Ask employees to perform a self-assessment

It all starts with us. We can’t grow or improve if we don’t reflect on ourselves. That’s why your employees must do a self-evaluation first. After all, they know their interests, professional life goals, skills, and knowledge best.

You can ask them the following questions to fuel their path to self-improvement:

• How satisfied are you with your work progress?
• Is there something you can do to reach your full potential?
• What are your career goals? Do you have the skills to achieve them?

Employees can reflect on their performance and determine what they can do to develop personally and professionally. ‍

Get started with templates and save time

High response

• Set clear goals

Every employee should know what they want to achieve in their career. If they don’t, you can help them set and achieve goals. These objectives should reflect their strengths and personal development plans.

When creating a PDP for your company, we suggest you focus on SMART goals. They are:

• Specific – the goal should be precise and to the point. There’s no room for ambiguity. For instance, instead of saying, “I’m going to write an article this week,” your employee should say, “I’m going to write a 2,000-word B2B article.”
• Measurable – there should be criteria that measure progress. You can agree on how you will assess whether they’ve achieved the goal.
• Achievable – ensure your employees don’t set unattainable objectives. They should know if their skills and resources make it possible to achieve a goal.
• Realistic – your employee should be willing to work towards achieving an objective. This depends on their skills, so they should evaluate them before agreeing to something.
• Time-bound – encourage them to set a realistic deadline to meet their duties.

Setting these goals helps employees split their objectives into smaller, more manageable milestones. They complete a goal one step at a time which derives great pleasure and satisfaction. 

Related: The Best Performance Improvement Plan (+Template)

• Determine which strategies to implement

After setting the goals, it’s time to consider how employees will achieve them. The strategies vary depending on the objective. For example, if an employee wants to work their way up the career ladder, they might want to attend an online course that helps them expand their knowledge. They should consider the skill set they need and the best way to build those skills.

• Explore resources

Employees cannot achieve professional and personal growth without any further resources. It’s impossible to learn something new if you don’t have some help along the way. You can help employees determine which resources they need. Those resources include online courses, learning platforms, interactive flipbooks , conferences, niche-specific articles, webinars, and even training. Look at their personal development plan to figure out what can benefit them.

If you follow the above steps, you can make a good personal development plan for your employees. One thing that can help you—having a personal development plan template.

As your company grows, you’ll have to focus on more and more employees. Each of those employees requires their own plan. Not to mention, you must follow their career development and growth after the goal-setting process. What can you do to make the process more manageable? You can use a personal development plan template. PDP in HR is a popular way to track personal and professional development progress and make adjustments along the way.

Using a template for personal development needs is quicker and more efficient. Imagine if you need to create personal development plans for every employee. This would be time-consuming. Don’t make this mistake—use personal development plan templates. These PDP templates help you create a clear picture of your employee’s goals and the steps they should take to reach them.

You won’t need to worry about missing important information that can affect your employees' personal development. We have prepared a personal development plan template to jumpstart your team members’ success! The PDP template is concise and identifies areas your employees need to answer to achieve success. 

You can use the following personal development plan template to help your company grow with talented individuals.

Personal development plan template ‍

Employee name: _________________

Position and title: _________________

Date: _________________

Development area: _________________

Personal development goals: _________________

Top strengths: _________________

Areas to improve: _________________

Development opportunities: _________________

Action plan: _________________

Skills and knowledge needed for personal growth: _________________

Necessary resources: _________________

Evaluation period (how often will you check the progress): _________________

Deadline: _________________

Review (How am I doing): _________________

Personal development plans are the way best to get to know your employees and see how your company can influence their success and growth.

Here is a filled-in PDP sample you can use as an example of what a completed personal development plan template should look like:

Employee name: John Doe

Position and title: Social Media Manager

Date: July 30 2022

Development area: Time management

Personal development goals: Organize my time better to help my team members and learn how to prioritize tasks

Top strengths: Social media planning and delivery, communication skills, writing engaging content

Areas to improve: Time management and organizational skills

Development opportunities: Become a team leader of the company’s social media department

Action plan: Use to-do lists to better organize my day, track each task’s progress, report my progress to a supervisor

Skills and knowledge needed for personal growth: Time management and leadership skills

Necessary resources: Online courses about social media marketing, tools to better track the performance of social media posts and analyze our audience

Evaluation period (how often will you check the progress): Every month

Deadline: Three months from today

Review (How am I doing): N/A (to be completed every month)

Use personal development templates like this to make the process of creating a PDP for employees simpler and more time-efficient!

How to get started with a template

Achieving personal growth is easier with personal development plan templates. But the journey doesn’t end there. You must also take certain steps to ensure your employees are improving and meeting their goals.

Here are some strategies you can take after an employee submits their personal development plan: 

• Review the plan immediately – make sure to go over an employee’s plan. You must check if their goals are attainable and clear.
• Remind employees to check the plan periodically – a team member might forget what areas they need to improve. You can remind them to read their plan to see if they are working on the right skills.
• Assess their improvement so far – you can plan a one-on-one meeting with an employee. Ask them to be honest and tell you how they are doing, if they need additional help and which changes they see.
• Determine their success – personal development plans are about creating specific goals. The plan would be futile if you don’t check if an employee has made progress towards their goals.
• Decide what to do next – if you find any issues, you must devise a solution. Don’t abandon your employee—show them you're committed to their success!

When you know all about the personal development plan, it is time to proceed to the next crucial step, setting personal development goals. These two aspects come toe-to-toe and are vital for making goals and planning a reality.

‍ What are personal development goals?

Personal development goals, or self-improvement goals, are the objectives people set to improve themselves in many ways, including habits, mindset, skills or even work ethics.  Although personal development goals are not necessarily connected to the job setting, they can help people improve their professional and personal lives.

Some of the most common areas for personal development goals include:

• change of mindset
• improving hard skills
• working on social skills
• character building

How can they help people?

Working on personal development goals has many benefits, but here are five areas where it can help employees the most:

Better focus  

One of the biggest benefits of setting personal development goals is a better focus and a clear sense of direction. Clear goals inspire people to act and easily decide on their next steps. This pushes them to be proactive and get more things done in their personal and professional lives.

Free time endlessly scrolling on the phone without a clear purpose or spreading work throughout the day is easy. Specific goals will motivate people to become more proactive and efficient.

Increased productivity

Goal setting teaches individuals prioritization techniques. This way, it is much easier to decipher what matters the most and take care of it instantly. Another major advantage has concrete, measurable goals to work towards. This makes it possible to evaluate people’s success precisely and encourages them to keep improving. The more goals they tick off, the more satisfied they will be. Over time, this will also increase general productivity. 

Better professional relationships

Self-improvement goals can improve the quality of people’s relationships with their colleagues and business partners. By becoming a better version of themselves, they're inspiring everyone who gets in touch with them to do the same. Their growth mindset is reflected in others as well. As a consequence, positive relationships in your team could dramatically improve. People in self-development tend to be better listeners and more compassionate toward others.

Improved work-life balance

Employees that don’t have a healthy work-life balance are prone to burnout more than others. That’s why this aspect shouldn’t be neglected. Employees should be encouraged to pursue their passions and learn new skills that don’t have to be work-related. Personal development goals can help people find time for themselves and remember who they are outside of their job. Consequently, they will become more motivated, and their productivity at work will improve.

Career advancement  

Finally, working on personal development goals can positively affect professional life and bring professional success to everyone. Many skills are transferable, meaning one can use them in other areas. Communication skills, soft skills, and creativity — are all crucial for success at work. New skills can help employees better serve customers and even get promotions. Sometimes working on personal development goals can bring insights and ideas that can revolutionize how you work.

As an HR or business mentor, your job is to share some resources on goal-setting with your team. Of course, each person’s goal will be different, but here are some universal strategies that everyone can benefit from, regardless of their goal.

Here are some points you can ask your employees to do:

• Identify what you want

 This is a fun exercise you can do as a team. According to one statistic, employees engaged in meaningful activities are 87% less likely to leave the company.

You can ask them the following questions:

• What goal would make the biggest difference in your life? 
• Is that goal in alignment with your vision for the future?
• What is something you’ve always wanted to learn but never seemed to have enough time for?

This exercise helps them connect with their personal development goals deeper, which will help them commit. When it becomes hard, and it feels like quitting, it's important to connect with your why and remember why you started.

• Set milestones for your goal

Big goals are not only frightening, but they can also be too vague. The next step is to break your personal goals into achievable milestones.

There are three good reasons to do so:

• The goals become more doable.
• You feel more motivated to work towards your goals.
• It's easier to measure your progress.

For example, someone's personal development goal could be to learn French. That's too vague. That person would be much more motivated if they created smaller goals for each month or week. 

• Set a day and time to work on your goal

As Michael Hyatt once said: What doesn't get scheduled, doesn't get done. Set yourself up for success by turning your goals into plans. It means that you should allocate time and space where you will be dedicated to working on your goal.

It will be much easier if your goal becomes part of your routine. It doesn't have to take a lot of time, especially in the beginning. The most important thing is to make it a habit.

How to Build the Best Employee Development Plan

The 90-Day Review Template to Keep Your Business on Track

Here are the most common personal development goals related examples: 

• Improving your communication skills . This goal can improve professional relationships, the atmosphere of the whole team, as well as the results you get with clients.
• Mastering time management - Time management is one of the most important skills for your own success. Today it's even more challenging due to the distractions around us. One can learn different time management strategies from books, but it's important to try them and choose those that work in your life.
• Mindfulness - Mindfulness is one of the most effective stress management techniques, and everyone in the corporate world needs it. Your mindfulness practice could consist of meditation, visualization, breath work, or sitting silently for a few minutes every morning.
• Developing a growth mindset - A growth mindset is essential for success. Maybe you need to work on your mindset if you've been stuck lately. Some of the ideas include journaling, affirmations, or reading self-improvement books.
• Networking - One of the common goals is to grow your network and meet more people. This can be done through organizing networking events or joining clubs and communities on the topics that interest you.
• Learning a new skill - The best way to keep your brain sharp is to challenge yourself to learn a new skill! Choose something that interests you, whether crochet or graphic design and be patient with yourself because every new skill takes time.
• Creative thinking - Many people don't know it, but creativity can be learned! You need to give yourself space to let your mind wander, and ideas will come. There are also different exercises to boost your creativity, from design thinking to creative writing.
• Reading habit - One of the most common New Year's goals is: I'd love to read more books this year! Reading has many benefits, and it can be a life-changing habit. It's important to set realistic goals for yourself. Your first goal shouldn't be to read one book a week. Instead, your goal should be to get into the habit of regularly reading.

We'll now go into more detail and show you how to set personal development goals properly.

Improving leadership skills

Leadership is one of the most valuable assets that can benefit your employees in many ways. According to Forbes , it helps employees boost productivity, engagement, and independence.  ‍

Here is how your organization could help employees improve this skill:

• Organize internal workshops - You don’t need famous motivational speakers and leaders to organize a successful workshop. You can also organize internal workshops where managers and executives share their practical experiences with younger employees.
• Organize leadership challenges - It’s important to understand that one doesn’t need a title to be a leader. It’s about behavior and the way you treat others and tackle problems. To make it more fun, you could organize leadership challenges where each employee has to do one small task that shows leadership capabilities.

Become a better networker

If one of your team member’s goals is to become a better networker and create stronger relationships, you should first ask them to define what it means for them and why it's important. Next, they should list actions that will get them there. The steps should be concise and easy to follow.

The list may look like this:

• Read a book about communication
• Talk to people that are great networkers
• Practice being an active listener
• Commit to going to networking events every month
• Reach out to your new connections

They should also set some milestones, for example, I want to meet 10 new people by the end of this month. And then, you can create a plan of how they will do it. If you know that someone in your team lacks accountability, you can encourage them to share their goals with your other colleagues so you can support each other. 

As an HR, you could also introduce your team to the concept of an accountability buddy. It means that each person gets another person that keeps them accountable. They’re here to support each other and track their progress together.

Common mistakes to watch out for when setting development goals

Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when they set personal development goals:

The goal is not measurable

One of the first rules of goal setting is that personal goals should be clear and measurable. If people can't measure your progress, how can you know they're going in the right direction?

Some might say that certain goals are simply not measurable, and that's true. However, in that case, you can help people track their activities. They can measure how much time they dedicate to the goal weekly to ensure they're on the right track.

The goal is not something people want

The worst thing is to choose a personal development goal just because it's something that's "good for people" and "should be done". Achieving personal development goals requires time and dedication. That's why it's essential to help your employees choose a goal that's meaningful to them.

People don't have the right mindset

A positive mindset is crucial for continuous self-development. Even if some goals are out of people’s comfort zones, they can still work on those. Many people have limiting beliefs that prevent them from achieving their highest potential.

The rule is - if you want to succeed, it's essential that you believe that you can do it. If you lack self-confidence, you won't be motivated enough, leading to procrastination.

Now that people have set their personal development goals, it's time to do an honest assessment and see where they currently are. The best way to do it is during one on ones with employees.

Take some time to think about the following topics and encourage people to be honest with themselves. Here are some questions to ask employees should ask themselves:

• Did I allocate enough time to my personal goals?
• Did I have all the resources I needed for achieving this goal?
• What were the biggest obstacles?
• What can I do differently next time?
• Where can I get the support when I need it?

Even if they haven't achieved their goal, they should be patient with themselves. They can start again, but this time with a better strategy and more support. 

On the other hand, what if people achieve all personal development goals with success?

First, take time to celebrate and congratulate your employees. Too many people take their success for granted and always look for a new challenge. Right now, they should be proud of how far they've come!

Here are some things you can ask your employees:

- ‘’If you enjoyed working on this skill, you may want to take it to the next level. You can challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone once again and become even better at it. At this point, you may even consider getting a certification or something similar.’’

 - ‘’Or, you can choose a completely different area to work on. If you worked on your physical health, you could now switch to emotional intelligence or the other way round.’’

Conclusion: Personal Development Plan and Goals

Helping your employees work on their personal development plan creates a positive workplace. Employees are satisfied to see their company cares about them and doesn’t see them just as “seat-fillers.” With an effective personal development plan template, you can easily discover each person’s skills and weaknesses. You get to grow the talent you already have and nurture an impressive company culture.

As you can see, self-growth is a never-ending process. There's always room for improvement. Adopting a growth mindset and entering the field of personal development could be one of the most positive things you've done for yourself. If you're a manager or business owner, you should encourage your people to set personal development goals. They will not only make your employees happier and more productive, but they will influence everyone around them in a positive way.

Sign up to Effy to monitor employee performance and automate HR processes!

FAQ: How to Set Personal development goals

A personal development plan (PDP) is the practice of consistently adding new skills , knowledge and competencies to yourself in areas of your choice. It is a clear and documented outline that shows what you aim to achieve to attain better fulfillment and growth. A personal development plan does not have to be restricted to your career alone, as it also concerns your finances, education, relationships and other interests.

What is a personal development plan example?

A personal development plan could simply be 'Get a promotion at work next January'. To achieve this, you need a detailed plan to guide (documented) and steps to get the promotion. Such steps will include: taking a management training course, requesting a performance appraisal with HR, networking better with the line manager, etc.

What are the key elements of a personal development plan?

A personal development plan should include the following elements:

• A clear reason showing why you want to achieve your plans.
• A defined vision of where you want to be.
• A defined timeframe to help you prioritize the different areas of your PDP.
• The skills and resources you need to meet up with your plans.
• Your expected milestones to keep you on track.

What are individual development goals examples?

Some of the most common personal development goals include learning a new skill, developing a positive attitude, breaking bad habits, effectively managing your time, etc.

What are the 5 areas of personal development?

These are the 5 main areas of personal growth:

• Mental (working on your mindset, learning new skills)
• Social (working on your communication and networking)
• Spiritual (inner peace, meditating)
• Emotional (emotional intelligence, personal boundaries)
• Physical (physical health, proper self-care, fitness)

What are 3 goals for your career development?

The following 3 goals can influence your ongoing professional development: becoming a better communicator, enhancing your networking skills and learning leadership skills.

Quicklinks ‍

12 inspiring employee development plan examples (+ templates).

Whether you’re a startup of 50 or an enterprise of 2000, your people are at the forefront of your organization. And if there’s one thing that guarantees a successful business, it’s investing in your employees' career growth .

Picture it: Your employees, thriving, engaged, and ready to conquer new challenges.

But how do you get there? How do you create employee development plans that work?

We're giving you 12 inspiring examples of employee development plans. For all these employee development plans, we go through what they do well - and how to improve them .

We also share our development plan template that you can copy right away .

‍ 🏫 Basic employee development plan  (Indeed)

Creating a basic wireframe of your employee development plans is a good way to kickstart this program. Here is a sample template taken from the career website Indeed .

While it’s basic and not specialized for a role or even an industry, this sample development plan guides you to think in the right direction.

The biggest advantage of this template is that it’s a blank slate and gives you the freedom to customize it (via Microsoft Word or Google Docs).

At the same time, it comes with a drawback. You need to closely follow each employee’s progress to be familiar with their strengths, weaknesses, and desires for their future careers.

To make it even better:

• Start with listing the strengths, needs, and professional goals of each employee . This creates an opportunity for you to spend 1:1 time interviewing your employees, and build a development plan that aligns with their expectations. 
• Next, create an actionable list of steps they need to take to grow in their current roles. This is a great practice to gain foresight into how your company and each department will scale in the months and years to come.

💰 Employee development plan for company growth (Slideteam)

Similar to the previous example, here’s another template from Slideteam – one that can be used across different industries and roles.

This is a great example of a career development plan best suitable for a junior accountant role. One of the key highlights of this plan is that it has a section for estimated costs .

There are two main benefits of this template: ‍

• First of all, it gives you an overview on how much budget needs to be allocated per employee. This means that your employees will know from the start that you’re willing to invest in them - they can see cold, hard numbers rather than promises you make.
• At the very end, there’s a section for manager notes . As hard as we might try, we often cannot categorize and label all of our employees. This section gives you some room to leave additional notes for individual employees.

To make it even better, create a more comprehensive follow-up process, to ensure that the employee stays on track, offer feedback , and provide additional support if they ever get stuck.

💬 Career development plan example with comments (Lumenlearning)

Here is another great example of an employee development plan by Lumenlearning , complete with manager notes.

This employee development plan spans over two years and has comments from the manager related to the assessment of their employees’ skills as well as specific plans for the future.

In this plan, you can see the manager taking care of external training in the form of courses and degrees, as well as internal training through one-on-one mentorship .

One thing that sets this template apart compared to the previous ones is that it has accountability for both – the employee and the manager.

While the manager is in charge of designing the development plan and choosing the right activities, the employees are given the responsibility to create their own timeline to complete the assigned tasks.

This is a great way to present the potential of career development to your employees. Through this, they can see the possibilities for the development of their role. At the same time, they can realize that the success of this plan largely depends on their own willingness and hard work. This is strengthened by the fact that this is a long-term, two-year development plan and not a short-term initiative.

To make this development plan example even better, se the SMART goals framework . With specific, measurable sub-tasks and a set time frame, it is easy to measure one's professional development.

🌱 Learn how to help employees set professional development goals . ‍ 💡Plus, use these examples of developmental goals and ways to achieve them as inspiration.

🛠 Skill-based development plan (Devskiller)

The examples we shared above, all focus on the bigger picture: the soft and technical skills as well as the necessary training to develop an employee’s career.

However, you don’t have to go into such level of detail if you plan to develop skills by yourself.

Here is an example of such an employee development plan from Devskiller:

The plan is quite simple: managers list their employees’ skills and grade them on a scale from 0-10. Then, there is a "Desired State" explaining what the manager expects from the employee to advance in their careers and within the company.

The "Gap" section defined what employees need to advance in their careers. The "Initiatives" section offers the specific actions that they need to take to achieve their goals.

To make this example more impactful:

• Ensure that your skill-focused development plan is not exclusively based on the managers’ assessment of employee skills ( skills gap analysis ).
• To achieve this, add employees’ self-assessments and even peer reviews to get more accurate results, and to prepare an effective skill-based development plan.

👥 Side-by-side employee development plan example (Smartinsights)

Here is another example of a detailed individual development plan by Smartinsights.

There are three elements that that set this plan apart:

• There are two sections : one for the employee and another for the manager , adding an organizational context to the employee perspective.
• There is a clear alignment between the individual career goal and the organizational needs and goals.
• There are dedicated sections for progress reporting and feedback sessions. ‍

Having these two sections in one place gives a clear overview of the two different perspectives: individual and organizational.

For example, you understand whether the self-assessment of the employee is objective or not.

Overall, this is a perfect example if you’re looking for a template that makes the employee and their manager equally responsible for planning and execution.

🎓 Professional development plan example (University of Wisconsin)

Let's analyze a new professional development plan example, this time from the University of Wisconsin.

What’s interesting here is that the employee is the one who is responsible for doing all the "development work:"

• They have to search for a peer member to shadow, rather than receiving a specific suggestion from their leader.
• They have to search for their own learning resources, rather than receiving access to a library of learning materials.

To make this even better, make development planning a more collaborative task. The team leader can act as a coach and facilitator, for example by assigning tasks to mentors, providing access to training materials etc.

🅰️ Individual employee development plan example  (Adobe)

Although single on first sight, the individual development plan example from Adobe masters startegic alignment.

The first part of this plan example focuses on employee self-reflection on:

• the most satisfying part of the job;
• key skills or strengths;
• skills or strengths to further develop.

By identifying their unique strengths and skills, employees can focus on areas where they excel and build on their strengths , which can lead to increased engagement, job satisfaction, and productivity.

The plan then differentiates between short and long-term goals. This approach can help the employee prioritize their development efforts and stay on track toward their goals.

We really like that each development opportunity links to concrete action items. This will ensure that the employee has a clear roadmap to follow and understands how their development activities contribute to their professional growth. And to go one step forward, these also clearly link to business impact.

Strategic alignment between employee and company objectives mean that the employee's development efforts will also contribute to the organization's strategic priorities and goals.

📚 Learning and development plan example  (DCU)

The learning and development plan example from Dublin City University is the most comprehensive plan example.

This plan contains sections that outline the specific what, how, when, who, and cost components of the plan, which can help to ensure that the employee and their manager are aligned in terms of expectations and goals.

We also really like the progress evaluation section is essential in a development plan. This section encourages self-reflection by asking questions such as:

• What will I do differently as a result of this experience?
• How will I continue to build on these skills?
• How can what you learn outside of work be integrated into your job to further your career?

The fact that this development plan covers multiple types of learning methods is also helpful, as this allows the employee to choose the learning method that suits them best.

The only elements we think are missing are:

• A dedicated section for manager comments.
• A lack of a clear link between development opportunities and business impact. While it's essential to develop employees' skills and competencies, it's also important to ensure that these activities aligned with the organization's strategic priorities.

📈 Performance development plan example (Reading University)

This performance development plan example from the University of Reading presents several assets:

• It allows the employee (and any reviewer) to reflect on their past performance and identify areas for improvement. This can help the employee to set clear goals and develop a plan for achieving them.
• The tips and recommendations included in the plan can also be useful for employees who are unsure of how to proceed with their career development. These resources can provide guidance on how to set goals, identify learning opportunities, and create a plan for achieving career objectives.
• The dedicated space for achievements and recognition can serve as motivation and reminder of specific employee strengths.

To improve this performance development plan example:

• Include a space to document whether your employee's future professional goals align with the organization's goals or objectives. If the employee has aspirations that are not aligned with the organization's strategic priorities, as it may be more difficult to support their career development.
• Add a section for available development budget.
• Add a follow up section, where you can take notes during the development conversations that would happen throughout the 12 months that the plan covers. ‍

🤝 70-20-10 Individual development plan (University of Michigan)

The individual development plan example from the University of Michigan starts off with an expectations model (The Michigan Expectations Model - MEM). MEM identifies 12 benchmark behavioral standards that all staff should demonstrate.

This sample development plan started with concrete guidelines for employees.

The concrete steps that people need to take for creating an individual development plan are:

• Self-assess.
• Identify areas of development .
• Select the resources to address gaps or build on strengths.
• Create the plan.

When creating their individual plan, each employee should set maximum 3 development goals. And they should formulate them with the SMART goals framework (to ensure they set specific goals that are time bound).

For defining the hows to achieving their goals, employees need to use the 70-20-10 developmental approach. For each goal, they need to define the different types of growth activities.

The employees are also encouraged to share the plan with a supervisor or mentor to see where they can help.

To make this individual development plan even better, add a concrete timeline for each step. Plus, add milestones to keep people motivated to keep on working toward their goals.

✍🏻 Formal performance and development plan example (Washington State)

This Performance & Development Plan example from the state of Washington looks more formal than most of the examples we reviewed so far.

We can definitely see that this is more than a development plan. The link to performance improvement is clear from the sections on performance expectations (key results and core competencies ) and organizational alignment.

To make this performance and development plan even better, start by adding a section for stating the employee goals. Then, add a new section with a concrete deadline and the given time frame for meeting the goals.

💼 Check out our complimentary resource with 7 individual development plan examples for leadership.

🌱 Bonus: Employee development strategy (MongoDB)

This employee development strategy example from MongoDB showcases the 70-20-10 model of learning :

• 10% formal training
• 20% Social learning though: manager support, coaching, comparing experiences with peer
• 70% on the job learning, feedback, stretch-assignments.

You can also use the 70-20-10 model for employee development planning, steering employees towards learning on the flow of work .

🚀 Learn how to implement an organization-wide employee development program in 8 steps.

📝 Development plan  templates

The easiest way to get started is by using our career development plan templates.

They combine the best of above worlds without requiring too much effort.

Option 1: 🧾  Excel-Template

Download the 🧾 Employee development plan template

Option 2: 📄 PDF-Template

Download our 📄 Employee Development Plan Template

Performance improvement plan template

Use performance improvement plans for employees whose performance has been taking a dip. You can see PIPs as roadmaps that show employees how to get to their destination of increased performance.

🆓 Download the free employee performance development plan template.

➡️ Prioritize people over paper: Run employee development with Zavvy

Imagine a world where employee development is streamlined, efficient, and effective:

• A world where your development strategy goes beyond merely setting up plans people might not use.
• A world where development programs and plans actually help your people grow (and engage and retain your high performers in the process).

That's the power of Zavvy.

No more getting lost in the paperwork shuffle. No more wasted time. A seamless, easy-to-use tool that puts your people first.

Those unsure about the best steps for achieving personal development goals, can enlist the help of Zavvy AI . Add the goal and the desired timeline and watch the AI work its magic.

Your employees deserve the best. And so do you. It's time to embrace the future of employee development! ‍ ‍

📅 Request a demo and get started with your customized employee development solution. ‍ ‍

What are types of employee development plans?

1. Competency enhancement plan : This plan focuses specifically on enhancing an employee's current skill set, making them more proficient in their current role.

2. Career advancement plan : Targeted towards employees looking to move up within the organization, this plan is about preparing for future roles and leadership positions.

3. Performance improvement plan (PIP) : Aimed at employees who might be struggling to meet their current job expectations, this plan identifies areas for improvement and outlines steps to elevate performance.

4. Professional growth plan : This plan focuses on the broader professional development of an employee, incorporating elements like certifications, continued education, or attending conferences/seminars.

5. Cross-training plan : This type of development method allows employees to learn skills outside of their current role, promoting versatility and flexibility within the organization.

6. Onboarding/Induction development plan : Specifically for new employees, this plan accelerates their integration into the company by focusing on both job-specific skills and broader company culture and values.

7. Succession planning : Specifically designed for potential future leaders, this plan prepares employees to fill key leadership roles as they become available.

What is a good development plan for an employee? ‍

A good development plan for an employee is a strategic document that:

• Is specific : Clearly defines what the employee aims to achieve, whether it's learning new skills, taking on more responsibility, or advancing to a higher role and exploring leadership abilities.
• Is measurable : Outlines clear metrics or benchmarks to measure progress.
• Is actionable : Lists tangible steps or actions the employee will take.
• Is realistic : Considers the employee's current skills, workload, and external factors, ensuring that the goals are attainable within the given time frame.
• Is time-bound : Sets a clear timeline for each objective and the overall plan.
• Addresses both strengths and weaknesses : While it's crucial to improve areas of weakness, leveraging and expanding upon employee strengths can be equally beneficial.
• Is aligned with organizational goals : Ensures that your people's personal progress contributes to the larger objectives of the company and organizational performance.
• Provides resources : Identifies necessary resources like courses, mentors, books, or workshops that will facilitate growth.

What are the five components of a development plan?

- Self-assessment : This is the starting point where employees assess their current skills, strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations. It helps in identifying gaps and areas of growth.

- Clear growth objectives : These are specific, measurable goals that the employee aims to achieve through the development plan. Objectives give direction and purpose to the plan.

- Action steps and strategies : For each objective, there should be a set of clear, actionable steps that detail how the employee will achieve it. This could involve training sessions, mentorship, or taking on new responsibilities.

- Resources and support : This component outlines what resources (like courses, books, or tools) will help the employee achieve their development and career goals. It also identifies any support they might require, be it in the form of mentoring, coaching, or feedback.

- Timeline and review mechanism : This sets a clear timeframe for achieving each objective and establishes regular check-ins to review progress, make adjustments, and provide feedback. It ensures accountability and keeps the development plan on track.

What does a performance development plan look like? ‍

A performance development plan typically consists of the following elements:

• Objective : A clear statement of the performance goal or improvement area.
• Current performance : A summary of the employee's current performance or current skills.
• Desired performance : A description of the expected level of performance or specific skills after the plan is completed.
• Action items (actionable steps) : A list of specific actions the employee will take to bridge the gap between current and desired performance.
• Resources : Tools, training, or other resources (e.g. articles, webinars, animated flipbooks , shadowing) needed to complete each action step.
• Timeline : A schedule indicating when each action step should be completed.
• Feedback and monitoring : Details on how progress will be monitored and who will provide feedback.
• Evaluation : Criteria or measures to assess the success of the plan upon completion.

What is a development action plan? ‍

A development action plan is a structured document or tool that outlines an individual's goals for professional growth and the specific steps or actions they need to take to achieve those goals. It typically includes a timeline, resources required, potential challenges, and measurable outcomes to evaluate progress.

How do you write a development action plan? ‍

To write a development action:

1. Clearly define the desired outcome or skill to be developed.

2. Break down the larger goal into smaller, actionable steps.

3. Identify the resources or tools needed (e.g., training programs, mentorship, books).

4. Set a realistic timeline for completing each action step.

5. Determine how progress will be measured or evaluated.

6. Regularly review and adjust the action as necessary based on feedback and results.

Lorelei is Zavvy's Content Marketing Manager. She is always on the hunt for the latest HR trends, fresh statistics, and academic and real-life best practices to spread the word about creating better employee experiences.

Als Nächstes lesen

• Book a Speaker

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus convallis sem tellus, vitae egestas felis vestibule ut.

Error message details.

Reuse Permissions

Request permission to republish or redistribute SHRM content and materials.

How HR Professionals Can Use an Individual Development Plan

A detailed professional development plan can help HR practitioners grow in their careers.

Human resource professionals know how to pair people with jobs that match their skills and aspirations. But HR practitioners who are not as dutiful about mapping their own career paths may be missing opportunities to help themselves advance.

An individual development plan—commonly known as an IDP—can be a helpful tool for keeping your professional growth on track.

“Even if you’re in the right job at the right company, you’re probably hoping to grow,” says Mark Herschberg, author of The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You (Cognosco Media, 2020) and co-founder of a career development program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “You’ll need a plan to do that.”

The first step in creating an IDP typically involves completing a questionnaire that asks about your career goals, including how and when you plan to meet them. You also may be asked to identify your professional weaknesses and commit to taking specific steps for overcoming them. Generic IDP templates are widely available for free online, including on shrm.org/IDPform. You can also find them in most career planning guides.

There are no right or wrong answers when completing an IDP questionnaire. But experts agree that for the process to be effective, your responses must be honest and realistic. And regular follow-up—to ensure you’re meeting your short-term goals and that they remain relevant to your long-term plan—is key.

Here’s how HR professionals can get the most out of the IDP process.

Keep Leadership Requirements Top of Mind

Focus your IDP on honing the skills that all HR leaders need, says Bradford Frank, a Philadelphia-based partner with recruiting firm Korn Ferry who specializes in placing HR executives. These include:

• Building partnerships with departments outside of HR.
• Translating business strategy to people strategy.
• Understanding the nuances of the full breadth of HR disciplines.
• Cultivating cultural awareness, especially if you’re interested in working in a large, global organization.

Close Skills Gaps

Compare your current skills with those you will need to meet your long-term career objectives, Frank advises. Then establish short- and medium-term goals that involve working on projects or taking other steps that will help fill your skills gaps. For example, consider shadowing colleagues in different HR disciplines, attending meetings in other departments to learn their part of the business or even taking on a new job within your organization.

To enhance your knowledge of how business is handled outside the U.S., look for opportunities to work abroad or with colleagues in other countries, advises Kate Zimberg, vice president for employee experience and enablement at F5 Networks, a Seattle-based technology company.

Zimberg aspires to be a chief people officer and has been seeking ways to increase her knowledge of other cultures to prepare herself for such a role. Although the pandemic has curtailed opportunities for international travel, she holds informational meetings over the phone and via Zoom with her company’s HR departments in India, Singapore and England.

“It’s so important to learn what others are working on,” she says. “I ask for invitations where I can learn and listen. When travel opens up, I will go abroad.” 

Look for Training Opportunities

If you need an additional credential or degree to move forward, use your IDP to set goals related to selecting the most appropriate program, making arrangements to fit classes into your schedule and financing the training if your employer won’t cover the full cost.

Be creative about where and how you receive your training. Community colleges, professional associations such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and online platforms like Coursera are obvious choices, but there are countless others. For example, Washington, D.C.-based HR consultant Jocelyn King, SHRM-SCP, says when she was an HR director for a tech firm, she tapped the company’s outside legal counsel to design a class addressing her organization’s specific labor relations challenges.

Training doesn’t have to be conducted in the classroom or even on the job. Andrew Marcotte, SHRM-SCP, an HR manager for Blain’s Farm and Fleet, a regional chain of 44 retail stores in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, says he expanded his professional skills by volunteering with SHRM and its affiliates. As president of the Blackhawk Human Resource Association in southern Wisconsin, Marcotte has been able to practice public speaking, negotiate contracts and manage a relationship with a technology vendor. He also participates in SHRM-sponsored employer education initiatives where he provides guidance to companies considering hiring veterans, people with criminal records and people with disabilities. In the process, Marcotte says, he strengthens his own understanding of recruitment strategies.

Get Feedback

Some people view the process of creating an individual development plan as a personal matter and prefer to work through it on their own. But don’t underestimate the value of a second opinion when assessing your strengths and weaknesses or for pointing you toward advancement opportunities.

Schyler Houck, corporate director of HR and labor relations for Saratoga Casino and Hotel in Saratoga, N.Y., says he sought advice from executives within and outside his company to identify projects that would help build the skills he needs to be a viable candidate for a chief human resource officer post. Following the guidance of one of his advisors, Houck volunteered to help build an employee skills database for the hotel. Participating in the project sharpened his technical and analytic skills and gave him the chance to prove his ability to link a business need with an HR strategy, he says.

Following the advice of his mentor, Marcotte uses his individual development plan to focus on goals that offer a direct and quantifiable benefit to his company, such as developing his organization’s recruitment and retention strategy. The mentor also provides him with honest advice on the areas in which he needs to improve. “We’ve had some tough conversations,” Marcotte says, “but that’s an important part of learning.”  

Rita Zeidner is a freelance writer in Falls Church, Va.

Illustration by Visual Generation/iStock: Grivina.

When Setting Goals, Think Beyond the Job

Aligning your career objectives with your organization’s needs is, of course, the most reliable way to get management support for your individual development plan (IDP). But don’t limit the objectives to skills you want to develop or positions you want to land, advises career development expert Mark Herschberg. Goals that reflect your interests, strengths, preferred location and desired schedule are key to your overall job satisfaction and should be part of your IDP, he says.

There also is something to be said for sharing your personal and lifestyle goals with your employer—even if there’s no obvious match with your organization’s business strategy. If your organization is interested in keeping you on board, management might just find a way to help you get what you want, Herschberg says.

To make his point, he uses the example of an employee who is willing to give up a pay raise in exchange for scheduling flexibility. “It doesn’t mean an employer can or should try to meet the need of the employee,” Herschberg says. “But the more information the employer has, the more the employer can potentially help.” —R.Z.

Related Content

A 4-Day Workweek? AI-Fueled Efficiencies Could Make It Happen

The proliferation of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and the ensuing expected increase in productivity and efficiency, could help usher in the four-day workweek, some experts predict.

How One Company Uses Digital Tools to Boost Employee Well-Being

Learn how Marsh McLennan successfully boosts staff well-being with digital tools, improving productivity and work satisfaction for more than 20,000 employees.

Advertisement

Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace

​An organization run by AI is not a futuristic concept. Such technology is already a part of many workplaces and will continue to shape the labor market and HR. Here's how employers and employees can successfully manage generative AI and other AI-powered systems.

HR Daily Newsletter

New, trends and analysis, as well as breaking news alerts, to help HR professionals do their jobs better each business day.

Success title

Success caption

Individual development plan examples: How to craft a roadmap to success

Navigating the intricate landscape of personal and professional growth, an individual development plan template (IDP) emerges as a strategic compass for individuals across various industries.

This comprehensive guide unveils the essence of individual development plan , transcending industries, by delving into their significance, crafting personalized examples, and illuminating their impact.

From hospitality to engineering, this guide offers a roadmap for individuals to chart their unique journeys toward mastery, a leadership position, and fulfillment. With a wealth of examples tailored to different sectors, this guide unlocks the door to transformative growth and success.

What is an individual development plan?

An Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a comprehensive document that outlines an individual's professional goals, strengths, areas for improvement, and the strategies they will undertake to achieve career growth and skill enhancement .

It serves as a roadmap for personal and professional development, helping individuals align their aspirations with the organization's goals. IDPs typically include a self-assessment, a list of short-term and long-term goals, action steps, timelines, resources required, and methods for tracking progress.

These plans are often created collaboratively between employees and their managers , ensuring that both parties are invested in the individual's growth journey. IDPs are essential tools for fostering continuous learning, skill development, and career advancement within the organization.

Benefits of creating an individual development plan

Creating an individual development plan (IDP) offers a range of benefits that contribute to an individual's personal and professional growth, as well as the overall success of the organization. These benefits include:

• Clear goals and direction : An IDP helps individuals define clear goals and objectives, providing a roadmap for their career and personal development journey .
• Focused skill development: IDPs identify areas for improvement, enabling individuals to focus on developing specific skills and competencies.
• Alignment with organizational goals: When IDPs are aligned with organizational objectives, employees' growth contributes to the company's success , fostering a win-win scenario.
• Enhanced performance: As individuals develop skills and knowledge, their performance improves, leading to increased productivity and contributions to the organization.
• Increased motivation: Setting and achieving goals outlined in an IDP boosts individuals' motivation, job satisfaction, and overall engagement .
• Support for learning: IDPs encourage continuous learning and self-directed development, empowering individuals to seek out relevant training and education .
• Effective career planning: IDPs provide a structured approach to career advancement, helping employees envision their desired career trajectory and plan accordingly.
• Structured feedback: Regularly reviewing and updating IDPs facilitates ongoing conversations between employees and managers, fostering open communication .
• Talent retention: Organizations that invest in employees' growth through IDPs are more likely to retain top talent , reducing turnover rates.
• Succession planning: IDPs identify potential future leaders , aiding succession planning by grooming employees for higher responsibilities.
• Personal fulfillment: Accomplishing goals outlined in an IDP goals contribute to personal fulfillment, as individuals see tangible progress in their development.
• Customized development: IDPs are tailored to each individual's strengths, aspirations, and learning styles, promoting personalized growth strategies.
• Organizational agility: Employees with diverse skills acquired through IDPs contribute to an agile organization prepared for dynamic challenges .
• Better resource allocation: By understanding employees' development needs through IDPs, organizations can allocate resources more effectively to areas where they will have the most impact.
• Enhanced team collaboration: As individuals develop a broader skill set and a deeper understanding of their roles, team collaboration and efficiency are improved.
• Employee empowerment: IDPs empower employees to take charge of their own development, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability for their growth.
• Improved work-life balance: IDPs can help individuals set realistic and balanced goals, leading to better management of work and personal life commitments .

Individual development plans offer a structured and strategic approach to personal and professional growth. They empower individuals to take ownership of their development while benefiting the organization by fostering a skilled, motivated, and engaged workforce .

What are the 5 areas of a personal development plan?

A comprehensive personal development plan encompasses various areas that contribute to an individual's holistic growth. While the specific areas may vary based on individual goals and circumstances, the following five key areas are commonly addressed in a personal development plan:

Professional skills

This area focuses on enhancing job-specific skills and competencies required for current and future roles. It includes technical expertise, industry knowledge, and certifications. These skills form the foundation on which your career growth stands, ensuring you remain not just relevant but indispensable in your field.

Personal skills

Personal skills encompass soft skills like communication , time management, problem-solving, and adaptability, which are crucial for effective interpersonal interactions and career success. These skills are the adhesive that holds your career together, fostering meaningful connections and paving the way for lasting success.

Leadership and management skills

Developing leadership qualities , such as decision-making, team management, and strategic thinking, prepares individuals for leadership roles and fosters their ability to guide others. Strategic thinking elevates your ability to see the bigger picture and plan for the long term. These skills not only prepare you for leadership roles but also shape you into a mentor and guide for your peers, propelling your career to new heights.

Personal well-being

This area emphasizes physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It includes practices like exercise, stress management, mindfulness, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance . Well-being isn't just a checkbox on your development plan; it's the fuel that keeps your career engine running smoothly, enabling you to thrive in all aspects of life.

Career development

This aspect involves setting clear career goals, identifying growth opportunities, networking , and planning steps to advance in one's chosen career path. This aspect of your personal development plan is your roadmap to success, ensuring you not only reach your desired career destination but also excel beyond your own expectations.

These areas collectively ensure a balanced approach to personal development, nurturing a well-rounded individual capable of excelling both professionally and personally.

What are the 6 components of personal development plan?

A well-structured personal development plan (PDP) is like a roadmap to self-improvement and success. To craft an effective PDP, you need to consider six key components:

• Clear goals: Start by defining your objectives. What do you want to achieve personally and professionally? Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Clarity here is crucial; it's your destination on the map.
• Self-assessment: Take a good, honest look at yourself. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What skills or knowledge do you lack? Self-awareness is the compass that helps you navigate your development journey.
• Actionable plans: Once you know your goals and where you stand, outline the steps you need to take. Break down your goals into smaller, manageable tasks. These are the roads you'll travel to reach your destination.
• Resources: Identify the resources you'll need. This could include books, courses, workshops, mentors, or online tools. Resources are like the fuel that powers your journey; make sure you have enough to reach your goals.
• Timelines: Assign realistic timelines to your goals and action steps. A timeline acts as your schedule, ensuring you're on track and not wandering aimlessly.
• Monitoring and evaluation: Regularly review your progress. Are you moving in the right direction? Are you achieving your milestones? Adjust your plan as needed; it's like recalculating your route when you encounter roadblocks.

Individual development plan examples for managers

Individual development plans for managers are essential tools for nurturing leadership potential and ensuring that they continue to excel in their roles. Here are some tailored examples to guide managers on their development journey:

Enhancing leadership skills

A key goal for managers is to strengthen their leadership abilities. This might involve attending leadership workshops, seeking executive coaching, or participating in leadership development programs. The aim is to become an inspirational and effective leader who can guide and motivate their teams to success.

Strategic thinking

For managers responsible for decision-making and long-term planning, developing strategic thinking skills is paramount. They can achieve this by engaging in strategic planning sessions, collaborating with senior leadership , and studying industry trends to make informed decisions that drive the organization forward.

Team building and management

Fostering a high-performing team is a critical aspect of a manager's role. Managers can work on their team-building skills by attending team-building workshops, learning about effective communication, and studying team dynamics to create a cohesive and productive workforce.

Conflict resolution

Handling conflicts within a team is another important managerial skill. Managers can focus on conflict resolution through conflict management training, mediating disputes, and learning techniques to foster healthy workplace relationships.

Time management

Managers often juggle numerous responsibilities. Improving time management skills can help them become more efficient and effective. This can involve time management courses, using productivity tools, and setting clear priorities to meet deadlines and achieve goals.

Mentoring and coaching

Managers can develop their mentoring and coaching abilities by actively mentoring junior staff, providing constructive feedback, and staying updated on coaching techniques. This helps them nurture the growth of their team members.

Stakeholder engagement

Building strong relationships with stakeholders, both internal and external, is vital. Managers can enhance their stakeholder engagement skills by networking, attending industry conferences, and developing strategies for effective stakeholder communication.

Emotional intelligence

Developing emotional intelligence is crucial for managers to effectively lead their teams. This includes understanding and managing their own emotions, as well as empathizing with their team members. Managers can enhance this skill through emotional intelligence workshops, reading relevant literature, and practicing mindfulness techniques .

Innovation and creativity

Encouraging innovation and creativity within the team can lead to significant improvements and competitive advantages. Managers can foster these skills by participating in innovation workshops, learning about creative problem-solving techniques , and creating an environment that supports new ideas and experimentation.

Individual development plan examples for employees

Here are some practical examples to inspire and guide employees on their development journey:

Technical skill enhancement

Employees can focus on improving their technical skills relevant to their roles. This might involve attending specialized training sessions, enrolling in online courses, or seeking certification in specific software or tools. By becoming experts in their fields, they contribute more effectively to their teams and the organization.

Leadership aspirations

For employees aspiring to leadership roles, IDPs can include leadership development activities. They can participate in leadership workshops, join cross-functional projects to gain management experience , or take on mentorship roles to build their leadership skills.

Communication and presentation skills

Effective communication is essential in any job. Employees can work on their communication and presentation skills through courses, public speaking opportunities, or even joining a Toastmasters club. Strong communication skills enhance their ability to convey ideas and collaborate with others.

Time management and productivity

Many employees struggle with managing their time efficiently. An IDP can include time management training, using productivity apps, or learning organization techniques. Improved time management leads to increased productivity and reduced stress.

Project management mastery

Employees involved in project-based roles can focus on project management skills. They can attend project management courses, become certified in project management methodologies, and practice project planning and execution.

Cross-functional knowledge

Encouraging employees to broaden their understanding of other departments can be beneficial. This can involve cross-functional training, attending meetings in different departments, or collaborating on projects outside their usual scope.

Networking and relationship-building

Building a professional network is vital for career growth. Employees can set goals to attend industry events, join professional associations, and engage in networking opportunities. Strong professional relationships can open doors to new opportunities.

Work-life balance

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is crucial for employee well-being. IDPs can include actions such as setting boundaries, time management for personal life, and practicing self-care to ensure employees maintain a balance that prevents burnout.

Diversity and inclusion

In today's diverse workplaces, understanding and promoting diversity and inclusion is vital. Employees can seek out diversity training, participate in inclusion initiatives, and actively contribute to a more inclusive work environment.

How do you write an individual development plan for your employees?

Writing an effective individual development plan (IDP) for your employees involves a structured and collaborative approach. Follow these steps to create a well-crafted IDP:

• Identify development areas: Based on the employee's self-assessment and feedback from managers and peers, pinpoint the specific skills, knowledge, and competencies to be developed.
• Outline action steps: Break down each goal into actionable steps or tasks that will lead to its achievement. These steps should be specific, tangible, and sequential.
• Allocate resources: Determine the resources required for development, such as training programs, workshops, courses, mentoring , or job rotations.
• Create a development plan: Summarize the goals, action steps, resources, and timelines in a structured document. Use a format that's easy to understand and refer back to.
• Identify support: Specify who will provide support or mentorship during the development process. This could include managers, colleagues, or external mentors.
• Measure and evaluate: Regularly assess the employee's progress and the impact of the development plan on their performance and growth.
• Celebrate achievements: Celebrate milestones and achievements to keep the employee motivated and reinforce the value of their efforts.
• Adaptability: Be open to adjusting the plan based on changing circumstances, new opportunities, or evolving goals.
• Encourage self-reflection: Encourage employees to reflect on their learning journey, noting what worked well, the challenges faced, and how they've grown.
• Document growth: Maintain records of completed training, achieved milestones, and new skills acquired, which can be valuable for performance evaluations and career discussions.
• Continual improvement: Use the feedback from the employee and their experiences to improve the IDP process for future iterations.

Remember, an effective IDP should be flexible, adaptive, and supportive of the employee's growth journey within the organization.

Why implementing an individual plan is both a manager's and HRs responsibility?

Implementing an individual development plan (IDP) is a shared responsibility between managers and the HR department due to its comprehensive impact on employee growth and organizational success. Here's why both parties play crucial roles in this process:

Manager's Responsibility:

Direct supervision.

Managers have direct insight into their team members' strengths, weaknesses, and performance. This knowledge helps tailor IDPs to individual needs.

Goal alignment

Managers align IDPs with the organization's goals and the team's objectives, ensuring that employees' development contributes to the team's success.

Guidance and support

Managers provide guidance on setting realistic goals, suggest suitable development opportunities, and offer feedback as employees progress .

They offer constructive feedback to employees , helping them understand areas for improvement and offering insights for skill enhancement.

Accountability

Managers monitor employees' progress , ensuring that action steps are being followed and milestones are achieved as outlined in the IDP.

Managers recognize and celebrate employees' achievements and growth, motivating them to continue their development journey.

Individualized coaching

Managers take on the role of coaches, providing one-on-one support tailored to each employee's needs. This involves regular check-ins and personalized development plans that consider an employee's unique aspirations and challenges.

Identifying stretch opportunities

Managers actively seek out opportunities for employees to stretch their capabilities and take on challenging assignments. Encouraging employees to step out of their comfort zones fosters growth and resilience.

Skill transfer and knowledge sharing

Managers promote a culture of knowledge sharing within their teams. They encourage employees to share their expertise and mentor each other, creating a collaborative learning environment.

Succession planning

Managers play a pivotal role in succession planning. They identify high-potential employees, groom them for leadership roles , and ensure a smooth transition when vacancies arise.

HR's Responsibility:

Framework creation.

HR establishes a structured framework for creating, tracking, and evaluating IDPs across the organization. This ensures consistency and fairness.

Resource provision

HR identifies and provides access to various development resources, including training programs, workshops, and mentoring opportunities .

Skill assessments

They facilitate skills assessments and competency evaluations that inform the development areas to be included in IDPs.

Development opportunities

HR identifies potential growth opportunities within the organization, allowing employees to explore diverse career paths.

Employee alignment

HR ensures that IDPs align with the company's overall talent management strategy, fostering a cohesive approach to employee growth .

Measurement and reporting

They measure the impact of IDPs on employee performance and the organization's success, offering insights for improvement.

Continuous improvement

HR gathers feedback from both managers and employees to refine the IDP process, ensuring its effectiveness over time.

Legal compliance

Ensuring that IDPs comply with relevant labor laws and regulations is a vital HR responsibility. They stay updated on legal requirements and ensure that IDPs don't inadvertently violate any employment laws.

HR takes a proactive role in promoting diversity and inclusion within IDPs. They work to ensure that development opportunities are equitable and accessible to employees from diverse backgrounds , fostering a more inclusive workplace culture.

Data security

As IDPs often contain sensitive employee information, HR is responsible for maintaining data security. They implement measures to protect employee privacy and data integrity, ensuring that confidential information remains confidential.

Technology integration

HR leverages technology to streamline the IDP process, making it more efficient and user-friendly. They ensure that digital tools for creating, tracking, and reporting on IDPs are integrated seamlessly into the organization's HR systems.

Collaboration between managers and HR is essential for successful IDP implementation. While managers provide personalized guidance and support, HR ensures a structured framework and availability of resources. This joint effort fosters a culture of development, engagement, and continuous improvement , benefiting both employees and the organization as a whole.

How to set goals for your individual development plan?

Setting goals for your individual development plan (IDP) involves a strategic and thoughtful approach. Follow these steps to establish effective and achievable goals:

• Self-assessment: Reflect on your current skills, strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Consider feedback from colleagues, managers, and any previous performance evaluations.
• Define clear objectives: Clearly define what you want to achieve through your IDP. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound ( SMART ).
• Prioritize: Determine which skills or areas need immediate attention and which ones can be developed over a longer period. Focus on a manageable number of goals to avoid overwhelm.
• Quantify measurable goals: Use metrics or criteria to measure progress . For example, if your goal is to improve public speaking, set a target number of presentations to give within a certain timeframe.
• Research and resources: Identify the resources needed to achieve each goal. This could include workshops, courses, books, mentors, or online resources.
• Flexibility: Keep your goals flexible. Circumstances change, and you may need to adjust your goals based on new opportunities or challenges.
• Balance: Ensure a balanced mix of short-term and long-term goals, as well as goals that focus on both professional and personal development.
• Feedback: Seek input from your manager, colleagues, or mentors when setting goals. They can provide valuable insights and help refine your objectives.
• Regular review: Regularly review and update your goals. This helps track progress, make adjustments as needed, and stay aligned with your evolving aspirations.
• Celebrate milestones: Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements along the way. Recognizing progress boosts motivation and keeps you engaged in the development process.
• Leverage SWOT analysis: Conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to gain deeper insights into your personal and professional landscape.
• Set long-term vision: While focusing on immediate goals, also establish a long-term vision for your personal development. Having a clear destination in mind can guide your short-term objectives and provide a sense of purpose.
• Incorporate learning styles: Consider your preferred learning style (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) when planning your development.
• Embrace adaptability: Embrace adaptability as a goal itself. The ability to adapt to new technologies, industries, or job roles is a valuable skill in today's rapidly changing world.
• Networking and collaboration: Include goals related to expanding your professional network and collaboration skills.

How to implement development plans?

Implementing professional and personal development plans in the workplace is crucial for fostering employee growth and achieving organizational goals. Here's a practical guide on how to make it happen:

• Needs assessment: Begin by identifying the specific development needs of your employees. Conduct regular performance reviews, gather feedback, and assess skills gaps. This will form the basis of your individual development planning.
• Set clear objectives: Once you've development identified the needs, set clear and measurable objectives. Ensure they align with the individual's career goals and the company's strategic objectives. These objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).
• Resource allocation: Allocate the necessary resources for development. This includes budgeting for training programs, workshops, mentoring, and access to relevant tools and technologies.
• Development activities: Encourage employees to engage in development activities. This may involve attending workshops, taking online courses, participating in cross-functional projects, or seeking mentorship from experienced colleagues.
• Regular feedback: Provide ongoing feedback and support. Regular check-ins with managers or mentors can help employees stay on track and make necessary adjustments to their development plans.
• Measure progress: Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress. Monitor skill improvements, project outcomes, and the impact of development activities on individual and team performance.
• Recognition and rewards: Recognize and reward achievements along the way. Celebrate milestones and showcase success stories to motivate others and reinforce the importance of development.

How to craft individual development plan template for employees, managers, & senior leadership?

Crafting individual development plan (IDP) examples for employees, managers, and senior leadership requires a strategic approach that aligns with their unique responsibilities and career trajectories. Here's how to create effective IDP examples for this group:

• Needs assessment: Start by assessing the specific needs of managers and senior leaders. Consider their current roles, skills, and areas for growth.
• Alignment with organizational goals: Ensure that the IDP examples align with both the individual's career aspirations and the organization's strategic objectives.
• Leadership competencies: Focus on leadership competencies such as strategic thinking, decision-making, communication , and team development. Tailor goals to enhance these skills.
• 360-degree feedback: Gather feedback from colleagues, subordinates, and superiors to identify areas for improvement and strengths to leverage.
• Long-term vision: Help managers and senior leaders align their IDPs with long-term career visions, considering potential leadership roles and responsibilities.
• Executive coaching: Offer executive coaching or mentoring to support their development. Include goals related to improving coaching or mentoring skills if applicable.
• Change management: If their roles involve leading through change, incorporate goals related to change management strategies and techniques.
• Innovation and strategy: Focus on fostering innovation, creating strategic plans, and identifying opportunities for organizational growth.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Set goals that encourage collaboration across different departments or functions, enhancing their ability to lead multidisciplinary teams.
• Performance metrics: Quantify goals where possible. For example, increasing employee engagement scores or achieving specific revenue targets.
• Crisis management: Develop skills in crisis management and decision-making under pressure, considering their roles in guiding the organization during challenging times.
• Ethical leadership: Include goals related to promoting ethical conduct, fostering a positive organizational culture , and leading by example.

Remember, IDPs for managers and senior leaders should be forward-thinking, challenging them to expand their skill sets, embrace innovation, and navigate complex leadership scenarios .

Individual development plan examples for various industries

Explore diverse individual development plan (IDP) examples tailored to various industries. From tech to healthcare, these IDPs illustrate how professionals can enhance skills, achieve goals, and thrive in their specific fields.

Individual development plan examples for engineers

1. Technical skill advancement:

• Goal: Master [specific technology/tool] within [timeline].
• Action: Enroll in relevant courses, and apply skills to projects.

2. Leadership readiness:

• Goal: Develop leadership qualities.
• Action: Attend leadership workshops and mentor junior engineers.

3. Certification attainment:

• Goal: Obtain [industry certification].
• Action: Study, take preparation courses, and schedule exams.

4. Cross-functional exposure:

• Goal: Gain insight into [related domain].
• Action: Collaborate , attend cross-functional meetings.

5. Innovation contribution:

• Goal: Propose innovative solutions.
• Action: Engage in R&D projects, and submit patents.

Individual development plan examples for pharma employees

1. Regulatory compliance expertise:

• Goal: Master regulations like FDA guidelines within [timeline].
• Action: Attend regulatory workshops, analyze case studies , and contribute to compliance projects.

2. Clinical trial management:

• Goal: Develop proficiency in managing clinical trials.
• Action: Participate in trial coordination, learn data analysis tools, and collaborate with clinical teams.

3. Pharmacovigilance skills:

• Goal: Enhance adverse event reporting and monitoring capabilities.
• Action: Attend pharmacovigilance seminars, analyze real-world data, and contribute to safety assessments.

4. Cross-functional collaboration:

• Goal: Foster collaboration with R&D, production, and marketing teams.
• Action: Join cross-functional projects, engage in knowledge-sharing sessions, and attend inter-departmental meetings.

5. GMP and quality assurance:

• Goal: Become a quality assurance expert aligned with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
• Action Steps: Attend GMP training, participate in quality audits, and contribute to process improvement initiatives.

Individual development plan examples for finance professionals

1. Financial modeling expertise:

• Goal: Enhance proficiency in financial modeling for more accurate forecasting.
• Action: Enroll in advanced Excel courses, practice modeling complex scenarios, and participate in case study workshops.

2. Strategic financial planning:

• Goal: Develop strategic planning skills to contribute to long-term financial strategies.
• Action: Attend strategic finance seminars, collaborate with strategy teams, and analyze industry trends for informed decision-making.
• Goal: Obtain [specific finance-related certification] to elevate professional credentials.
• Action: Study rigorously, attend certification review sessions, and schedule the exam within [timeline].

4. Risk management proficiency:

• Goal: Strengthen risk assessment skills to minimize financial vulnerabilities.
• Action: Attend risk management seminars, analyze historical data for risk patterns, and propose mitigation strategies.

5. Leadership in finance teams:

• Goal: Cultivate leadership qualities for effective management within the finance department .
• Action: Engage in leadership workshops, mentor junior team members, and initiate process improvement projects.

Individual development plan examples for supply chain employees

1. Supplier Relationship Management:

• Goal: Enhance supplier collaboration and negotiation skills.
• Action: Attend supplier management workshops , engage in cross-functional collaboration, and lead vendor evaluation projects.

2. Process Optimization:

• Goal: Streamline supply chain processes for efficiency.
• Action: Enroll in process improvement courses, map out current processes, and implement Lean principles.

3. Inventory Management Proficiency:

• Goal: Develop expertise in optimizing inventory levels.
• Action: Take advanced inventory management courses, analyze historical data, and implement demand forecasting techniques.

4. Global Supply Chain Understanding:

• Goal: Gain insights into global supply chain dynamics.
• Action: Participate in international trade seminars, collaborate with overseas teams, and understand regional regulations.

5. Supply Chain Analytics:

• Goal: Improve decision-making through data-driven insights.
• Action: Learn data analytics tools, work on supply chain data projects, and present findings to management.

Individual development plan examples for hospitality industry employees

1. Customer Service Excellence:

• Goal: Elevate customer satisfaction by mastering guest interactions and problem-solving.
• Action: Attend customer service workshops, role-play scenarios, and seek feedback from supervisors.

2. Multilingual Proficiency:

• Goal: Enhance guest experience by learning [specific language] to communicate with a diverse clientele.
• Action: Enroll in language classes, practice with colleagues, and interact with guests in the target language.

3. Upselling Skills:

• Goal: Boost revenue by becoming proficient in upselling techniques and personalized recommendations.
• Action: Attend upselling training, create upsell strategies, and track successful upsell transactions.

4. Leadership Readiness:

• Goal: Prepare for supervisory roles by developing leadership and team management skills.
• Action: Participate in leadership courses, mentor junior staff, and seek guidance from experienced managers .

5. Crisis Management:

• Goal: Enhance preparedness by training for effective crisis response and guest safety protocols.
• Action: Engage in crisis management drills, study emergency procedures, and participate in safety audits.

Individual development plan examples for healthcare professionals

1. Clinical skill enhancement:

• Goal: Improve proficiency in [specific clinical procedure or technology].
• Action: Attend relevant workshops, engage in hands-on practice , and seek mentorship from experienced colleagues.

2. Patient communication:

• Goal: Enhance patient communication and interpersonal skills.
• Action: Participate in communication skills training, role-play scenarios with peers, and gather feedback from patients.
• Goal: Obtain [specific healthcare certification].
• Action: Enroll in preparatory courses, study diligently, and schedule the certification exam within [timeline].

4. Research and evidence-based practice:

• Goal: Contribute to and apply evidence-based research in clinical practice.
• Action: Attend research seminars, participate in clinical studies, and review current literature.

5. Leadership development:

• Goal: Develop leadership capabilities for potential managerial roles.
• Action: Engage in leadership training , take on supervisory responsibilities, and seek mentorship from senior leaders.

Individual development plan examples for IT professionals

1. Programming skill advancement:

• Goal: Master [specific programming language or framework].
• Action: Take online courses, work on relevant projects, and participate in coding challenges.

2. Cybersecurity expertise:

• Goal: Enhance skills in cybersecurity to protect organizational data.
• Action: Enroll in cybersecurity courses, participate in threat simulations, and stay updated on security trends.

3. Cloud computing proficiency:

• Goal: Gain expertise in cloud computing platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Action: Attend cloud computing workshops, obtain certifications, and work on cloud-based projects.

4. Project management:

• Goal: Develop project management skills to lead IT projects effectively.
• Action: Take project management courses, earn a PMP certification, and manage small projects to gain experience.

5. Innovation and technology integration:

• Goal: Foster innovation and integrate new technologies into existing systems.
• Action: Participate in innovation workshops, stay current with emerging technologies, and pilot new solutions within the organization.

Role of an employee development program in implementing an individual development plan for your employees

An employee development program plays a pivotal role in successfully implementing individual development plans (IDPs). It provides a structured framework for employees to access resources, training, and opportunities aligned with their IDP goals. These programs offer tailored workshops, courses, and mentorship, fostering skill enhancement and career growth.

By aligning IDPs with the organization's development initiatives, employees receive the necessary support, ensuring their aspirations align with business objectives. Employee development programs create a culture of continuous learning, boosting engagement, job satisfaction, and overall organizational success.

In essence, an Individual Development Plan (IDP) serves as a personalized roadmap for growth, regardless of industry. With strategic goal-setting, tailored actions, and ongoing reflection, individuals can harness their potential, cultivating skills that enrich both their careers and their industries at large.

What are some individual development plan examples for managers?

Managers often focus on leadership development, strategic thinking, and team management. For example, a manager's individual development plan may include goals like enhancing leadership skills through workshops, participating in strategic planning sessions, and mentoring junior team members to foster leadership qualities. These plans aim to prepare managers for broader responsibilities within the organization.

Can you provide individual development plan examples for employees in the workplace?

Certainly! Employees can have diverse development goals. For instance, an employee may aim to improve technical skills by enrolling in relevant courses, enhance communication abilities through public speaking training, or build leadership qualities by joining cross-functional projects. These plans align individual aspirations with organizational objectives, fostering a motivated and skilled workforce.

What are the common components of an individual development plan in a professional setting?

A typical individual development plan includes clear goals, self-assessment, actionable plans, resource identification, timelines, and monitoring and evaluation. These components help individuals define their objectives, assess their current skills, outline steps to achieve their goals, identify the necessary resources, set realistic timelines, and regularly review and adapt their plans.

How do I create a personal development plan for my career?

To create a personal development plan, start by self-reflecting on your strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations. Set clear, SMART goals that align with your vision. Create actionable plans, identify resources, establish timelines, and regularly review your progress. Adapt your plan as needed to stay on track and achieve your career objectives. Seek guidance and feedback from mentors.

What are some real-life individual development plan samples for career growth?

Real-life individual development plan samples vary based on career goals. For instance, a sample for career or personal growth may include goals like obtaining relevant certifications, attending leadership training, and joining cross-functional projects . Another sample for skill enhancement may involve taking technical courses, seeking mentorship, and participating in industry conferences.

Kailash Ganesh

Kailash is a Product Marketer with 5+ years of experience. He loves story-telling in the simplest way possible and he is an avid reader, movie buff, and likes to travel new places to meet new people.

You might also like

How to approach employee engagement after layoffs: a complete guide.

From understanding the emotional aftermath to leveraging feedback for confident recovery, this guide transforms challenges into opportunities. Let's navigate this crucial phase together, shaping a workplace that thrives on resilience and collaboration.

Employee experience journey mapping - A complete guide

As a company leader or HR professional, it's essential to understand the employee journey and how it impacts the overall employee experience. Our complete guide to employee experience journey mapping covers everything from the benefits to the key stages and tips for creating an effective journey map

Book a free, no-obligation product demo call with our experts.

Business Email is a required field*

Too many attempts, please try again later!

How to Create a Personal Development Plan: 3 Examples

For successful change, it is vital that the client remains engaged, recognizing and identifying with the goals captured inside and outside sessions. A personal development plan (PDP) creates a focus for development while offering a guide for life and future success (Starr, 2021).

This article introduces and explores the value of personal development plans, offering tools, worksheets, and approaches to boost self-reflection and self-improvement.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

This Article Contains

What is personal development 7 theories, coaching in personal development and growth, how to create a personal development plan, 3 examples of personal development plans, defining goals and objectives: 10 tips and tools, fostering personal development skills, 3 inspiring books to read on the topic, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message, frequently asked questions.

Personal development is a fundamental concept in psychology and encompasses the lifelong process of self-improvement, self-awareness, and personal growth. Crucial to coaching and counseling, it aims to enhance various aspects of clients’ lives, including their emotional wellbeing, relationships, careers, and overall happiness (Cox, 2018; Starr, 2021).

Several psychological models underpin and support transformation. Together, they help us understand personal development in our clients and the mechanisms and approaches available to make positive life changes (Cox, 2018; Passmore, 2021).

The following psychological theories and frameworks underpin and influence the approach a mental health professional adopts.

1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

As a proponent of the humanistic or person-centered approach to helping people, Abraham Maslow (1970) suggested that individuals have a hierarchy of needs. Simply put, they begin with basic physiological and safety needs and progress through psychological and self-fulfillment needs.

Personal development is often found in or recognized by the pursuit of higher-level needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualization (Cox, 2018).

2. Erikson’s psychosocial development

Erik Erikson (1963) mapped out a series of eight psychosocial development stages that individuals go through across their lifespan.

Each one involves challenges and crises that once successfully navigated, contribute to personal growth and identity development.

3. Piaget’s cognitive development

The biologist and epistemologist Jean Piaget (1959) focused on cognitive development in children and how they construct their understanding of the world.

We can draw on insights from Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, including intellectual growth and adaptability, to inform our own and others’ personal development (Illeris, 2018).

4. Bandura’s social cognitive theory

Albert Bandura’s (1977) theory highlights the role of social learning and self-efficacy in personal development. It emphasizes that individuals can learn and grow through observation, imitation, and belief in their ability to effect change.

5. Self-determination theory

Ryan and Deci’s (2018) motivational self-determination theory recognizes the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in personal development.

Their approach suggests that individuals are more likely to experience growth and wellbeing when such basic psychological needs are met.

6. Positive psychology

Positive psychology , developed by Martin Seligman (2011) and others, focuses on strengths, wellbeing, and the pursuit of happiness.

Seligman’s PERMA model offers a framework for personal development that emphasizes identifying and using our strengths while cultivating positive emotions and experiences (Lomas et al., 2014).

7. Cognitive-Behavioral Theory (CBT)

Developed by Aaron Beck (Beck & Haigh, 2014) and Albert Ellis (2000), CBT explores the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

As such, the theory provides practical techniques for personal development, helping individuals identify and challenge negative thought patterns and behaviors (Beck, 2011).

Theories like the seven mentioned above offer valuable insights into many of the psychological processes underlying personal development. They provide a sound foundation for coaches and counselors to support their clients and help them better understand themselves, their motivations, and the paths they can take to foster positive change in their lives (Cox, 2018).

The client–coach relationship is significant to successful growth and goal achievement.

Typically, the coach will focus on the following (Cox, 2018):

• Actualizing tendency This supports a “universal human motivation resulting in growth, development and autonomy of the individual” (Cox, 2018, p. 53).
• Building a relationship facilitating change Trust clients to find their own way while displaying empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard . The coach’s “outward responses consistently match their inner feelings towards a client,” and they display a warm acceptance that they are being how they need to be (Passmore, 2021, p. 162).
• Adopting a positive psychological stance Recognize that the client has the potential and wish to become fully functioning (Cox, 2018).

Effective coaching for personal growth involves adopting and committing to a series of beliefs that remind the coach that the “coachee is responsible for the results they create” (Starr, 2021, p. 18) and help them recognize when they may be avoiding this idea.

The following principles are, therefore, helpful for coaching personal development and growth (Starr, 2021).

• Stay committed to supporting the client. While initially strong, you may experience factors that reduce your sense of support for the individual’s challenges.
• Coach nonjudgmentally. Our job is not to adopt a stance based on personal beliefs or judgment of others, but to help our clients form connections between behavior and results.
• Maintain integrity, openness, and trust. The client must feel safe in your company and freely able to express themselves.
• Responsibility does not equal blame. Clients who take on blame rather than responsibility will likely feel worse about something without acknowledging their influence on the situation.
• The client can achieve better results. The client is always capable of doing and achieving more, especially in relation to their goals.
• Focus on clients’ thoughts and experiences. Collaborative coaching is about supporting the growth and development of the client, getting them to where they want to go.
• Clients can arrive at perfect solutions. “As a coach, you win when someone else does” (Starr, 2021, p. 34). The solution needs to be the client’s, not yours.
• Coach as an equal partnership. Explore the way forward together collaboratively rather than from a parental or advisory perspective.

Creating a supportive and nonjudgmental environment helps clients explore their thoughts, feelings, and goals, creating an environment for personal development and flourishing (Passmore, 2021).

Download 3 Free Goals Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques for lasting behavior change.

Download 3 Free Goals Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

• Email Address *
• Your Expertise * Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other
• Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

A personal development plan is a powerful document “to create mutual clarity of the aims and focus of a coaching assignment” (Starr, 2021, p. 291). While it is valuable during coaching, it can also capture a client’s way forward once sessions have ended.

Crucially, it should have the following characteristics (Starr, 2021):

• Short and succinct
• Providing a quick reference or point of discussion
• Current and fresh, regularly revised and updated

Key elements of a personal development plan include the following (Starr, 2021):

• Area of development This is the general skill or competence to be worked on.
• Development objectives or goals What does the client want to do? Examples might include reducing stress levels, improving diet, or managing work–life balance .
• Behaviors to develop These comprise what the client will probably do more of when meeting their objectives, for example, practicing better coping mechanisms, eating more healthily, and better managing their day.
• Actions to create progress What must the client do to action their objectives? For example, arrange a date to meet with their manager, sign up for a fitness class, or meet with a nutritionist.
• Date to complete or review the objective Capture the dates for completing actions, meeting objectives, and checking progress.

Check out Lindsey Cooper’s excellent video for helpful guidance on action planning within personal development.

We can write and complete personal development plans in many ways. Ultimately, they should meet the needs of the client and leave them with a sense of connection to and ownership of their journey ahead (Starr, 2021).

• Personal Development Plan – Areas of Development In this PDP , we draw on guidance from Starr (2021) to capture development opportunities and the behaviors and actions needed to achieve them.
• Personal Development Plan – Opportunities for Development This template combines short- and long-term goal setting with a self-assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and development opportunities.
• Personal Development Plan – Ideal Self In this PDP template , we focus on our vision of how our ideal self looks and setting goals to get there.

“The setting of a goal becomes the catalyst that drives the remainder of the coaching conversation.”

Passmore, 2021, p. 80

Defining goals and objectives is crucial to many coaching conversations and is usually seen as essential for personal development.

Check out this video on how you can design your life with your personal goals in mind.

The following coaching templates are helpful, containing a series of questions to complete Whitmore’s (2009) GROW model :

• G stands for Goal : Where do you want to be?
• R stands for Reality : Where are you right now with this goal?
• O stands for Options : What are some options for reaching your goal?
• W stands for Way forward : What is your first step forward?

Goal setting creates both direction and motivation for clients to work toward achieving something and meeting their objectives (Passmore, 2021).

The SMART goal-setting framework is another popular tool inside coaching and elsewhere.

S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable/ or Agreed upon R = Realistic T = Timely – allowing enough time for achievement

The SMART+ Goals Worksheet contains a series of prompts and spaces for answers to define goals and capture the steps toward achieving them.

We can summarize the five principles of goal setting (Passmore, 2021) as follows:

• Goals must be clear and not open to interpretation.
• Goals should be stretching yet achievable.
• Clients must buy in to the goal from the outset.
• Feedback is essential to keep the client on track.
• Goals should be relatively straightforward. We can break down complex ones into manageable subgoals.

The following insightful articles are also helpful for setting and working toward goals.

• What Is Goal Setting and How to Do it Well
• The Science & Psychology of Goal-Setting 101

1. People skills

Improving how we work with others benefits confidence, and with other’s support, we are more likely to achieve our objectives and goals. The following people skills can all be improved upon:

• Developing rapport
• Assertiveness and negotiation
• Giving and receiving constructive criticism

2. Managing tasks and problem-solving

Inevitably, we encounter challenges on our path to development and growth. Managing our activities and time and solving issues as they surface are paramount.

Here are a few guidelines to help you manage:

• Organize time and tasks effectively.
• Learn fundamental problem-solving strategies.
• Select and apply problem-solving strategies to tackle more complex tasks and challenges.
• Develop planning skills, including identifying priorities, setting achievable targets, and finding practical solutions.
• Acquire skills relevant to project management.
• Familiarize yourself with concepts such as performance indicators and benchmarking.
• Conduct self-audits to assess and enhance your personal competitiveness.

3. Cultivate confidence in your creative abilities

Confidence energizes our performance. Knowing we can perform creatively encourages us to develop novel solutions and be motivated to transform.

Consider the following:

• Understand the fundamentals of how the mind works to enhance your thinking skills.
• Explore a variety of activities to sharpen your creative thinking.
• Embrace the belief that creativity is not limited to artists and performers but is crucial for problem-solving and task completion.
• Learn to ignite the spark of creativity that helps generate innovative ideas when needed.
• Apply creative thinking techniques to enhance your problem-solving and task completion abilities.
• Recognize the role of creative thinking in finding the right ideas at the right time.

To aid you in building your confidence, we have a whole category of articles focused on Optimism and Mindset . Be sure to browse it for confidence-building inspiration.

With new techniques and technology, our understanding of the human brain continues to evolve. Identifying the vital elements involved in learning and connecting with others offers deep insights into how we function and develop as social beings. We handpicked a small but unique selection of books we believe you will enjoy.

1. The Coaching Manual: The Definitive Guide to the Process, Principles and Skills of Personal Coaching – Julie Starr

This insightful book explores and explains the coaching journey from start to finish.

Starr’s book offers a range of free resources and gives clear guidance to support new and existing coaches in providing practical help to their clients.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level – Gay Hendricks

Delving into the “zone of genius” and the “zone of excellence,” Hendricks examines personal growth and our path to personal success.

This valuable book explores how we eliminate the barriers to reaching our goals that arise from false beliefs and fears.

3. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are – Brené Brown

Brown, a leading expert on shame, vulnerability, and authenticity, examines how we can engage with the world from a place of worthiness.

Use this book to learn how to build courage and compassion and realize the behaviors, skills, and mindset that lead to personal development.

We have many resources available for fostering personal development and supporting client transformation and growth.

Our free resources include:

• Goal Planning and Achievement Tracker This is a valuable worksheet for capturing and reflecting on weekly goals while tracking emotions that surface.
• Adopt a Growth Mindset Successful change is often accompanied by replacing a fixed mindset with a growth one .
• FIRST Framework Questions Understanding a client’s developmental stage can help offer the most appropriate support for a career change.

More extensive versions of the following tools are available with a subscription to the Positive Psychology Toolkit© , but they are described briefly below:

• Backward Goal Planning

Setting goals can build confidence and the skills for ongoing personal development.

Backward goal planning helps focus on the end goal, prevent procrastination, and decrease stress by ensuring we have enough time to complete each task.

Try out the following four simple steps:

• Step one – Identify and visualize your end goal.
• Step two – Reflect on and capture the steps required to reach the goal.
• Step three – Focus on each step one by one.
• Step four – Take action and record progress.
• Boosting Motivation by Celebrating Micro Successes

Celebrating the small successes on our journey toward our goals is motivating and confidence building.

Practice the following:

• Step one – Reflect momentarily on the goal you are working toward.
• Step two – Consider each action being taken to reach that goal.
• Step three – Record the completion of each action as a success.
• Step four – Choose how to celebrate each success.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others reach their goals, check out this collection of 17 validated motivation & goal achievement tools for practitioners. Use them to help others turn their dreams into reality by applying the latest science-based behavioral change techniques.

17 Tools To Increase Motivation and Goal Achievement

These 17 Motivation & Goal Achievement Exercises [PDF] contain all you need to help others set meaningful goals, increase self-drive, and experience greater accomplishment and life satisfaction.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Personal development has a rich and long history. It is underpinned by various psychological theories and remains a vital aspect of creating fulfilling lives inside and outside coaching and counseling.

For many of us, self-improvement, self-awareness, and personal growth are vital aspects of who we are. Coaching can provide a vehicle to help clients along their journey, supporting their sense of autonomy and confidence and highlighting their potential (Cox, 2018).

Working with clients, therefore, requires an open, honest, and supportive relationship. The coach or counselor must believe the client can achieve better results and view them nonjudgmentally as equal partners.

Personal development plans become essential to that relationship and the overall coaching process. They capture areas for development, skills and behaviors required, and goals and objectives to work toward.

Use this article to recognize theoretical elements from psychology that underpin the process and use the skills, guidance, and worksheets to support personal development in clients, helping them remove obstacles along the way.

Ultimately, personal development is a lifelong process that boosts wellbeing and flourishing and creates a richer, more engaging environment for the individual and those around them.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free .

Personal development is vital, as it enables individuals to enhance various aspects of their lives, including emotional wellbeing, relationships, careers, and overall happiness.

It promotes self-awareness, self-improvement, and personal growth, helping individuals reach their full potential and lead fulfilling lives (Passmore, 2021; Starr, 2021).

Personal development is the journey we take to improve ourselves through conscious habits and activities and focusing on the goals that are important to us.

Personal development goals are specific objectives individuals set to improve themselves and their lives. Goals can encompass various areas, such as emotional intelligence, skill development, health, and career advancement, providing direction and motivation for personal growth (Cox, 2018; Starr, 2021).

A personal development plan typically comprises defining the area of development, setting development objectives, identifying behaviors to develop, planning actions for progress, and establishing completion dates. These five stages help individuals clarify their goals and track their progress (Starr, 2021).

• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory . Prentice-Hall.
• Beck, A. T., & Haigh, E. P. (2014). Advances in cognitive therapy and therapy: The generic cognitive model. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology , 10 , 1–24.
• Beck, J. S. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond . Guilford Press.
• Cottrell, S. (2015). Skills for success: Personal development and employability . Bloomsbury Academic.
• Cox, E. (2018). The complete handbook of coaching . SAGE.
• Ellis, A. (2000). Can rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) be effectively used with people who have devout beliefs in God and religion? Professional Psychology-Research and Practice , 31 (1), 29–33.
• Erikson, E. H. (1963). Youth: Change and challenge . Basic Books.
• Illeris, K. (2018). An overview of the history of learning theory. European Journal of Education , 53 (1), 86–101.
• Lomas, T., Hefferon, K., & Ivtzan, I. (2014). Applied positive psychology: Integrated positive practice . SAGE.
• Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personalit y (2nd ed.). Harper & Row.
• Passmore, J. (Ed.). (2021). The coaches’ handbook: The complete practitioner guide for professional coaches . Routledge.
• Piaget, J. (1959): The Psychology of intelligence . Routledge.
• Rose, C. (2018). The personal development group: The students’ guide . Routledge.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2018). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness . Guilford Press.
• Seligman, M. E. (2011). Authentic happiness using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment . Nicholas Brealey.
• Starr, J. (2021). The coaching manual: The definitive guide to the process, principles and skills of personal coaching . Harlow: Pearson Education.
• Whitmore, J. (2009). Coaching for performance . Nicholas Brealey.

Share this article:

Article feedback

Let us know your thoughts cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related articles

How to Become an ADHD Coach: 5 Coaching Organizations

The latest figures suggest that around 1 in 20 people globally has ADHD, although far fewer are actively diagnosed (Asherson et al., 2022). Attention-deficit hyperactivity [...]

Personal Development Goals: Helping Your Clients Succeed

In the realm of personal development, individuals often seek to enhance various aspects of their lives, striving for growth, fulfillment, and self-improvement. As coaches and [...]

How to Perform Somatic Coaching: 9 Best Exercises

Our bodies are truly amazing and hold a wellspring of wisdom which, when tapped into, can provide tremendous benefits. Somatic coaching acknowledges the intricate connection [...]

Read other articles by their category

• Body & Brain (49)
• Coaching & Application (58)
• Compassion (25)
• Counseling (51)
• Emotional Intelligence (23)
• Gratitude (18)
• Grief & Bereavement (21)
• Happiness & SWB (40)
• Meaning & Values (26)
• Meditation (20)
• Mindfulness (44)
• Motivation & Goals (45)
• Optimism & Mindset (34)
• Positive CBT (30)
• Positive Communication (20)
• Positive Education (47)
• Positive Emotions (32)
• Positive Leadership (19)
• Positive Parenting (15)
• Positive Psychology (34)
• Positive Workplace (37)
• Productivity (17)
• Relationships (43)
• Resilience & Coping (37)
• Self Awareness (21)
• Self Esteem (38)
• Strengths & Virtues (32)
• Stress & Burnout Prevention (34)
• Theory & Books (46)
• Therapy Exercises (37)
• Types of Therapy (64)

• Memberships

Personal Development Plan (PDP) plus template

Personal development plan: this article explains the personal development plan (PDP) in a practical way. Next to what it is, this article also the benefits, how do I write it, a The full guide and personal development plan template to create a personal development plan and started and get closer to your goals. Enjoy reading!

What is a personal development plan?

A personal development plan is an approach, or action plan, through which you can determine the following:

• Your personal development goals (development opportunities)
• Strengths and weaknesses
• The areas that need improvement and development to achieve your goals
• What actions are needed to achieve your goals
• How to monitor progress
• Which things can hinder progress

The personal development plan, PDP in short, is a form of self-evaluation and self-reflection that is frequently applied in education, but also in the personal and professional life of many individuals.

Developing and executing a PDP is a useful method of self-development for many people.

Benefits of a personal development plan

The benefits of using a PDP include:

• Developing clear SMART goals both short term goals and long term goals
• Improving your employability in your work environment
• Improving performance
• Increasing your motivation
• Improving your mental well-being
• Reducing stress
• Contributing to your IKIGAI
• Maximizing your potency

Many people see personal development as a train journey from point A to point B. In reality, a career and your development is not at all like a train journey: you stop several times, get off and on again at sometimes unforeseen moments.

Whether it’s your personal career or your personal life, it’s good to occasionally assess your situation and reconsider your goals, strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats. Investing in sustainable development and identifying areas for personal development is perhaps the best investment there is.

How do I write a personal development plan? The full guide

All development plans are different, as it is precisely tailored to your personal situation. In education and work life, PDPs have a certain format. Employers can also customize their own versions for employees and have their own procedures and processes to tailor the PDP to their employees.

Regardless of what a PDP is used for, there are some general steps that can help you write a PDP. In any case, these steps include:

• SWOT Analysis
• Career Goals Analysis
• Competency Analysis
• Action plan
• Personal Development Plan Template

Follow the steps below and keep a record of all the output. The result of each of the steps should be used as input for the final personal development plan template.

Step 1: perform a personal analysis

The first step in the process of drawing up a personal development plan is to do a personal analysis. It is important that you have a clear picture of yourself, because only then can the ideal career direction be determined. The personal part of this analysis consists of two parts:

• Getting a clear picture of your personality
• Gaining insights into your own core competencies through a SWOT analysis

Personality

Before you can start planning a career, you need to know where you want to go. That seems easier said than done for many people. By performing a personal analysis you can find out what motivates you, who you really are and where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

To find out, you can use various self-assessment tools, such as the MBTI test ( Myers Briggs Personality Test ), or the Big Five Personality Test .

SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis reveals an organization’s strengths and weaknesses and helps identify opportunities and threats to the business. This method can also be applied to your personal situation.

By recognizing your strengths, you can focus your efforts on what you are good at. Understanding weaknesses will help you know what to avoid and what you might need help with.

All input together helps to identify opportunities for your long-term career.

To conduct a personal SWOT analysis, ask yourself a series of questions based on the four quadrants of the analysis. Sample questions are shown below.

• What are you really good at?
• For which skills do you receive recognition?
• What skills do you have that others don’t?
• What do you do better than the people you work with?
• What are you most proud of when it comes to your own skills?
• Do you have access to skills, resources, or connections that others don’t?

Weaknesses in the personal development plan

• What are you less good at? What skills do you struggle with in your professional and personal life?
• What do you do only because you have to? For example because of job requirements?
• What does someone else identify as your weakness?
• Where do you feel vulnerable?
• Where do you miss experience, connections or resources that others have?

Opportunities

• In what ways can you best use and utilize your strengths?
• What opportunities exist for people with the same strengths as you?
• Would you most like to do something that you are good at? What is that?
• How can you minimize your weaknesses?
• If you had no weaknesses, what would you most like to do?
• How do you see the career opportunities in your professional environment? Perhaps in a different industry or sector?
• Which trends influence the course of your career?
• What common threats should you be aware of?
• If you don’t work on weaknesses, can they threaten your career? Or cause problems and new challenges?
• What setbacks are you likely to face in your career development?
• What obstacles are encountered by others following a similar path?

Step 2: determine which goals you have for your career

Now that you have a clear and detailed vision of your strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to think about where you want to go.

This is an important step in developing a personal development plan. Divide the long-term ambitions you have into key career goals that will enable the achievement of these aspirations.

Take the time to decide on the path you are going to walk. Think about the following questions:

• What do you plan to achieve? What ambitions do you have?
• Why are these plans important to you?
• What is at the heart of your decision?
• Does this ambition make you feel like you’re contributing? To other people? To society?
• What emotions come up when you think about these career plans?
• How do you want others to see you?

Formulate the objective(s) using the SMART Goals method. In this way you ensure that the goal remains attainable and realistic. A BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is difficult to define in a way that is feasible, relevant and time bound.

Step 3: perform a competency / skill analysis

With the development of your objectives, the basis is ready for the personal development plan.

In addition to this, it is essential to have a good understanding of the skills and competencies you need to achieve your vision and purpose.

The next step, therefore, is to think about the skills you are currently missing and which ones you need to develop. It is also important to define why this is important for achieving your goal.

Think about the following questions:

• What specific skills do you need to perform the job you envision?
• Is it possible to gain experience before arriving at the ultimate goal?
• What additional skills do you need to grow in your chosen path?
• For example, do you need a foreign language to function because you are going to work abroad?
• Are there any job requirements in the job description that you are currently missing?
• What can you do to develop these capacities?

Step 4: draw up an action plan

You are now finally at the point of drawing up an action plan . In the action plan you include all the objectives and interim results that you need to achieve the goal.

Step 5: Fill in the Personal Development Plan template

You have collected all the input you need to complete a personal development plan in the previous steps. Congratulations! You can now start working towards the ultimate goal.

Download the Personal Development Plan template

Summary personal development plan.

A personal development plan helps you achieve personal goals and career choices. The complete plan consists of a few tools, such as the SWOT analysis, SMART goals and a personality test.

These techniques are combined to develop a plan that is as personalized as possible, ensuring personal and professional growth.

The use of a personal development plan, or PDP, has many advantages. Thus, it helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge is the basis for your personal growth plan.

In addition, it helps you identify areas where you need to improve, what your precise goal is and what you need to do to achieve it. It also helps to provide insight into what can hinder your progress and how to deal with this.

It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Do you recognize the explanation about a personal development plan? Do you use this plan for your own personal development? Do you find this a clear tool for achieving personal goals? What other things would you like to see added to this method? Do you have any tips or comments?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

• Eisele, L., Grohnert, T., Beausaert, S., & Segers, M. (2013). Employee motivation for personal development plan effectiveness . European Journal of Training and Development .
• Beausaert, S., Segers, M., & Gijselaers, W. (2011). The Personal Development Plan Practice Questionnaire: the development and validation of an instrument to assess the employee’s perception of personal development plan practice . International Journal of Training and Development, 15(4), 249-270.
• Beausaert, S., Segers, M., Fouarge, D., & Gijselaers, W. (2013). Effect of using a personal development plan on learning and development . Journal of Workplace Learning.
• Beausaert, S., Segers, M., & Gijselaers, W. (2011). The use of a personal development plan and the undertaking of learning activities, expertise-growth, flexibility and performance: The role of supporting assessment conditions . Human resource development international, 14(5), 527-543.

How to cite this article: Janse, B. (2022). Personal Development Plan (PDP) . Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/human-resources/personal-development-plan/

Original publication date: 04/15/2022 | Last update: 05/16/2024

Add a link to this page on your website: <a href=”https://www.toolshero.com/human-resources/personal-development-plan/”>Toolshero: Personal Development Plan (PDP)</a>

Did you find this article interesting?

Your rating is more than welcome or share this article via Social media!

Average rating 4 / 5. Vote count: 12

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Vincent van Vliet

Vincent van Vliet is co-founder and responsible for the content and release management. Together with the team Vincent sets the strategy and manages the content planning, go-to-market, customer experience and corporate development aspects of the company.

Related ARTICLES

Talent Development: Strategy and Steps

Action Plan explained plus template

Business Model You by Timothy Clark: a Summary

Personal Leadership Philosophy

SMART Goals explained

Action Planning explained

Also interesting.

SFA Matrix: Basics and Template (Johnson and Scholes)

Happiness at work: the Basics and Strategy

Pay Model of Compensation (Milkovich & Newman)

Leave a reply cancel reply.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

BOOST YOUR SKILLS

Toolshero supports people worldwide ( 10+ million visitors from 100+ countries ) to empower themselves through an easily accessible and high-quality learning platform for personal and professional development.

By making access to scientific knowledge simple and affordable, self-development becomes attainable for everyone, including you! Join our learning platform and boost your skills with Toolshero.

POPULAR TOPICS

• Change Management
• Marketing Theories
• Problem Solving Theories
• Psychology Theories

ABOUT TOOLSHERO

• Free Toolshero e-book
• Memberships & Pricing

Find out how Siemens has benefited from our services

of the DAX 30 companies work with us​​

• Solutions Use cases Answer to your HR questions. smartData Market Intelligence Access to the world’s largest labor market database to tune your business and HR. smartPlan Future Workforce Planning Design your future workforce & uncover skills risks and gaps. smartPeople Skills Fulfillment Discover your internal skills and build a future-fit workforce.
• Podcasts & interviews
• ROI calculator
• HR Glossary

See why 100+ companies choose HRForecast​.

• Book a demo

Back to Blog

A guide to personal development plans for employees.

Table of contents

What is a personal development plan.

• Wh y a personal development plan is important for your employees  
• Step 1: Help employee s understand where they are and identify where they want to be  
• Step 2: Identify employees’ long-term and short-term professional goals  
• Step 3: Research and identify learning opportunities that address development goals  
• Step 4: Measuring the effectiveness of personal development plan s for employees  
• A final word on personal development planning  

“It’s frustrating to be forced to fill in this PDP form every year.”

“Why are they torturing us with PDP? It’s not that I don’t know what to do with my time.”

“PDP means personal degradation plan.”

These are common sentiments of employees when HR presents them with the yearly personal development plan activity.

A bad personal development plan (PDP) for employees often leaves out the “personal development” bit, turning a PDP into more of a more of a personal attack. What’s worse is that sometimes PDPs are introduced either when an employee is not doing their job well or as a barrier to a promotion. Completion of development goals is often rushed at the end of the year, and these goals often include things that don’t help employees develop in the way that they want.

Take a look at how employees react to personal development plans as per a survey by BreatheHR.

Source: BreatheHR

To create personal development plans for employees that motivate them to participate wholeheartedly, let’s first start with understanding what a PDP comprises. Is it a pathway for employees’ success or a Trojan horse full of hectic activities that make employees recoil at the very mention of it?

A personal development plan is a framework that allows an individual employee and their manager to identify learning needs, set objectives to meet them, and pinpoint the resources necessary to do so. The main focus is on employee development, which means that the goals for development must be agreed upon between the employee and manager.

As an effect of digital transformation , there is an increased need for overseeing employees’ continuing professional development to make their skills competitive for the future. Formally, the performance assessment cycle consists of a performance interview, a development interview, and an appraisal interview with managers. In the performance assessment process, the managers of respective teams and the employee can use a personal development plan (PDP).

Why a personal development plan is important for your employees?

A personal development plan lists the competencies employees still need to develop (looking forward) by evaluating their current strengths and weaknesses (looking back). A PDP form should ask the following questions of an employee:

• What are your weaknesses?
• What are your strengths?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• Which competencies do you still need to develop?
• How do you want to develop those competencies?

The employee’s answers to these questions can be used to nourish dialogues with the HR manager, in which the HR manager tries to stimulate the employee’s reflection on the PDP.

Reflection has several purposes. First, the employee gets better insights into what they want (e.g., getting a promotion or doing the same job and learning). Second, keeping in mind the employee’s goal, reflection leads to insights into the strengths and weaknesses that will help or hinder the employee in accomplishing that goal.

Most employees are unaware of their strengths and weaknesses since they were never explicitly encouraged to think about them during conversations with colleagues or managers. Third, reflection helps the employee keep track of learning activities, from the upcoming trainings to actively researching what they would like to build upon. It should also ensure employees consider what they learned during those activities and how.

A personal development plan for employees assists in tracking, structuring, and thinking about the learning activities undertaken and, consequently, consciously planning future learning activities if necessary. After executing a personal development plan, employees will have worked on their professional development and will be able to accomplish their set goals.

Personal development planning for employees

While a small group of employees may be enthusiastic and motivated to create a personal development plan, most managers and employees perceive doing interviews and using the PDP tools like SWOT analysis, etc. as a burden. They are skeptical about what the PDP tools can achieve.

In sum, while the HR department has high expectations from interviews about future development and personal development plans and a group of employees enjoy using PDPs, other employees and managers do not see the advantages.

Consequently, PDPs are not implemented correctly, resulting in perceived ineffectiveness, frustration, and window dressing. Below are the steps to develop and implement a personal development plan for employees that is beneficial for both sides.

Step 1: Help employees understand where they are and identify where they want to be

It’s important to understand what skills are necessary for employees to perform their job at their best capabilities. HR managers can review an employee’s last performance appraisal (if applicable), job standards, and current job description to identify gaps between current knowledge, skills, and abilities and those required to excel in the role.

Have employees conduct a self-assessment to determine their current skills, interests, and values. In addition to assessing current job strengths and areas for improvement, ask questions such as:

• What do you value?
• How satisfied are you with your current job?
• How well does your job meet your needs?
• How do others see you?
• How do you want to be seen?
• What kind of person do you want to be?
• What makes you happy?

The above assessment allows employees to think about where they want to be professionally in one to two years.

Step 2: Identify employees’ long-term and short-term professional goals

Now that employees have a better understanding of their current situation and future possibilities and aspirations, HR managers can help them to draft long-term and short-term professional goals.

A goal is an end state — the desired outcome. PDPs contain short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goals are outcomes an employee wants to achieve within the next three to six months, while long-term goals are outcomes an employee wants to achieve within the next one to two years. Goals beyond two years are not practical for PDP purposes.

An example of a short-term goal is getting certified in data analytics by the end of the year (which might be one of the requirements of the current position).

An example of a long-term goal might be assuming the role of a senior data analyst.

Once goals are identified, HR leaders are ready to identify development objectives.

Step 3: Research and identify learning opportunities that address development goals

Identifying developmental training, rotations, and other activities can help employees achieve their goals. Ensure that learning activities address employees’ development objectives and align with their long-term and short-term goals.

Describe the appropriate formal and developmental training needed for developing knowledge, skills, and competencies. Remember that learning activities should be:

• Reasonable and achievable, given the employee’s workload and other resource-related factors
• Specific and meet the developmental goals of the PDP
• Challenging to some degree but not so complex that they’re nearly impossible to complete
• Cost-efficient

Achieving developmental goals does not necessarily require attending expensive courses and seminars. Nor does it have to entail embarking on an MBA program, for example. There is a range of developmental resources available.

Examples of personal development plan learning activities and resources include:

Mentoring or coaching

Mentoring or coaching is a form of on-the-job training that extends beyond learning specific skills or processes. Mentoring and coaching provide employees with ongoing feedback about progress in specific job requirements. This may occur through formal or informal discussions that give employees opportunities to learn and refine their knowledge by asking the mentor/coach questions, through observation, or by completing short tasks or assignments to try out a particular skill or task.

Shadowing allows an employee to follow someone throughout the workday, allowing the employee to get familiar with a particular job, career, style, and office by observing an individual’s duties, responsibilities, and work environment.

Through questions and observations of the shadowed colleague’s daily routine, the employee gains awareness of the colleague’s responsibilities, the educational background required for the position, the nature and pace of the job, the breadth of responsibilities, and the general focus of the office.

Match an employee’s personal development plan with a suitable training approach

Determine how to develop employees’ skills through suitable upskilling, cross-skilling, or reskilling activities. Download our guide to understand the key differences between these approaches and how to create a culture of continuous learning.

Step 4: Measuring the effectiveness of personal development plans for employees

HR leaders should collect employee feedback through performance reviews about their development progress. Measuring the effectiveness of a PDP requires recording:

• Observations of learned skills or knowledge and how they are applied
• Progress towards goals and objectives

Once the insights from the reviews are reported accurately, managers can figure out ways to remove any hindrance from the employee’s development plan or start mapping out how the employee can progress into a new role.

A final word on personal development planning

Personal development plans ensure employees receive recognition for their work through a process that acknowledges their achievements and provides feedback on their progress. This should increase employees’ motivation .

For example, giving employees positive feedback on their work, acknowledging their contributions at meetings, and allowing them to undertake more challenging and responsible tasks are ways of regularly recognizing and endorsing employees’ work.

It’s vital to remember that personal development plans for employees are not static documents. They may need to be altered from time to time to reflect changes in key responsibilities, which may occur in response to changing workforce trends.

Wondering how you can keep up to date with all the workforce trends to ensure timely decision-making? Subscribe to our newsletter for a monthly brief of handpicked articles related to HR, trends, news, and more.

Stay up to date with our newsletter

Every month, we’ll send you a curated newsletter with our updates and the latest industry news.

More stories we think you will like

How do ideas emerge? – What the future Ep. 4

Diversity hiring best practices

HR and its impact on the market price of the company – What the future Ep. 13

HRForecast newsletter

Get only relevant and insightful letters from us every month

Not a customer yet? Contact us

Career at HRForecast

Why hrforecast.

• Customer Stories
• Trust and Security
• Data Analytics Approach
• IT Skills Analytics
• smartPeople

2023 © Copyright - HRForecast | Imprint | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions (MSA)

How to Create Strong Individual Development Plans (With Examples)

Introduction to individual development plans, why do your team members need individual development plans, components of a strong individual development plan, how to write a strong individual development plan, examples of individual development plans, individual development plan template (free), wrapping up.

Other Related Blogs

What is an Individual Development Plan?

• Personal and Professional Growth: Individual development plans are crucial for both team members and managers because they facilitate personal and professional growth. They allow individuals to identify their strengths and areas in need of improvement, which is the foundation for continuous development.
• Concrete Goal Setting: IDPs enable team members to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals . This level of goal specificity provides a clear direction for improvement and helps individuals stay focused on their development objectives.
• Performance Improvement: IDPs are instrumental in improving performance. By addressing areas that need development, team members can enhance their skills, knowledge, and capabilities, ultimately contributing to the overall success of the team and organization.
• Alignment with Organizational Goals: Individual development plans help align personal aspirations with the team’s mission and objectives. This alignment ensures that team members are actively contributing to the team’s success while pursuing their own professional growth.
• Feedback and Progress Tracking: IDPs establish a framework for continuous feedback and progress evaluation. They help team members and managers assess how well individuals are advancing toward their goals, providing a structured means of tracking growth over time and promoting accountability.

• The individual development plan should include a skills assessment that identifies areas for improvement and potential learning opportunities.
• Creating a step-by-step action plan with timelines can help you progress toward your goals while providing a framework for ongoing feedback and evaluation of progress.
• Regular assessment of the plan is crucial to ensure success and adjust as needed.

Professional Goals and Aspirations

Strengths and talents, development opportunities, action plans.

• 5 Examples to Master Negotiation and Conflict Resolution as a Manager
• 7 Easy Steps To Make A Work From Home Routine For Boosting Productivity
• 11 Questions about Work Life Balance Every Manager Should Consider
• 5 Ways To Ensure Effective Communication With Remote Teams
• Mastering Leadership: How to Inspire a Team Effectively
• 10 Skills for Conflict Resolution You Must Have
• Human Resources Manager Training: A 6 Step Framework
• Mentor Matching at Work: Best Practices to Find the Right Guidance
• 5 Powerful Skills to Become an Exceptional Business Leadership Coach
• How to adopt shared leadership? Explained with examples

Review the Past Performance

Set realistic goals, create an action plan, define a timeline, evaluate regularly.

IDP Example #1: Team Manager Sarah

• Improve team management skills: Develop skills to manage and  motivate team members effectively.  Implement a new system for tracking and measuring team performance.
• Develop project management skills: Implement a new system to improve project execution and delivery.
• Enhance communication and collaboration skills: Practice these skills in team meetings and one-on-one conversations with team members to ensure smoother operations.
• Develop strategic thinking skills: Practice developing and implementing a strategic plan for the team.
• Find relevant courses or workshops: Select a team management course or workshop to attend within the next three months. Similarly, look for courses on communication and collaboration skills that can help overcome hurdles.
• Implement a new team performance tracking system: Find a new method for tracking and measuring team performance. Implement the new system within the next six months and monitor progress.
• Implement new project management system: Research and select a new one to implement within the next six months. Train team members on the new system and monitor progress.
• Develop and implement a strategic plan for the team: Meet with team members to gather input and ideas for a strategic plan. Develop a plan and present it to the supervisor for approval within the next six months.
• Monitor progress and adjust goals as needed: Monitor progress regularly and adjust plans as needed. Seek feedback from team members to ensure goals are aligned with team needs and expectations.

IDP Example #2: Team Manager John

• Enhance technical leadership skills: Effectively provide technical guidance and support to the team.
• Improve project management skills: For leading projects and ensuring successful delivery within budget and timelines.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning:  Encourage team members to engage in ongoing learning and skill development. 
• Attend leadership workshops/conferences: Identify relevant leadership workshops or seminars in the software development industry. Register and attend at least two events within the next year to gain insights into effective technical leadership.
• Mentor junior team members:   Assign mentorship roles  to experienced team members and guide junior developers. Regularly meet with mentees to discuss their progress, challenges, and career aspirations.
• Lead a complex project: Take on a difficult task to demonstrate technical leadership. Coordinate with team members, facilitate effective communication, and ensure the project’s successful execution.
• Implement a learning and recognition system: Research and introduce a learning management system that enables team members to access relevant learning resources. Establish a recognition program to acknowledge and reward individual and team achievements.
• Follow the process: Start by conversing with your team members to understand challenges from their perspectives and share from your own. List the common areas of improvement that you want to work together on for the next period.
• Initiate a realistic plan: Based on the discussions, create a set of goals for your team members. Ensure the goals are SMART and practical , and supplement them with the resources and support required to achieve them within the set timeline.
• Talk of reviews: The best way to use IDPs with your team includes making them holistic and relevant to the team members. Thus, as a manager, you should provide support through reviews and checks to resolve queries and concerns as they come. You can integrate IDPs into your performance management system to improve it!
• Remember that IDPs are not one-size-fits-all: Individual needs and growth pathways are different. While a template can help you start, be ready to accommodate your team’s and individual members’ varied needs. It will show care toward their growth – enabling a relationship based on mutual trust.

Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.

Deeksha Sharma

Boost your problem solving skills to overcome challenges.

Take the free problem solving assessment to sharpen your problem solving skills for a successful career.

What are some examples of individual development plan?

How do you write an individual development plan, how do you write a good idp.

6 Must Read Growth Mindset Books For People Managers

6 best growth mindset interview questions (with sample answers), 11 growth mindset reflection questions for the top leaders, looking for personal growth as a manager here are the top 10 tactics.

How it works

Transform your enterprise with the scalable mindsets, skills, & behavior change that drive performance.

Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems.

We pair AI with the latest in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, lasting learning and behavior change.

Build leaders that accelerate team performance and engagement.

Unlock performance potential at scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys.

Build resilience, well-being and agility to drive performance across your entire enterprise.

Transform your business, starting with your sales leaders.

Unlock business impact from the top with executive coaching.

Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Accelerate the performance and potential of your agencies and employees.

See how innovative organizations use BetterUp to build a thriving workforce.

Discover how BetterUp measurably impacts key business outcomes for organizations like yours.

A demo is the first step to transforming your business. Meet with us to develop a plan for attaining your goals.

• What is coaching?

Learn how 1:1 coaching works, who its for, and if it's right for you.

Accelerate your personal and professional growth with the expert guidance of a BetterUp Coach.

Types of Coaching

Navigate career transitions, accelerate your professional growth, and achieve your career goals with expert coaching.

Enhance your communication skills for better personal and professional relationships, with tailored coaching that focuses on your needs.

Find balance, resilience, and well-being in all areas of your life with holistic coaching designed to empower you.

Discover your perfect match : Take our 5-minute assessment and let us pair you with one of our top Coaches tailored just for you.

Research, expert insights, and resources to develop courageous leaders within your organization.

Best practices, research, and tools to fuel individual and business growth.

View on-demand BetterUp events and learn about upcoming live discussions.

The latest insights and ideas for building a high-performing workplace.

• BetterUp Briefing

The online magazine that helps you understand tomorrow's workforce trends, today.

Innovative research featured in peer-reviewed journals, press, and more.

Founded in 2022 to deepen the understanding of the intersection of well-being, purpose, and performance

We're on a mission to help everyone live with clarity, purpose, and passion.

Join us and create impactful change.

Read the buzz about BetterUp.

Meet the leadership that's passionate about empowering your workforce.

For Business

For Individuals

How to develop a personal development plan (PDP) to reach your goals

Jump to section

What’s personal development?

6 types of personal development, what’s a personal development plan, how to create a personal development plan for work and life, bring your goals to life.

No matter where you find yourself in life, there’s always room for self-improvement. 

But whether you want to make more time for your family , learn how to advocate your boundaries at work , or pursue a master’s degree , reaching your goals is easier said than done. You might lose track of your progress or get too busy to continue the commitment.

Writing your goals down in a personal development plan (PDP) can transform big, impossible-sounding ideas into actionable changes in your daily life. 

Personal development is the process of looking inward and concentrating on ways to better yourself. It focuses on rebuilding habits and ways of thinking, like developing better problem-solving skills , practicing self-compassion , or fostering a growth mindset . 

But it’s far from simple. The techniques you use to connect with your inner self differ greatly from person to person, making the right path potentially harder to find. True development asks you to engage in honest self-reflection and strategic goal-setting at the same time — and sometimes, that’s a long process. 

That doesn’t mean personal development isn’t worth it. Striving for growth and continuous learning will push you out of your comfort zone , teaching you to be resilient and flexible to challenges . 

And the rewards are transformative. Embracing change will help you build self-awareness and push you closer to your personal and professional aspirations. The meaning of a PDP is to have something that tracks and supports your progress. 

Personal development is a never-ending process. You can always benefit from improving your know-how or adopting an entirely new skill. There’s infinite potential for personal development, and if that feels overwhelming, it’s okay. Start slow and small and let improvements build one on top of the other. 

To get started on a self-assessment of your potential objectives, here are six common categories of personal development goals:

1. Soft skills

Your unique personality makes some soft skills feel second nature. If you identify more as an introvert , your natural attention to your inner self may give you a deep sense of empathy or creativity . And if you feel more extroverted , you probably instinctively multitask or strike up conversations with new colleagues. 

According to a LinkedIn hiring trends analysis, your technical skills capture a hiring manager’s attention, but soft skills often determine whether they actually extend a job offer — so don’t overlook them. You might already have strong soft skills that come naturally to you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn others that push you out of your comfort zone. 

It isn’t just your professional life where these competencies come in handy. In your personal life, they shape friendships and nourish a sense of community and belonging . 

To identify areas for improvement, perform a skills assessment , reach out to colleagues or managers for constructive feedback , or start a daily journaling practice to identify behavioral patterns. Whether it’s fostering better decision-making or lowering your cognitive bias tops your list of goals, the soft skills you develop can make life easier and more fulfilling. 

2. Personal growth

Daily life is so full of tasks that you may not often stop to revel in the lessons you learn each day. Personal growth is about moving through your routines with intention, pushing to be a better version of yourself. 

Although personal growth is a lifelong journey, you can accomplish it through daily goal-setting. Try waking up early to have 30 minutes of peace, limiting social media usage , or setting boundaries to align daily life with your personal values . 

Personal growth requires a commitment to constant self-discovery . You change every day, and your personal goals for self-improvement should reflect that. Start by asking yourself self-discovery questions , reading books by self-growth experts you admire, or starting a manifestation journal to unlock your dreams.

3. Power to impact others

Personal power is more than your ability to wield influence — it’s about how you do it. Every day, you interact with people and impact them with your words, actions, and presence. Intentionality is the key to making your influence positive, uplifting and inspiring the people around you. 

To weave this power into your personal growth plan, reflect on the times others uplifted you and try to recreate them. Deepening your empathetic leadership , working on collaboration skills , and learning to treat others with respect are all ways to create nurturing environments and ensure that your impact leaves a positive legacy . 

4. Personal improvement

Personal improvement and personal growth may sound similar on paper, but each has a unique focus and objective. Growth focuses on a holistic exploration of inner fulfillment. But improvement often includes short-term goals that are easier to define, zeroing in on the specific skill sets that enhance your daily life. 

Learning negotiation skills , improving technical proficiency, or developing routines for financial wellness are all examples of personal improvement goals. These skills give you structure and know-how to work productively and remain resilient to challenges. And while it is distinct from personal growth, the skills you develop here will act as foundations that support broader development. 

5. Self-confidence

When you’re confident, you move through your day easily, stand up to challenges, and confidently share ideas. But unfortunately, not every day feels like this. Everyone has insecurities or worries that invite their inner critic to pop up and take over their positive mindset . 

While you may not be able to manifest a life free of insecurity or worry, you can take steps to improve overall self-confidence. Expanding your network, learning clear communication skills , and adopting a growth mindset can make you more resilient . That way, when challenges overwhelm you, you can step back and access tools to move forward confidently.

6. Personal analysis

It’s not always easy to see yourself from an outside perspective. But being objective and honest about your strengths and weaknesses is the key to self-improvement. After all, if you don’t know your starting place, it’s nearly impossible to build a path forward. 

This kind of self-analysis requires regular checking-in, which can be a long-term goal in itself. Consider reflective journaling, regularly requesting performance reviews , or taking a personality assessment like the Enneagram . However you analyze yourself, you’ll develop valuable insights about where you are and where you aspire to go. 

A PDP is a document that outlines individual development goals and breaks them down into achievable steps. It can be as simple as a bulleted list or as involved as a daily action plan . It’s up to you and how you prefer to grow, and it might take some trial and error to discover what works best.

Staring at the finish line can be overwhelming when you don’t know what your journey is. A PDP is a step-by-step action plan to transform big concepts into attainable short-term and long-term goals , motivating you as you move from one milestone to the next. 

Why is creating a personal development plan important? 

Now that you know what PDP stands for, you can put it into practice. But understanding its importance first can motivate you to create your own plan and put in the hard work to follow through with it. 

Here are some benefits of a PDP: 

• Provides a guide: Your personal and professional life is full of checklists. Between household chores, work responsibilities, and maintaining a social life , it’s easy to lose yourself in routines. Creating a clear PDP helps you keep your eye on your career goals and personal needs without neglecting your day-to-day. No matter how busy your day is, a coherent PDP ensures your goals are on your list of priorities.
• Adapts to your needs: Life isn’t predictable, and your PDP will reflect that. As you change and grow, or when something throws a wrench in your plan, you can always return to your PDP and readjust. This means it will always reflect your current aspirations, creating a relevant guide no matter where life takes you. 
• Fosters the power of time management: Learning better time management skills may be on your list of personal or professional development goals . But building an action plan is an incredible time management technique. PDPs depend on structure, helping you turn tasks into time-bound objectives and stay on schedule. This improves your focus and minimizes the time you spend on activities that don’t contribute to your goals. 

Makes big goals feel more attainable: Goals like changing careers, saving for a mortgage, or becoming a keynote speaker for your favorite industry seminar may feel so far away that they’re hard to begin. But whether five years away, 10 years , or more, a PDP breaks down big goals into manageable steps, with plenty of milestones to celebrate in between.

While your goals are unique to you, you can follow a general step-by-step guide to build an effective PDP. Here are seven steps toward creating a comprehensive and effective PDP: 

1. Set goals

The first step is always goal-setting. Take time to imagine what you want to achieve, charting out different goals you want to accomplish next week, next quarter, or by the end of the year. This is the hardest (and most important) step of building your PDP. If you overload yourself with too many goals or objectives you aren’t prepared to achieve, you might grow overwhelmed and give up before you can begin to make a dent. 

Start by reviewing the six types of personal development and reflect on what resonates with you most. To help you brainstorm, try hiring a personal coach or reaching out to your community. You may quickly build a long list of objectives, so aim to narrow them down. 

Splitting them into short-, mid-, and long-term goals might help you decide on a focus and evenly spread your energy between objectives.

Creating a daily skincare routine, adopting a new hobby , and pursuing a master’s degree at once evenly divides your resources and balances your progress. But trying to change careers, go back to school, and move into a management role might be too many steps to take at once. 

2. Prioritize your goals

Once you write your goals down, it’s time to break them into actionable steps using SMART goals . SMART stands for: 

• Specific: Effective goals are clear. Be sure to define the skill, knowledge, or experience you will develop. Rather than “improve time management skills,” plan to “adopt a new time management app, track times on common tasks, and delegate non-urgent tasks to other team members.”
• Measurable: Monitor progress along the way with targets or SMART KPIs to understand how you’re doing and adjust when necessary. Rather than “Improving self-care routine ,” you can plan to “Prioritize eight hours of healthy sleep, 150 minutes of weekly exercise, and one day dedicated to free-time activities.” Then you can check those off the list regularly and track the days you miss.
• Attainable: Being honest about your resources and time will help you separate unachievable goals from realistic ones. Consider everything you’ll need to accomplish every single milestone. If your goals aren’t realistic, you structure failure into your plan. 
• Relevant: Every step of your PDP needs to be relevant to your finish line. I f your professional goals include pursuing a project management certification, learning a new coding language will just distract you because it doesn’t contribute. Remember — you don’t have to accomplish everything at once. Choose what’s most relevant to your personal and professional goals and job role, and prioritize according to importance. 
• Time-bound: Setting deadlines holds you accountable. But meeting deadlines requires in-depth strategic planning , according to researcher Maroš Servátka in an interview with the Harvard Business Review . If you’re too generous with your time, you may consistently put deadlines off. Be careful to set realistic schedules with an appropriate amount of wiggle room. 

3. Conduct a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that could affect your journey. While it can help you double-check that your SMART goals are accurate, you can also use it to consider the external factors that help or hinder your process. 

Poor time management skills might hinder your ability to balance a certification program, full-time work, and your home life. Identifying your need to get organized — which might be a weakness in your analysis  — can help you prioritize methods to build structure into your schedule. Also check for opportunities, like flexibility in your work schedule or stipends for schooling. 

4. Tap into your network

Personal development doesn’t happen in a bubble. Your network of friends, mentors, and loved ones is one of your most valuable assets, whether providing emotional support or insightful advice.

Let people know about your goals and share your plan to get there, encouraging them to hold you accountable, or find an accountability buddy. It’s also a good idea to let them know when to hold off and let you make your own mistakes.

5. Measure your progress

Find a tracking system that makes the most sense for you and your goals. For professional growth, this may include a new productivity app that tracks and visualizes your progress.

For smaller personal goals, like improving your sleep hygiene or exercise regime , regular journaling or to-do lists can be just as effective. Whatever method you choose, celebrate your wins and readjust when challenges get in the way.

Self-improvement doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With careful thought and strategy, your goals can turn into meaningful action. Start by analyzing your future aspirations, resources, and opportunities. From there, build your personal development plan with milestones to motivate and move you toward continued success.

Transform your life

Make meaningful changes and become the best version of yourself. BetterUp's professional Coaches are here to support your personal growth journey.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

Developing emotional intelligence skills for lasting success

The only guide you'll need to create effective cascading goals, the secret to developing managers that help your business thrive, your guide to individual development plans (with examples), professional development is for everyone (we’re looking at you), 8 examples for setting professional development goals at work, 17 career development questions for managers to ask, are you reaching your full potential a guide to personal development, more than money: when it comes to goals, can thinking like a millionaire help, similar articles, personal goals that work: 20 examples to get started, moving toward your dreams or just moving yearly goals can help, the 3 year plan: build a roadmap to success, emotional goals: 20 examples and how to reach them, what is an action plan how to become a real-life action hero, how lifestyle coaching can change your life, use a personal swot analysis to discover your strengths and weaknesses, 15 career goals examples to inspire you to set your own, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

3100 E 5th Street, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78702

• Platform Overview
• Integrations
• Powered by AI
• BetterUp Lead™
• BetterUp Manage™
• BetterUp Care®
• Sales Performance
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Case Studies
• Why BetterUp?
• About Coaching
• Find your Coach
• Career Coaching
• Communication Coaching
• Life Coaching
• News and Press
• Leadership Team
• Become a BetterUp Coach
• BetterUp Labs
• Center for Purpose & Performance
• Leadership Training
• Business Coaching
• Contact Support
• Contact Sales
• Privacy Policy
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Trust & Security
• Cookie Preferences

We use essential cookies to make Venngage work. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.

Manage Cookies

Cookies and similar technologies collect certain information about how you’re using our website. Some of them are essential, and without them you wouldn’t be able to use Venngage. But others are optional, and you get to choose whether we use them or not.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are always on, as they’re essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Without these cookies, services you’ve asked for can’t be provided.

Show cookie providers

• Google Login

Functionality Cookies

These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. They may be set by us or by third party providers.

Performance Cookies

These cookies help us analyze how many people are using Venngage, where they come from and how they're using it. If you opt out of these cookies, we can’t get feedback to make Venngage better for you and all our users.

• Google Analytics

Targeting Cookies

These cookies are set by our advertising partners to track your activity and show you relevant Venngage ads on other sites as you browse the internet.

• Google Tag Manager
• Infographics
• Daily Infographics
• Popular Templates
• Accessibility
• Graphic Design
• Graphs and Charts
• Data Visualization
• Human Resources
• Beginner Guides

Blog Human Resources 12+ Employee Development Plan Examples (Free Templates)

12+ Employee Development Plan Examples (Free Templates)

Written by: Jessie Strongitharm Aug 31, 2022

Everybody loves a two-birds, one-stone situation, right? That’s why investing in employee development is a no-brainer. 

By creating a plan for their professional growth, not only do you affirm your employees’ value — but you prime your organization for success while minimizing turnover to boot. After all, one of the leading reasons people leave their jobs is to pursue career development.

So today, we’ll look at several employee development plan templates and examples to encourage the growth of both your staff  and  your business. But first, let’s dig a little deeper into the what and why…

Click to jump ahead 

• What is an employee development plan? 

12 employee development plan examples

• What are the benefits of an employee development plan? 
• Employee development plan FAQs 

What is an employee development plan?

An  employee development plan  is a document that describes the process needed to help an employee achieve their professional goals.  Sometimes called an employee growth plan or career development plan, it outlines the actions, or steps, an employee will take to improve their knowledge, skills and competencies in the workforce. 

Here’s an employee development program example detailing a step-by-step plan for professional growth over the course of a year. 

This infographic encourages employees to seek continuous learning and development in a way that aligns with company goals. And that’s because these documents are created as part of a joint initiative: employees actively seek personal and professional development, while their organization’s leadership/HR  provides strategic opportunities  and resources to help them achieve that growth. 

This means an effective professional growth plan fits the unique needs, interests and abilities of an employee while also keeping in line with company objectives. 

For example, those in client-facing positions who wish to improve their presentation skills will benefit from having resources provided on the topic (like the infographic shown here).

In turn, the business also benefits from having employees deliver more persuasive presentations and closing more deals.

• Employee Development: Definition, Benefits & Visual Aids
• How to Create a Successful Employee Training and Development Program Through Visual Communication

Ready to supercharge your employees’ aptitude  and  your organization’s performance? Check out the 12+ employee development plan examples below for inspiration. 

(And remember: with Venngage, creating actionable, comprehensive employee development plans is a breeze. Simply choose any of these  100% customizable employee development plan templates , swap in your text and any visual assets from our extensive library, and you’re good to go).

1. Individual employee development plan worksheet 

This first option offers a comprehensive format paired with a minimalist design. 

Since  employee training and development plans  are most effective when they address the unique skills and goals of an individual, this template is perfect for gaining that crucial feedback.

Though you will need to supplement this worksheet with more detailed documents, it’s great to keep this template on-hand when an employee embarks on their skill development journey. Based on their answers, you’ll be able to create employee development programs that truly work for them — and you. 

Related : Individual Development Plans: 14 IDP Templates & Examples that Motivate

2. Multipurpose employee development plan template

Below is an expanded version of the previous template. Businesses can use this option to create an actionable plan for employees during various stages of their career and career development.

Along with the aforementioned details, this career development plan features dedicated sections for new employees, employees currently undergoing employee development or a change of role, as well as employees looking to explore new roles. 

In other words, this template has all the bases covered. 

3. Employee development plan checklist for managers

Remember how I said employee development plans are a joint initiative? This one pager template is made for just that — outlining the steps managers or department heads will need to follow to facilitate the process successfully.

Though the previous three  employee progress plan  examples reference the healthcare industry, don’t mind the label! These free templates are fully editable and customizable, so you can easily tailor them and download in PDF to suit your specific industry or area of expertise. 

Plus, with  Team Collaboration in Venngage , you can edit your design together, all in real-time. This is a great feature for jointly-created documents like these.

4. Leadership training for employee development

Here is a checklist of leadership competencies that supervisors can refer to when overseeing career development programs for those transitioning to management. 

Feel free to replace the symbols in this template by choosing new icons and illustrations from Venngage’s library. 

Hoping for something a little more on-brand? Venngage’s automated  My Brand Kit  keeps color schemes consistent with your organization’s guidelines in just a few clicks.  Related: 11 (Non-Boring) Training Checklist Templates to Keep Employees on Track

5. Nursing development plan

Complete with directives for goals, strategies, evaluations and reassessments, this employee development program is made for healthcare institutions who want to ensure nurses’ professional competencies are up to par. 

Having a system in place to evaluate the outcome of any development opportunities is vital for optimal, “scaleable” results. That way, you can iterate on any successes and rethink initiatives that were less helpful for other employee development instances.

6. Self-assessment for employee development

When looking for  employee development ideas , you’ll want to make sure your proposals are not only helpful, but relevant to employees’ unique standing. To do so, you’ll want to provide some avenue for self-assessment. 

Here is an employee self-evaluation questionnaire that managers can use as a guide for  reviewing an employee’s performance , skills, knowledge and role at an organization. Feel free to add a plain or patterned background, or change the fonts, colors and shapes too.

7. Competency assessment for employee development

This five-page competency assessment document covers three core competencies, which can then be used as part of your employees’ professional development plans. 

With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, it’s easy to resize any area or add more fields to your  human resource communications.  Simply select the shape and drag to resize it to your desired specifications. 

8. Skill-based employee development plan

This development plan measures and evaluates an employee’s competencies based on a set of skills and criteria. 

By quantifying any skills requirements and assigning corresponding action steps based on esults, you’ll be able to create a more coherent development plan backed by concrete goals and initiatives.

Related: 20+ Training Plan Templates for Every Business Need

9. Skills training matrix roadmap 

To identify top areas for development, it’s important to know how employees’ technical skills stack up. That’s where a skills gap analysis comes into play!

One such way to observe skill gaps is to compare an employee against a skills matrix. Below is an example that describes the skills needed for different marketing roles, along with the team members who have those abilities. 

Customize this template to help employees examine their skill gaps, or look for internal recruitment opportunities. Any department can benefit from trying this exercise! 

10. Training assessment checklist 

Looking for another way to assess where an employee’s at, so you can figure out the best learning solutions to offer? Then this two-page assessment checklist may do just the trick. 

Download this template in PDF to let employees grade an aspect of their current performance, compared with its relative importance to their overall role. This will illuminate the strengths and weaknesses an employee may have, and their understanding of how the position best operates. Based on this, you can identify skill gaps and potential better fits. 

Related: Creating an Effective Performance Management System with Visual Communication

11. Career development and transition plan

As stated, career development plans are particularly important for internal promotions — a major opportunity for career growth. 

The above  infographic  outlines a 10-step process for setting career goals and transitioning roles that you can easily customize. Swap in the steps you and your employee identify to personalize their journey from start to finish. 

12. Employee checklist 

Going deeper into the details is always a smart move when it comes to employee development programs. That’s why your documents do well to reflect this approach. 

Though this checklist is geared towards  onboarding new employees , why not repurpose it for developing new skills or learning the ropes of a new role? Use this template to get granular about the steps involved, and the distinct areas they’ll fall under. 

What are the benefits of an employee development plan?

Two birds, one stone? 

Correction: many benefits, one plan — because an employee development plan can help your organization…

• Attract and nurture talent 
• Improve employee performance  and efficiency (boosting customer satisfaction in the process)
• Keep employees’ technical knowledge and skills sharp and up-to-date
• Prepare employees for bigger roles in the company ( internal recruitment) 
• Make employees feel more motivated and productive
• Increase employee retention

Above offers a visual representation of this cyclical influence. 

Related: How to Create Engaging Training Materials with Visuals (+ 20 Templates & Examples)

Employee development plan FAQs

What should i write in my employee development plan.

There is no universal format for an employee development plan. Since employee development programs are made with an individual employee in mind, the employee plan should contain key elements that are specific and unique to both the individual employee and the organization’s approach to employee development. 

That being said, a typical professional development plan usually includes:

• Information regarding the employee’s current role, responsibilities and interests (i.e. the conditions that create the cause for development)
• Specific, measurable, relevant, and attainable goals for their professional development and career growth opportunities 
• Details of the employee’s current strengths, skills, knowledge and capacity to achieve those goals
• Actionable steps and development initiatives that will lead to the accomplishment of those goals
• A time frame for completing the steps
• A brief overview of how the development plan will fit with business goals 

How do you write a good development plan?

Here are some tips on how you can create a good development plan for employees:

• Identify the needs of both the employee and the organization.  If the needs of the employee and the organization are crystal clear, you’ll be able to determine the right opportunities and goals for their development.
• Make sure development goals are realistic.  Consider your organization’s budgets and resources, as well as the time and effort employees will need to dedicate to development activities . This guarantees that any goals set are practical and viable.
• Ask for employee input.  The key to an effective development plan is creating one that’s personalized. To do so, you’ll need to collaborate with your employee! The employee development plan’s main focus should be on the staff member.

What is a development goal example?

An employee development goal example would be learning leadership skills. Since development goals are specific, relevant and attainable goals that an employee needs to fulfill in order for the plan to be successful, outlining the concrete steps an employee will take in the learning process is key. 

For example, enrolling in leadership training or courses on project management, coaching and mentoring, or delegation and supervision all represent actionable steps one could take. 

Create an effective employee development plan

There you have it! I hope this article provided you with professional development plan examples that’ll help you get multiple birds  stoned  in no time. (Just no actual avian harm, please!) 

It’s true; with a great system for creating employee development plans in place, the sky’s the limit on what your staff — and your organization — will achieve.

Psst! Don’t forget to enhance your development planning processes, and any other business communications you need, using Venngage’s easy-to-edit templates and intuitive visual editor.  Sign up for free , and get started today. 

Discover popular designs

Infographic maker

Brochure maker

White paper online

Newsletter creator

Flyer maker

Timeline maker

Letterhead maker

Mind map maker

Ebook maker

NEW: Create engaging, efficient and insightful employee surveys – find out how

Talent Development

Download our performance review template.

Latest blog posts, how to build a professional development plan: examples and instructions.

Putting together a professional development plan can completely change the way you nurture and retain your top talent. After all, goals only become reality when there’s a plan behind them.

Detailed plans are needed for most achievements in life. With careers, that’s definitely the case. Think of it as a roadmap that contains the milestones that employees need to hit in order to arrive at their destination. Follow these professional development plan examples to help teams build actionable plans today.

• 1 What is a Professional Development Plan
• 2 Why Are Development Plans Important for Every Professional?
• 3 How To Build Your Professional Development Plan
• 4 Professional Development Plan: Example
• 5 Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Development Plans
• 6 Building Professional Development Plans Today

What is a Professional Development Plan

A professional development plan is a list of meaningful steps employees can take to reach their career goals. They are not just limited to high-level aspirations like joining the executive suite. They contain a detailed timeline of initiatives one can take to make it to that point. The plan should be a broader goal, with the smaller steps that you need to get there.

A timeline usually includes some combination of the following:

Education or training

Work experience

Building professional relationships

A career development plan is a personal roadmap for employees. This plan may also overlap with one created during a company’s performance management cycle process. These cycles align performance goals with business goals, but are tied only to an employee’s work within the organisation.

A professional development plan, on the other hand, must not be confined simply to day-to-day work. It all depends on where employees see themselves in the future.

Parts of a Development Plan

A personal development plan for work can vary from organisation to organisation. Its customisation helps employees create and contextualise their development plans for any business operation. Despite their differences, most plans will have four sections in common:

Professional Goals and Aspirations. This section showcases the employees’ career goals and what they hope to achieve while working with their company. It’s vital for helping workers develop in ways that help them achieve their goals.

Strengths and Talents. This section will outline the competencies and knowledge the employee has already developed, creating a benchmark for how much they have left to learn. 

Development Opportunities. Here, the manager or HR representative lists opportunities to get employees closer to their development goals.

Action Plans. This section is where the employee receives clear and achievable ways to reach the next step in their career. Typically, these are also tailored to help the employee gel better with their team. 

Why Are Development Plans Important for Every Professional?

Development planning can benefit both your workforce and, in turn, your company in various ways. Generally, it plays a vital role in keeping your employees happy and productive and it enables them to remain better prepared for the future.

1. They Help Close Skill Gaps

One of the main purposes behind building an employee development plan is to identify their strengths and weaknesses. That way, employees can capitalise on their skills while taking steps to improve themselves by training to improve the competencies they lack. 

2. They Increase Productivity

Because development plans teach workers new skills that make them more effective within their roles, they can also then use their time more effectively. An in-depth plan for improving themselves helps employees use their time more efficiently and accomplish more overall. 

3. They Boost Employee Engagement

Offering a personalised development plan to employees makes them feel supported within the workplace. This provokes a greater drive to succeed as they feel more engaged with the company.

4. They Encourage Employees To Stay 

Supporting an employee’s professional growth helps them feel more satisfied within their position, decreasing the chances of them moving on to another company. Staying with your company can improve their upward mobility while allowing you to retain top talent. 

5. They Foster a Positive Company Culture

Employees tend to give back the attitude they receive. Having the support of their leadership helps to build a work environment centred around inclusion and collaboration. 

Discover a New Partner in Workforce Planning

An HR software can be your greatest asset when it comes to planning out the future of your workforce, and your business. Speak with an expert today.

How To Build Your Professional Development Plan

Some experts advise developing a professional development plan by listing each of their career goals. For many however, that’s a difficult task. Goals assume you know exactly where you are now and have a clear handle on your strengths, weaknesses and interests in order to focus on what’s next.

What if an employee needs help with their professional development plan? Here’s how to get the ball rolling:

1. Understand What They Really Want

You need to figure out more about your employees before you can best grasp how to help them grow. That means more than just asking about their goals; it’s understanding where they are at the current point in their career. 

There are several ways that can help you learn about your team, for example: 

Giving them self-assessments

Analysing their current j ob performance

Learning what aspects of their roles they enjoy the most

Figuring out what they’re most skilled at

Self-Assessment Tools

Start by suggesting a self-assessment test. This is useful if employees are at a crossroads in their career or if they just want to check in with themselves to validate their gut feelings about their current career path.

There are plenty of online assessment tools that measure interests, skills and ideal working styles and environments for employees. These include:

The Big Five

CliftonStrengths 34

Myers–Briggs Type Indicator

Set aside some time to do at least one or two tests and see what insights you can collect from an employee.

Analyse Current Performance

Take a closer look at what an employee does now and how well they do it. This will yield insights about strengths and interests that they might not have noticed before. This can take place in a performance review .

A performance review is best conducted by an employee scheduling a meeting with their manager to see how they are progressing in the role. Ideally, these meetings should be happening regularly anyway. 

Together, they should look at the metrics used to evaluate success in their job and see where they stand. It’s useful here to cover questions such as:

How have they met or exceeded expectations?

How much value did they bring to the organisation during this period?

You can quickly see where an employee is pulling ahead and where they might need to focus more on trying to improve. It can also lead to a discussion on what they need to achieve in order to get to the next level.

Discover What Employees Enjoy Most

Along with evaluating their performance level in their current job, use that same opportunity to tease out which tasks they like most (and least). Start by having them look at their job description and list all the projects they have worked on recently, including smaller tasks. Look at their success metrics on these projects, too.

Then, mark those tasks they have enjoyed the most and those they found tedious or not valuable. This is another way to shed light on the direction in which goals should be moving. There are always tasks that an employee will like more or less than others, but by doing this exercise, you will hopefully spot patterns or at least bright spots that get the employee excited.

For instance, did they like doing analytical reporting during this period but didn’t like organising meetings? Then one of the goals in a professional development plan might be to take on more reporting projects.

Identify Top Skills

Take a look at the tasks an employee rated highly and make a list of the skills they used to complete them. This will help identify future projects where an employee can put those skills to use. It can even find areas for training in order to take those skills to the next level.

2. List Their Career Goals

Now that you know more about what your employee is good at and what they would like to pursue professionally, it’s time to formulate their goals. There are only two categories of goals to examine for this step:

Long-term goals. These are objectives your employee would like to achieve over the next several years.

Short-term goals. These are smaller goals that work as stepping stones for achieving larger ones.

Long-Term Goals

Looking further out, let’s say five to ten years, think about what an employee would like to achieve in the company or beyond it.

This long-term view should take into consideration the following items:

The position they would like to reach (through lateral moves or promotions)

Expertise that they need to have attained by that point

Other milestones that are important (for example, reaching a certain income level or being able to mentor high-potentials)

Short-Term Goals

Long-term goals require systematic work over time to reach them. Those actions become short-term goals. In other words, they are things that contribute to achieving the long-range goal, such as:

Acquiring skills or education

Building work experience to reach the next level

Working with and learning from certain leaders

For example, if an employee is an HR project manager now and their goal is to be an HR team lead within five years, a short-term goal may be to work toward a senior HR project manager position.

3. Identify Fillable Gaps

In this step, list the qualifications an employee needs to have in order to achieve each of their short-term goals. Then, help them determine where they fall short. These are the ‘gaps’ that they will need to fill.

There are two effective ways to identify the gaps in your employee’s skills:

Reading the description for a position they want

Performing a gap analysis

Read the Job Descriptions

Start by looking at the position description for the role that your employee wants to reach. Then compare the requirements of this role with their current one as a method of finding where they need improvement.

Using the example of the senior HR project manager above, you may see that it requires experience in developing top-level strategy and delivering presentations to the business leadership team. Now an employee has at least two areas where they need to develop skills in order to qualify for the job.

Perform a Gap Analysis

Doing a gap analysis also serves as a great place to start your focus. Let’s say an employee’s short-term goal is to achieve a certain position within two years, but the qualifications needed are beyond what can be managed in this time frame. 

Alternatively, you may realise that the qualifications don’t fit well to the strengths identified in the first step. Both of these are signs that maybe this goal needs an adjustment.

4. Build a Proper Professional Development Plan

This is where it all comes together. An employee now knows their interests, goals and what stands between them and these goals. Together, you need to map out the various actions an employee can take to realise each of these goals in the allotted time frame. These could include:

Adding responsibilities to a current role

Completing formal education

Taking training courses inside or outside the organisation

Doing side projects to build skills

Developing informal and formal mentoring relationships

Getting coaching from a co-worker or team leader

Redesigning a current role to focus more on strengths

Two things are important here. The first is attaching a timeline to each of the activities in a plan. For example: ‘Complete project management certification by the end of the year’ makes this a time-bound action. You can help do this by planning backwards from the goal deadline.

The second is nailing down resources. As an HR professional, figure out how you can help facilitate the development of your employee. Can your team shift the workload around so that the employee can engage in more of the projects to help to develop their skills?

The ability to get support will have an impact on how an employee’s plan develops and whether it is successful, so it is imperative for HR to be involved from the beginning.

5. Help Monitor Progress

As with any plan, you will need to stay on top of it in order to see it come to fruition. Revisit the plan with employees often, especially if you need to involve others in the company for support. A good idea is to encourage employees to check in with their plans on a monthly basis. This affords the time to make changes, as needed.

Professional Development Plan: Example

Below is a personal professional development plan example to help you develop one for your employees. This template allows each section to be recontextualised for other professions. The example worker used here is a member of the sales team.

Professional Goals and Aspirations

After interviewing the sales professional, you find that this employee is interested in a leadership position within the marketing career path. 

Strengths and Talents

In a self-assessment, you find that the employee has good communication skills and can work well as a part of a team.

Additionally, the employee has prior experience with marketing which is where they got this interest.

However, the employee’s marketing knowledge is somewhat outdated, and they have trouble thinking outside the box.

They also have very little experience in a supervisory role. 

Development Opportunities

There’s an experienced project lead in the marketing department that’s open to a mentorship role. 

A third-party organisation is offering on-site creativity workshops for all businesses within the area. 

Set up an Action Plan for Your Employees

Over the next month: Shadow the project lead and ask questions about their role within the company.

Over the next three months: Attend the creativity workshops offered by the outside organisation.

Over the next year: Ask for more responsibility within your department to show you can handle more work.

Within the next three years: Apply for a managerial position within the company’s marketing department.

Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Development Plans  

What is a professional development plan.

A professional development plan is a guide to help employees reach their career goals, often made collaboratively with their manager.

How Do You Write a Development Plan?

Writing a development plan tends to boil down to the following steps:

Learning and understanding an employee’s long-term career goals

Identifying the strengths that will help them achieve those goals

Finding opportunities to fill the skill gaps that will keep them from their goal

Developing a schedule for accomplishing tasks that will help them develop into better employees

What Is a Good Development Plan Example?

Goal: Earn a promotion within the marketing department.

Strengths and Weaknesses: You develop good communication skills but lack familiarity with social media communication. 

Opportunities: There’s a social media marketing webinar being held for the next two weeks.

Action Plan: Within the next two weeks, attend a social media marketing webinar to improve your skills with social media channels.

Building Professional Development Plans Today

It might seem obvious to HR that employees need a professional development plan to reach their career goals. Yet, many people don’t invest time in creating an actionable plan, or they create one and neglect to monitor its progress. That’s understandable.

The process of crafting a professional development plan takes time. It’s an exercise in thought and digging deep to discover what you really want. But the payoff of one can be huge, both for the individual employee and the company.

We would like to inform you that the contents of our website (including any legal contributions) are for non-binding informational purposes only and does not in any way constitute legal advice. The content of this information cannot and is not intended to replace individual and binding legal advice from e.g. a lawyer that addresses your specific situation. In this respect, all information provided is without guarantee of correctness, completeness and up-to-dateness.

Make Performance A Real Priority

Our range of over 180 online courses are fully accredited, trusted by more than 3 million learners and ideal for training you and your team.

• Food Hygiene
• Health and Safety
• Safeguarding
• Asbestos Awareness
• Fire Safety
• Mental Health
• Health and Social Care
• Business Essentials
• Team training

Welcome to the Hub, the company blog from High Speed Training.

Select a topic to find the most up to date, practical information and resources produced by our experts to support you in your professional life.

• Health & Safety

A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template

What is a personal development plan.

Personal development is an ongoing process that drives you to improve your knowledge, skills and experience, so that you can achieve your goals. A personal development plan (or PDP) is a method of focussing your goals into achievable steps, which helps you keep track of your personal development.

Download Free PDP Example/Template

Why Should I Create a Personal Development Plan?

Your plan may be aimed at your education, career or personal goal, or a mixture of all three – that is up to you to determine. Whatever the case may be, a good plan will provide you with a clear sense of focus. It helps you map out a path towards your goals, strategise a plan to achieve them, record the actionable steps you will take, and set a timeframe for completing them. Focussing your goals into a PDP helps you maintain your vision, keep on track to achieve your targets, and reflect on your progress.

Simply put, a PDP can help you build a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it.

Interested in Learning More?

Let us help with your personal development goals this year. Choose from a wide range of  business essentials courses , whether it be  Leadership and Management ,  Starting a Business , or  Coaching and Mentoring . You could have your CPD recognised certificate in a matter of hours!

A clear plan can also support your positive mental wellbeing and improve your level of satisfaction. It can provide a sense of direction, purposefulness and a feeling of success as you start to fulfil your potential. All of these can have very positive impacts on your mental health. 

Therefore, discovering what your goals are, getting organised and giving yourself a sense of direction can be incredibly beneficial. This article will give you an understanding of how to write a personal development plan, as well as provide you with a handy template to support your development journey.

How to Write a Personal Development Plan

There are seven steps to writing a PDP:

• Set yourself goals.
• Prioritise those goals.
• Set yourself deadlines for when you want to achieve them.
• Recognise threats and opportunities.
• Develop your skills or increase your knowledge.
• Use your support network.
• Measure your progress.

1. Set Yourself Goals

The first step is to set yourself goals . Think about what you want to achieve, whether that’s within a few weeks, within a year, or over your lifetime.

Deciding what you want is not only the first step in planning, it’s also the hardest. Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, that goal will provide clear direction and a structure for your resulting plan.

At this stage, your goals will feel big. You might be wondering how you are ever going to achieve them. Don’t worry – the next step is to prioritise and turn those goals into smaller, actionable steps that will support you on your way to achieving them.

2. Prioritising Your Goals

Now that you have your goals, the next stage is to break them down into smaller steps. When doing this, it’s important that your goals are SMART:

• Specific. Avoid large, ambiguous steps. These won’t support you on your way to achieving your goals. Insted, make sure that your goals are specific and clearly highlight the skill, knowledge or experience you want to develop.
• Measureable. You need to be able to monitor and reflect on your progress. Therefore, your goals need to be measurable, such as by setting a goal to develop your SEO knowledge with a measurable target of growing your website traffic by a set, defined percentage.
• Attainable. Your goals need to be achievable and realistic. You need to think about if it is something you can realistically achieve with the time and resources you have. If not, you will likely be setting yourself up for failure. 
• Relevant. It’s important to keep your overall goal in mind and make sure that every step you take is supporting you to achieve it. You don’t want to be spending time doing things that don’t get you where you want to go.
• Time-bound. Set yourself key targets to achieve and deadlines in which to achieve them. This will help you stay focussed on achieving your goals. However, it’s important to make sure you are realistic in what you can achieve in any given period. Don’t try to achieve everything all at once. It’s unrealistic and you won’t be setting yourself up well to achieve them. Remember that personal development is a journey – your PD plan can continue to grow and develop as you take those steps towards your goals.

Once you have your goals, you’ll need to prioritise them. 

In your PDP, you should be setting yourself mini goals to make the big ones happen.

For example, if you wish to pursue a career in academia as a senior lecturer and then a professor, a necessary step to succeeding in this goal is to achieve a PhD. So that would be one of your long-term goals. You then need to break it down into steps, such as:

• Learn about the PhD application process.
• Find a suitable university and supervisor for a PhD.
• Look at routes for funding.
• Find studentships to apply for or apply to your university of choice.
• Write and submit your PhD application.

3. Set Yourself Deadlines

Knowing when you want to achieve a goal is crucial, and picturing your future is an important source of motivation and inspiration.

Having goals and a set deadline will drive your motivation to achieve them. For example, if your goal is to buy a home, knowing when you want to achieve it will help you calculate exactly how much money you need to save each year in order to get your deposit. The same is true for your skills, knowledge and experience development. As mentioned above, setting realistic and time-bound goals are essential to achieving them. 

One good way to understand more about achieving your goals is to speak to those who have previously trodden a similar path. Learning about  their experiences can help you understand key barriers to, or methods of, success that may also be applicable to your PDP.

4. Recognise Threats and Opportunities

When considering your goals, you should identify your own strengths, consider areas of weakness you can develop, look at the opportunities available to support you in achieving your goals, and any threats that may hinder you in your progress. This is called a SWOT analysis. Note that these threats may be external or they may be core skills that you can develop as part of your PDP.

For example, a lack of motivation could hinder your plans to apply for a PhD. However, once you’ve identified your tendency to procrastinate or lose focus, you can put in place methods that will keep you motivated.

There are also going to be things that you could do, and connections with people or resources you could take advantage of, that will help you on your way. These are your opportunities that you should commit to doing.

For example, if there’s a conference coming up, take advantage of that. Go along and network, stay up to date on the latest knowledge, or even present a paper. These are all opportunities that could help you achieve your goals.

5. Develop Yourself

Once you have an idea of what could help or hinder you, this is when you can capitalise on those opportunities you recognised. Make an action plan about how you’ll make that progress.

Whatever it is that hinders you, there’s a way to stop it. Your plan is the first step to making sure you stay on track. 

So, why not take a look at how to upskill yourself , develop transferable skills in today’s rapidly changing jobs market, or even discover an online learning opportunity .

6. Use Your Support Network

The next thing you need to realise is that:

You don’t have to do everything by yourself.

And you shouldn’t. The support network around you is a valuable asset, so use it and don’t underestimate it.

In your PDP, list the people who can help you. This could be a financial advisor, a friend, or a colleague. People are often so happy to help you, more than you might realise.

7. Measure Progress

After you’ve achieved some progress, whether it’s big or small, take time to reflect on how far you’ve come.

Recognising what has gone well is an effective way to bolster your motivation and remain dedicated.

And after a setback, this is another time to take stock.

Wallowing – briefly – is a good way to feel what you need to without holding on to it. Holding onto sadness, anger or frustration, however, will only deter you. These emotions will take you nowhere and will only hinder you.

You should also spend a little time figuring out why it went wrong. Can you identify a skills or knowledge gap? 

 If you can, then you can get yourself back on track by focussing on your next step. This will reignite your sense of purpose and help you regain control, which is integral to making progress.

Continue to reflect on your progress. You can gain significant insight from your reflections and this can help you grow. Remember that you should update your plan where necessary. Don’t overload it at any one time but, once you have achieved your small steps, reflect and then update your plan to focus on your next move.

Free Personal Development Plan Example & Template

In this article, we have discussed how you can create your own personal development plan, so you should now feel ready to start considering your goals and developing your own plan. To help you produce an effective personal development plan, we have created an editable template that you can use. Take a look at our example PDP, and download your free template below:

Further Resources:

• How to Upskill Yourself
• What are Personal Development Goals for Work?
• Using Key Phrases in Performance Reviews & Appraisals
• Resilience Quiz
• Resilience in the Workplace: What are the Benefits and How Can Businesses Develop It?
• How to Stand Out in a Virtual Interview: Preparation Tips
• What is CPD? A Guide to Continuing Professional Development
• Writing A Professional Development Plan – Example & Template
• Business Essentials Courses

Post Author

Her favourite article is Five Top Learning and Development Trends for 2020

You may also like

Researched by Consultants from Top-Tier Management Companies

Powerpoint Templates

Icon Bundle

Kpi Dashboard

Professional

Business Plans

Swot Analysis

Gantt Chart

Business Proposal

Marketing Plan

Project Management

Business Case

Business Model

Cyber Security

Business PPT

Digital Marketing

Digital Transformation

Human Resources

Product Management

Artificial Intelligence

Company Profile

Acknowledgement PPT

PPT Presentation

Reports Brochures

One Page Pitch

Interview PPT

All Categories

Must-have HR Personal Development Plan Templates with Examples and Samples

"Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business."

                                                                                   - Richard Branson

Richard Branson's quote emphasizes the importance of employees as the most valuable assets within an organization and highlights the reciprocal relationship between employee care and business success. It underscores the significance of Human Resource Development in fostering a positive work environment. By investing in the growth and well-being of employees through training, mentorship, and support, organizations can empower their workforce to reach their full potential. When employees feel valued, supported, and engaged, they are more likely to exhibit dedication, loyalty, and high performance. This, in turn, leads to improved productivity, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, the overall success of the organization. Therefore, prioritizing Human Resource development initiatives becomes essential in cultivating a thriving and prosperous workplace.

Therefore, SlideTeam brings you a collection of content-ready and custom-made PPT templates to empower your HR professionals by focusing on key areas like social growth, mental growth, spiritual growth, emotional growth, and physical growth. This power-packed presentation is a roadmap to success, providing clear and actionable steps for individual growth, skill enhancement, and career advancement. From setting SMART goals to honing essential skills, these ready to use slides cover it all, helping your team become the best version of themselves.

Let’s browse the collection below and outline a well-crafted plan to boost workforce morale.  

Let’s begin!

Template 1: HR Personal Development Plan for Employee Welfare Slide

This ready-made template is designed to streamline your employee development process. With key points including preparing employees, planning developmental activities, monitoring performance, and building confidence, it provides a comprehensive solution for enhancing workforce productivity and satisfaction. Easy to use and conveniently presented as a one-slider template, this template is 100% editable and can be customized according to your preference.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Template 2: Areas of Personal Development for HR Plan

This top-notch PowerPoint template showcases key areas of personal development including mental, social, spiritual, emotional, and physical growth. With visually appealing icons and graphics, it exhibits steps to strengthen the plan and provide your employees with engaging HR experience. Empower your team members to achieve holistic growth and well-being. By integrating our template into your HR strategy, you can cultivate a supportive and thriving work environment. Get this template and increase your efficiency.

Template 3: SMART Goals for HR Personal Development Plan

The SMART Goals for HR Personal Development Plan template offers a structured approach to enhance professional growth in the marketing field. By using Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals, marketers can focus on targeted skill development, such as data analysis, campaign optimization, or customer segmentation. This template facilitates efficient planning and execution, ensuring marketers can align their personal growth objectives with the marketing industry's demands and achieve measurable success in their careers. Grab the opportunity now!

Template 4: HR Personal Development Plan Checklist

With its visually appealing design and strategic points like fostering psychological safety and optimizing time management, it's an invaluable tool for enhancing employee development. Download this template to empower your workforce and unlock their full potential with ease.

DOWNLOAD NOW  

Template 5: HR Personal Development Plan Cycle

The HR Personal Development Plan Cycle slide template exudes an engaging design, inviting viewers to explore its contents. With its customizable nature, users have the flexibility to adapt it to their specific needs. The template features five crucial stages: employee evaluation, goal setting, required actions, action implementation, and employees' reactions. The use of graphics elevates the overall presentation, making it both informative and visually appealing. Click on the link below to access it.

Template 6: Methodologies for HR Personal Development Plan Template

This is a content-ready PPT template that features a captivating yet simple design that will help you capture your audience’s attention. The template includes various methodologies such as coaching and training, job enrichment, and job rotation. With its user-friendly format, it's an ideal tool for creating personalized HR strategies and fostering professional growth. Download this ready-made template now to leave a good impression on your audience.

Template 7: Roadmap for HR Personal Development Plan Slide

The slide highlights key steps involved in the process, including determining business goals, fostering effective employee interactions, analyzing organizational skills, setting up self-development activities for employees, and monitoring quarterly results. Visual aids such as road illustrations and icons are incorporated to enhance clarity and comprehension. Download this ready to use PPT template that serves as a visual guide for HR professionals to effectively plan and implement personal development initiatives that align with organizational objectives and drive employee growth and success.

Template 8: HR Personal Development Plan with Progress Sheet

This is an actionable PowerPoint slide designed to track and monitor the progress of employees' personal development goals. The slide features a table with columns for setting goals, defining deadlines, outlining required actions, specifying necessary skills, and tracking progress. It provides you with a comprehensive overview of employees' development journeys, facilitating effective monitoring, evaluation, and support to help them achieve their professional growth objectives. 

Template 9: HR Personal Development Plan KPI Dashboard

This versatile slide template showcases HR performance indicators. With ratings, a training track record, and an annual training budget display, it provides valuable insights into personal development and training progress. The bar graphs showcase the number of trainings conducted each month, enabling HR teams to monitor their training initiatives and make informed decisions for continuous improvement. Click on the link below to access it right away.

T emplate 10: Impact of HR Personal Development Plan 

This template showcases the positive outcomes of implementing a customized plan. It highlights key areas such as increased employee retention, more empowered employees, and improved performance. The template provides space to include relevant data and statistics, allowing for a comprehensive representation of the actual impact of the HR Personal Development Plan on these factors. Download this to get a structured viewpoint of the impact of such a plan.

Investing in employee development and well-being is crucial for business success. Prioritizing Human Resource development initiatives lead to engaged and high-performing employees, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and overall organizational growth. Explore our collection of customizable templates to effortlessly create visually appealing presentations and elevate your HR strategies. Simplify the design process and deliver impactful presentations that resonate with your audience.

Effective HR training is essential for improving employee engagement, developing leadership skills, fostering diversity and inclusion, mitigating workplace conflicts, and aligning HR practices with organizational goals for long-term success. Click here to access our Human Resource Training Playbook Templates to improve your employees’ performance, enhance their skills and productivity, measure their performance, and boost your business.

FAQs on HR Personal Development Plan

What is a personal development plan in hr.

In HR, a personal development plan is a tool that assists employees in identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations. It outlines specific goals, development activities, and timelines to enhance skills, knowledge, and capabilities, promoting individual growth and maximizing potential within the organization.

How do I write a personal development plan for HR?

To write a personal development plan for HR, assess your current skills, define career goals, set measurable objectives, identify relevant development activities, create a timeline, seek feedback, and regularly update the plan to adapt to your HR career growth.

Related posts:

• Top 10 Human Resource Management Templates with Samples and Examples
• [Updated 2023] 25 Best Career Planning PPT Templates To Design Your Future
• Top 35 Career Development Templates for a Promising Future
• The 2021 Productivity Guide That Every HR Manager Should Follow (and Top Templates to Get the Most Out of It)

Liked this blog? Please recommend us

Grab Funding For Your Game With These Gaming PowerPoint Templates

Must-Have Department Manager Cover Letter Template to Impress Your Hiring Manager

This form is protected by reCAPTCHA - the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Digital revolution powerpoint presentation slides

Sales funnel results presentation layouts

3d men joinning circular jigsaw puzzles ppt graphics icons

Business Strategic Planning Template For Organizations Powerpoint Presentation Slides

Future plan powerpoint template slide

Project Management Team Powerpoint Presentation Slides

Brand marketing powerpoint presentation slides

Launching a new service powerpoint presentation with slides go to market

Agenda powerpoint slide show

Four key metrics donut chart with percentage

Engineering and technology ppt inspiration example introduction continuous process improvement

Meet our team representing in circular format

Professional Development Plan

A professional development plan documents the goals, required skill and competency development, and objectives a staff member will need to accomplish in order to support continuous improvement and career development. A professional development plan is created by the manager working closely with the staff member to identify the necessary skills and resources to support the staff member's career goals and the organization's business needs.

Professional development for staff members begins when a new member joins your team. In addition, all staff members should have a "living" professional development plan in place. Planning should not take place only after an staff member is identified as needing improvement. Professional development plans should be reviewed on an on-going basis throughout the year, with at least one interim review discussion between the staff member and supervisor prior to the end of the yearly performance review period.

Forms to Create a Professional Development Plan

There are no Resource items to show.

Professional Development Planning Steps

Use the following steps to create a professional development plan with your employee. Feel free to use the example professional development plans (listed above) to assist you in the process.

Step One: Request a self-assessment from the staff member

Step two: develop your assessment of the individual's skill level, step three: assess the department and organization's needs, step four: explore development opportunities with the staff member, step five: record and analyze the staff member's progress.

Have the staff member complete a self-assessment of their interests, skills, values, and personality. Use the sample performance planning and self-assessment forms listed to the right to assist in the process. When evaluating the staff member's responses, keep these questions in mind:

• What skills, career opportunities, technologies interest the individual?
• Do those skills/interests/goals support the organization's needs and goals?
• What are the short and long term steps to get there?

Based on the staff member's self-assessment, their work record, and your own observations, determine the staff member's skill level in the following categories:

• Technical skills: skills needed to get the job done.
• Social skills: how do they work with others?
• Aptitudes: natural talents; special abilities for doing, or learning to do, certain kinds of things.
•  Attitude: outlook, feelings, mind-set, way of thinking, and point of view.

In order for professional development to be successful, the staff member's needs and interests must be applied to address organizational objectives. The staff member's career path must align with the organization's workforce needs. In creating a professional development plan, consider the following goals:

• Big Duke" goals
• Departmental goals
• Individual goals

Explore the professional development opportunities available at Duke with your staff member. Some examples include:

• Professional Development Academy - The Professional Development Academy is a center dedicated to providing professional development training programs and resources for staff that supports identified staffing needs across Duke. The Academy offers long-term training programs with a tailored curriculum designed to develop skills and capabilities needed to fill identified job opportunities across Duke.
• New Projects & Responsibilities - Explore what new projects and responsibilities the staff member can assist with in their own department. Staff members can use such opportunities to develop new skills such as web design, business writing, and project management.
• Workshops & Seminars - Learning & Organizational Development offers a variety of workshops and seminars that help an staff member develop their work and computer technology skills
• Educational Opportunities - There are a variety of educational opportunities available at Duke and in the Durham area. For a list of available resources, please refer to Training .
• Volunteer Opportunities - Volunteer opportunities can present a unique way for an staff member to develop certain professional skills.  Search the Duke Today web site for a list of volunteer opportunities at Duke (look under the "Volunteer Opportunities" tab).
• Mentorship - Interested staff can be paired with mentors for a variety of activities including information interviews, shadowing, tutorials, etc. For more mentoring resources, please visit the Mentoring @ Duke web site. The Professional Development Academy can also provide assistance with determining professional goals before you seek a mentoring relationship.

Collect feedback from the staff member about their development progress to assist in identifying what the staff member is doing well, build on their skills, correct any problems that may arise, and help them develop new abilities that will improve personal performance as well as organizational outcomes.

Use a Performance Log for tracking, recording and providing feedback from the staff member. Record dates, events, expectations, and the impact of action steps on their development. Make sure to record:

• Observations of enhanced skills or knowledge and how they were applied.
• Progress towards goals and objectives.
• Observations where skills / knowledge could be applied - use for future discussion.

Registration for Inspire 2024 is now open!

• [wpml_language_selector_widget]
• Sales: + 1.800.681.4601
• Docebo Help  
• Investors  

7 Employee Development Plan Examples to Help Your Team Succeed

Why do you need employee development plans, let alone employee development plan examples? No employee can ever (or would ever want to) stand still. There is almost always room for improvement, ways in which you can apply learning and development concepts to build new skills and help your employees meet their career goals.

But that process doesn’t happen magically. You need a strategic employee development program to achieve professional growth and optimize your performance management.

According to a 2022 Society of Human Resources Management report, 48% of employees call training opportunities a significant factor in choosing their job. Meanwhile, more than three-quarters are more likely to stay in their current role and organization if they get that opportunity.

But building strategic development opportunities can still be a struggle. Sure, you can put a mentoring program in place. But ultimately, modern L&D needs to be customized to each employee to truly build their competency.

Getting there means building roadmaps for your employee training program. Those roadmaps, in turn, are exactly why you need an employee development plan.

What is a professional development plan?

As we’ll highlight in this article, employee development plan examples can diverge quite heavily from one another. But they all tend to fall under a general definition we can use to get us started:

A professional or employee development plan is a written document that outlines how your employees, both individually and as a team, can meet their professional goals. It pulls from and builds toward performance reviews, making them more relevant and actionable to help team members improve and meet both short-term and long-term goals.

5 key features that the best employee development plan examples tend to share

Not all professional development plans are created equal. Some may focus on leadership skills, while others are designed for onboarding. Some lead to formal certifications, while others are closer connected to more informal mentorship programs. But all of them tend to share a few key features designed to make them effective:

• Time-bound. While some employee development plan examples focus on it more than others, all plans should have at least some specific time frame attached to evaluate initiatives after their completion.
• Milestones. In addition to an ending time, regular milestones help employees and supervisors check in on their progress and ensure a higher chance of success.
• Evaluation of current skills. Establishing a baseline of your employees’ skills allows you to perform a skills gap analysis and makes it easier to measure the growth in your employees’ skill sets.
• Action-oriented. Any effective employee development plan should have actionable steps specifically designed to build that above-mentioned roadmap. Those steps help to create a more intentional training plan.
• Measurable. Whether they’re designed for career growth or to help achieve company goals, development plans should be specific and include the right metrics to easily measure learning effectiveness .

The employee development plan examples shared below all include these components. As you build your own development plans and templates, keep these factors in mind to maximize your chances of success.

How does the right plan help you meet your business goals?

Put simply, a development plan makes the process of development initiatives more concrete. By outlining exactly what should be achieved and how it can be achieved, this type of growth plan can go a long way in helping your individual employees and your team meet crucial development goals.

Just as importantly, the right plan can also drive employee engagement . Especially when focusing on skill development related to an employee’s career or leadership development, telling your team members how they can get there and providing the support to do so has a significant impact on job satisfaction and employee retention.

Seven employee development plan examples you can implement right now

That’s it for the generalities. Now, it’s time to jump into the employee development plan examples specifically designed to nurture more high-performing employees.

1. Time-based individual development plan

As its name suggests, this plan orients itself around a timeline on which to achieve crucial employee goals. It’s typically based around a twelve-month calendar to align with annual employee performance reviews.

This type of plan can be built on individual goals or skills to be developed as the core variable. It should define an outcome for either of those variables, along with the timeframe at which it can be achieved. That ties the goals of the plan directly to the timeline, shown in a calendar view or Gantt chart to keep a visual overview.

2. Team-based action plan for development

Employee development plan examples don’t have to be limited to individual team members. This option creates an action plan for the entire team, helping to build core competencies as you look to improve performance and cohesion across the operation.

This plan starts with an assessment, often in the form of a SWOT analysis of where the team currently is. The insights gained help create a roadmap to fix weaknesses and build on strengths. In addition to overarching team goals, each team member should also have specific goals and objectives to achieve that lead to those larger goals.

3. Career development plan for team members

It’s time to think broadly. Ultimately, a successful career is as beneficial for the company as it is for the employee in question. It’s why career development is a leading factor not just for employee engagement but also for improving the productivity of your workforce.

A career development plan should begin with an outline of the employee’s career goals. These goals are then compared to current skills via skill gap analysis. The outcome of that analysis, in turn, can lead to a more specific plan on what skills to prioritize and develop.

Unlike some of the other employee development plan examples on this list, a career development plan can stretch over multiple years. Still, attaching specific timelines—like a three-year or five-year time frame—can help employees and managers alike keep track of their success.

4. Skills-based development plan for new employees

Training is a core piece of onboarding, and the right plan can help you make sure that every new employee is well-prepared for success. This type of plan helps your newest team members develop soft skills like communication skills, connecting typical onboarding lessons and seminars to a results-oriented plan for productivity.

Any skills-based development plan begins with establishing exactly what skills should be addressed. From there, it’s about establishing the employees’ current level of proficiency in the skill set and a timeline for how they can close the gap.

The best part about this type of plan is that it can easily be standardized. Because every new hire must go through the same steps, you can easily build a new employee development plan template that applies each time someone starts working in a given team.

5. Succession planning and development plan

In an ideal organizational flow, junior employees strategically learn the skills needed to move into more responsibility and ultimately into leadership roles. A strategic succession plan can help you get there.

Similar to the above onboarding plan, this version outlines the key skills needed to succeed in leadership. It then establishes exactly how proficient junior, manager, and senior leadership employees should be in those specific skills. That outline then establishes a roadmap you can easily apply to more specific, time-based plans for each employee.

6. Professional development and upskilling plan

Professional development, of course, can also go beyond specific succession or career planning. Upskilling remains one of the most underinvested types of L&D, and this type of plan can help you prioritize it.

The core idea is building a development plan based on skills your employees can benefit from. Think of it less as career growth and more as internal growth. For instance, any employee can benefit from better communication or organizational skills, regardless of their specific roles or career paths.

7. Self-evaluation and development plan

Finally, don’t underestimate the potential power of engaged employees looking to evaluate and track their own progress. Especially for self-motivated employees, this can become an important part of employee growth. For your organization, supporting these self-starter employees can lead to significant benefits.

This is the least structured of the employee development plan examples mentioned in this guide. It should provide general guidelines to your employees, like a suggested timeline or fields to enter goals and skills to be developed. Other than that, it’s up to your employees to complete, which makes it a powerful plan, especially in combination with some of the more structured options above.

From examples to implementation: How to get started

Regardless of the exact type(s) you implement, employee development plans can be invaluable to successful L&D. They structure the entire process, helping managers and employees understand exactly where to focus, what to work toward, and how to evaluate success.

But, of course, a plan is just the beginning. You also need the means to implement it, which is where the right LMS system comes into play.

How are your employees training their skills? How can you ensure that the plan’s implementation goes as well as its planning? Why not turn to the #1 global learning platform? Book your demo with Docebo today to learn how you can make the most out of your employee and team development plans.

Platform Modules

• Learning Management
• Content Creation
• Content Marketplace
• Embedded Learning
• Learning Intelligence

Plattform-Module

• Extended Enterprise
• Mobile App Publisher
• Docebo for MS Teams
• Docebo for Salesforce
• Strategic Services
• Integrations
• Financial Services
• Manufacturing
• Restaurant & Hospitality
• Tech / IT Services
• Customers Stories
• Whitepapers

Education & Community

• Docebo Community
• Product Updates
• Careers We’re hiring
• Awards and Industry Recognition

In the spotlight: Performance management that puts people first

In volatile times, companies are under outsize pressure to respond to economic, technological, and social changes. Effective performance management systems can be a powerful part of this response. They’re designed to help people get better in their work, and they offer clarity in career development and professional performance. And then there’s the big picture: companies that focus on their people’s performance are 4.2 times more likely to outperform their peers, realizing an average 30 percent higher revenue growth and experiencing attrition five percentage points lower (see sidebar, “About the research”). Companies that focus on their people and organizational health also reap dividends in culture, collaboration, and innovation—as well as sustained competitive performance. 1 Alex Camp, Arne Gast, Drew Goldstein, and Brooke Weddle, “ Organizational health is (still) the key to long-term performance ,” McKinsey, February 12, 2024.

Today, company leaders lack full confidence in most performance management systems—despite these systems’ importance and value—citing fragmentation, the existence of informal or “shadow” systems, misalignment, and inconsistency as common challenges. What sort of systems fit the company’s needs? Should rewards focus on individual or team goals? Where are limited resources best spent?

About the research

The insights in this article draw from a comprehensive review of industry best practices, including the experiences of more than 30 global companies across sectors, as well as research by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) into how companies gain a competitive edge and deliver top-tier financial results. Specifically, MGI studied more than 1,800 companies with revenues of greater than $100 million. 1 Performance through people: Transforming human capital into competitive advantage ; MGI, February 2, 2023. The article’s author team also completed a study of more than 50 companies’ performance management practices, aiming to provide a nuanced understanding of how organizations approach and execute performance management.

An understanding of the four basic elements of performance management—goal setting, performance reviews, ongoing development, and rewards—provides a foundation for answering these questions and more. Of course, the right performance management system will vary by organization. Leaders who embrace a fit-for-purpose design built on a proven set of core innovations can build motivational and meritocratic companies that attract and retain outstanding employees.

How leading companies approach performance management

Our research across a set of global companies found that despite widespread agreement about certain performance management best practices—such as offering regular feedback outside of an annual review—many companies remain stuck in old ways of working. There are many design choices that can determine the characteristics of a performance management system, but some are more critical than others (Exhibit 1). These decisions—and how they interact with each other—will help determine how the performance management system maps onto the company’s overarching strategy.

Goal setting

Two critical design decisions relate to goal setting: the number of performance management systems used and whether to prioritize individual or team performance goals.

Degree of differentiation. The simplest and best option for many organizations is a single performance management system to address the needs of all employees. However, in more-complex companies with several employee groups, more than one system might be necessary. Manufacturing companies, for instance, may employ three performance management systems with few commonalities: one for sales, in which sales agents are provided direct incentives for the number of goods sold; one for production, with a monthly rhythm focusing on improving core production KPIs; and one for executives, in which the focus might be related more to annual objectives and leadership behavior.

Considerations for these choices often revolve around the nature of the work and the ease of quantifying outputs. For roles in which performance can be easily measured through tangible metrics, such as sales and production, a system emphasizing quantifiable outcomes may be more suitable. On the other hand, for roles involving tasks that are less easily measured, such as those in R&D, a performance management system should be designed to accommodate the nuanced and less tangible aspects of their contributions.

The nucleus of performance. Many organizations have traditionally placed a strong emphasis on individual performance, rooted in the belief that individual accountability drives results. In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift toward recognizing the importance of the team in achieving overall organizational success.

At a large European online retailer, for instance, the focus of performance management has been put on the team rather than the individual. Goals are set for the team, feedback is given to the team, and the performance appraisal is conducted for the team. Example performance metrics for teams can include project completion timelines, cross-functional collaboration success, and the achievement of collective milestones. On an individual level, the company assesses performance using a sophisticated model that prescribes skills and behaviors for 14 job families, each with up to four hierarchies.

Another prominent company in the automotive industry underscores the team as the cornerstone of performance. The teams could be defined along both functional and organizational lines—such as the division or the business line—and the company linked the organizational lines’ performance to the individuals’ compensation.

Performance reviews

Performance reviews raise the question of how to balance the individual objectives and their appraisal with respect to the “what” and the “how,” as well as whether review responsibility should lie primarily with managers, committees, or a combination of both.

Performance formula: What versus how. The balance between setting objectives and assessing what employees accomplish and how they go about their work is the central focus here. To measure the “what,” reviews have traditionally used KPIs, concentrating on quantifiable metrics and specific targets and emphasizing measurable outcomes and achievements. 2 For more on metrics best practices and how they can help leaders avoid pitfalls in their performance management systems, see Raffaele Carpi, John Douglas, and Frédéric Gascon, “ Performance management: Why keeping score is so important, and so hard ,” McKinsey, October 4, 2017.

However, for many roles and in many segments of the company, the work is complex, multifaceted, and fast-paced and can be difficult to capture with rather static KPIs. Consequently, many companies have reverted to using objective key results (OKRs) to link results to defined objectives. The objectives represent the qualitative, aspirational goals an individual or team aims to achieve, while the key results are the quantifiable metrics used to measure progress toward those objectives. The objectives provide context and direction, capturing the broader strategic intent behind the measurable key results.

Companies that explicitly focus a portion of performance reviews on the “how” consider qualities such as collaboration, communication, adaptability, and ethical decision making. Considering behavior and conduct, in particular, can help assess leaders whose teams’ outcomes are hard to measure—such as long-term projects, complex initiatives, or qualitative improvements that may not have easily quantifiable metrics. About three in five companies in our sample look at a mix of both what and how, which can equip managers with a more comprehensive understanding of not only tangible results but also the underlying approach and mindset that contributed to those outcomes.

Review responsibility. In structuring accountability for conducting performance reviews, companies tend to lean on managers, committees, or a combination of both.

Managers should play a central role, and their discretion should be a significant factor in performance assessments because they can judge the context in which an employee has been working. For example, when evaluating performance, it’s crucial to consider the headwinds and tailwinds that the business, team, or employee faced during the evaluation period. External factors, market conditions, and organizational dynamics can significantly affect an employee’s ability to achieve their goals, and considering them helps provide a fair and contextual assessment.

In this context, another design question emerges: whether to appraise employees against OKR fulfilment or the effort they put into achieving the desired outcome. Particularly in many large digital players, OKRs are set as “moonshot” goals—objectives so ambitious they are difficult to achieve. Managers can help ensure that, at the end of the performance cycle, an employee is assessed against not only OKR fulfillment but also—and to an even greater degree—how hard they tried given the resources available to them.

Managers’ points of view, formed with knowledge of the circumstances that produced employees’ performance, produce richer assessments that are sensitive to context—given that managers work closely with their team members and have firsthand knowledge of the challenges, workloads, and specific situations that each employee encounters.

Committees, meanwhile, bring diverse perspectives and can mitigate biases that might arise from individual managers’ subjectivity. Committees can provide a checks-and-balances system, promoting consistency and standardization in the evaluation process.

A combination of these two approaches can be an effective solution. Senior managers and high performers across hierarchies could be discussed in committees, while the rest of the workforce could be evaluated by their direct managers. This integrated approach leverages the contextual insights of managers while also incorporating the diverse viewpoints and standardization that committees offer, particularly for more-senior or high-impact roles.

Regardless of the review responsibility structure, it’s worth noting that more and more managers, committees, and employees are using generative AI (gen AI) to aggregate and extract information to inform performance reviews. For example, some employees may toil to define clear, specific, and measurable goals that align with their career aspirations; gen AI can help create a first draft and iterate based on their role, helping the employee focus on their specific growth areas as well as gauge improvement on an ongoing basis. Managers and committees, meanwhile, used to spend a lot of time gathering performance metrics from different sources and systems for employee evaluation. Gen AI can aggregate input from various sources into a consolidated format to provide managers with a more comprehensive starting point for reviews.

Beyond employees’ formal professional-development opportunities, their managers’ capability to set goals, appraise performance fairly and motivationally, and provide feedback is one of the most critical success factors for an effective performance management system. As a result, many companies have pivoted to invest in focused capability building.

Ongoing development

Another key aspect to consider when designing a performance management system is the focus of the assessment: will it evaluate past performances, or will the emphasis be placed on creating an understanding and foundation for further growth?

A backward-looking assessment will focus on fulfillment of the what and how objectives to create a fair basis for ranking and related consequences. However, many companies are pivoting to complement this assessment or are even focusing entirely on a developmental appraisal. In this approach, the focus is on truly understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the individual as a basis for further development, capability building, and personal growth.

Against that backdrop, rather than concentrating solely on top performers, an inclusive developmental system should cater to the growth needs of employees across all levels and backgrounds. McKinsey research emphasizes the importance of ongoing development for all employees, including—crucially—efforts tailored specifically for women 3 Women in the Workplace 2023 , McKinsey, October 5, 2023. and other underrepresented groups. 4 Diversity matters even more: The case for holistic impact , McKinsey, December 5, 2023. Such development programs not only foster a more equitable culture but also help unlock the full potential of the entire workforce.

Traditionally, many companies have used relative ratings to compare and rank employees against one another, often resulting in a forced distribution or curve. Employees are placed into categories or tiers based on their relative performance, with a predetermined percentage falling into each category (for example, top 10 percent, middle 70 percent, and bottom 20 percent).

Many companies today are simplifying their ratings systems so employees understand where they stand while shifting toward development approaches tailored to individuals’ strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to identify areas for growth and provide targeted support to help employees enhance their capabilities and skills.

While assessing performance remains important, the emphasis should be on using those assessments as a starting point for identifying developmental opportunities, with an understanding of both strengths and weaknesses and the specific development needs to improve performance. The focus shifts from mere evaluation to understanding the underlying factors that contribute to an individual’s performance, be it skills gaps, mindsets, or environmental factors.

Four reward categories—compensation, career progression, development opportunities, and recognition—remain the core pillars of an effective performance management system. Most leading companies provide individual rewards (as opposed to team- or corporate-driven ones), with equal relevance given to short- and long-term incentives, looking at impact holistically and balancing investment in all four reward categories.

Under certain circumstances, it may make sense to emphasize financial rewards, particularly in sales functions or other roles where monetary incentives are highly valued. Indeed, some organizations may double down on monetary compensation, offering significantly higher pay packages to their top performers, because money is seen as a key motivator in these roles.

In other cases, it may be more effective to take money off the table and emphasize nonfinancial rewards, such as recognition, flexibility, and career development opportunities. While base pay may remain the same across the firm, high performers can be rewarded with faster career progression, more recognition, and better development opportunities. A 2009 McKinsey survey found that “three noncash motivators—praise from immediate managers, leadership attention (for example, one-on-one conversations), and a chance to lead projects or task forces” were “no less or even more effective motivators than the three highest-rated financial incentives: cash bonuses, increased base pay, and stock or stock options.” Furthermore, “The survey’s top three nonfinancial motivators play critical roles in making employees feel that their companies value them, take their well-being seriously, and strive to create opportunities for career growth.” 5 “ Motivating people: Getting beyond money ,” McKinsey Quarterly , November 1, 2009. More than a decade later, McKinsey research found that managers and employees remain misaligned: specifically, employers overlook the relational elements—such as feeling valued by a manager and the organization and feeling a sense of belonging—relative to how important these factors are to employee retention (Exhibit 2). 6 “ ‘ Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours ,” McKinsey Quarterly , September 8, 2021. Indeed, the importance of nonmonetary incentives represents a consistent theme in performance management research and inquiry.

Given the time and effort required to effectively implement nonfinancial rewards, it’s crucial for organizations to carefully consider how to deploy these rewards strategically with employee groups. The decision of where to place emphasis should align with the organization’s culture, values, and the specific workforce’s motivations.

It’s worth noting that companies focusing on team achievement over individual performance also tend to value praise of the team. Public recognition and praise for effective teamwork and joint accomplishments can foster a sense of unity, camaraderie, and motivation.

Things to get right

Of the global companies we observed, there was a shared set of enabling factors across those with effective performance management systems. These things are fairly intuitive, but they are hard to practice well. Done consistently, they can produce powerful results.

• Ensure that performance management systems are agile. Systems should allow for goals to be easily updated so the workforce—and therefore the organization—can respond to quickly changing conditions. The processes themselves should also be agile. For instance, relationships and interactions between managers and employees should allow for coaching that is close to real time so employees are consistently being pushed in the right direction—and learning to create that momentum themselves.
• Provide regular feedback. Annual reviews can create a bottleneck on managers and the C-suite. More regular performance conversations can be successful in a variety of formats; quarterly, weekly, and casual check-ins should supplement formal reviews. Conversations can be about both the what and the how of the work and be a source of ongoing coaching.

If reviews remain once a year rather than more frequent, top management may consider prioritizing their direct involvement in the evaluation process to keep a pulse on employee sentiment and progress. A leading financial institution in Europe chose this route and found it was able to build a strong capability-building program around a feedback culture that is unafraid of difficult conversations.

• Establish an effective fact base. According to our research, only two in five companies use both upward and downward evaluation in individual performance reviews. To establish a more comprehensive fact base, organizations can implement robust 360° review processes that solicit feedback from an employee’s manager, peers, direct reports, and even customers or stakeholders outside the company. Many leaders have found that 360° reviews offer a comprehensive understanding of an individual’s performance because such reviews consider perspectives from both those who are led and those who are in leadership roles.
• Maintain rating and differentiation. Many companies have reassessed their approach to employee ratings and the subsequent differentiation of consequences. While some companies have eliminated ratings altogether, most companies have been evolving their systems to drive motivation, recognize and incentivize performance, and create a “talent currency.” This means a high performer from one division is considered by the organization to be of the same caliber as one from another division. Overall, leaders are pushing for simplification, such as moving from a seven-tier approach to a four-tier or even three-tier system. There is also a stronger link between ratings and outcomes, as well as a shift from forced distribution to distribution guidance.
• Employ gen AI. Gen AI—the latest technology to change the business landscape—can be a tool to support select elements of performance management, such as setting goals and drafting performance reviews. A manager could use the technology to aggregate and synthesize input from different sources to draft communications to and about employees more efficiently, freeing them to focus on the core value driving parts of performance management and giving more time for personal interactions with their employees, such as coaching and feedback. 7 For more, see People and Organization Blog , “ Four ways to start using generative AI in HR ,” blog post by Julian Kirchherr, Dana Maor, Kira Rupietta, and Kirsten Weerda, McKinsey, March 4, 2024.

Getting started

Companies can get started by understanding where they are now. Specifically, they should assess their organizations’ current performance culture, including the level of adoption of the existing performance management system and its quality. Decision makers should then use the following three questions to check the health of their performance management efforts and outline their ambitions for performance management:

• Are we getting the expected returns from the time invested in the performance management process, and does it drive higher performance and capabilities?
• Does the current performance management system reflect the needs and context of this particular business or workforce segment?
• Do we have a performance culture? (Hint: How frequent are employees’ coaching interactions? How clear and differentiated is feedback?)

Many traditional approaches to people management are unlikely to suffice in today’s top-performing organizations. The research-backed benefits of prioritizing people’s performance, from enhanced revenue growth to lower attrition rates, underscore the strategic importance of these systems. By embracing a fit-for-purpose design anchored in the key elements of performance management, organizations can position themselves as dynamic and adaptive employers.

Simon Gallot Lavallée is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Milan office, where Andrea Pedroni  is a partner; Asmus Komm is a partner in the Hamburg office; and Amaia Noguera Lasa is a partner in the Madrid office.

The authors wish to thank Katharina Wagner, Brooke Weddle, and the many industry professionals who contributed to the development of this article.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

Gen AI talent: Your next flight risk

Increasing your return on talent: The moves and metrics that matter

CEO excellence: How do leaders assess their own performance?

24 Examples of Performance Goals at Work

We’re willing to bet that your ultimate aim as a business is to be as successful as possible, right? Of course, it is. But the only realistic way to achieve this is by making sure that your employees deliver quality work that meets or exceeds expectations . Sounds simple enough in theory, but in reality, this can be quite a challenge unless you find a way to clearly communicate what these expectations are . Here’s a solution for you: performance goals at work . With the right benchmarks, you can challenge your employees to reach their full potential and contribute to the success of your organization . 

With this in mind, today we are going to share 24 examples of performance goals at work , specifically focused on objectives aimed at improving soft skills , accountability , professional growth , collaboration , and problem-solving .  

• What Are Performance Goals at Work?
• Why Are Performance Goals at Work So Important?

Methodologies for Setting Performance Goals at Work

• Examples of Performance Goals at Work

How Factorial Can Enhance Performance Management  

• A complete performance management toolkit in a single platform ✅

What Are Performance Goals at Work?  

Performance goals at work are a key employee performance management strategy . Breaking it down to its bare bones, they are clear and specific benchmarks for measuring and guiding employee progress and development . Examples of performance goals at work include enhancing communication skills, meeting project deadlines, improving conflict resolution skills, and developing collaborative skills.

Essentially, with this strategy, you meet with an employee, discuss their current performance, identify areas for improvement, and set specific, measurable performance goals that align with both their personal development and the company’s strategic objectives . This collaborative approach ensures that the employee understands their role and is motivated to actively contribute to the company’s success . Over time, these goals should become increasingly challenging to help nudge employees along the path of continuous development . 

The ultimate aim here is to create a high-performance culture where employees consistently meet or exceed the requirements of their roles . By framing your performance expectations as tangible goals , each employee understands which areas of their development they need to work on before the end of the performance review phase .

Why Are Performance Goals at Work So Important?  

So, what are the benefits of setting performance goals at work? Do they work? Is it worth the effort?

Provided you set clear, strategic and relevant goals and provide your employees with the L&D tools and resources they need to upskill and achieve their objectives, then they can be highly effective! 

Here are some of the specific benefits of setting performance goals at work :

• Clarity and direction . They are a platform for you to communicate clear performance expectations to your employees and guide their development.
• Motivation and engagement . Performance goals give employees something tangible to work on. This can be a great engagement and motivation tool .
• Performance tracking . Communicating clear goals makes it easier for you to track and measure employee performance. They also make it easier to detect potential performance gaps that employees need to address through training or performance coaching . 
• Skill development . They encourage employees to develop their skills and embrace a culture of continuous professional growth.
• Organizational alignment . A clear strategy for setting performance goals at work helps you align the entire team with the overall objectives of the company.
• Accountability . By making employees responsible for achieving specific goals within a defined timeframe, performance goals at work can be a great tool for encouraging employees to take accountability for their own productivity. 
• Employee recognition and rewards : Performance goals are a key part of a pay-for-performance model , where you recognize and reward employees for their achievements. This initiative boosts morale and encourages sustained high performance.
• Productivity and efficiency . Finally, performance goals at work enhance overall productivity and efficiency within the organization.

OK, great! All clear so far? We’ve seen what they are and why they are so important, but how do you set them ?

There are actually a few methodologies that you can use for setting performance goals at work. It’s always best to use an established method as a guide as following a structured approach makes it far more likely that the goals you set will be achievable and achieved .

The most common goal-setting methodologies are:

• SMART Goals
• Locke and Latham’s 5 Principles
• Goal Pyramid

Each of these approaches will help you create clear, aligned and actionable performance goals at work . The best approach for you will depend on your specific organizational needs , company culture , and the nature of the goals you want to achieve . If you’re feeling brave, you could even mix things up and pick a few methodologies for different teams or projects to find what works best for your organization.

First things first, though. Let’s explore these 5 methodologies in a bit more detail .

SMART Goals  

SMART is an acronym for Specific , Measurable , Achievable , Relevant , and Time-bound . Although this concept can be applied to any walk of life, in the context of HR, the SMART goals framework provides a structured approach to goal setting , making it easier to create goals that are clear, actionable, and aligned with the overall organizational strategy.

The biggest benefit of creating SMART performance goals is that employees have clarity and a clear roadmap for success . They understand exactly what is expected of them , how you will measure their progress , and the timeframe within which they need to achieve their goals. This clarity helps to eliminate confusion, increase focus, and enhance motivation, ultimately leading to improved performance and greater alignment with the company’s objectives.

For instance, an example of a performance goal at work created using this methodology might be: 

Increase customer satisfaction scores by 10% within the next six months by implementing a new feedback system and conducting monthly training sessions for the customer support team.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)  

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results , a goal-setting framework used to define and track objectives and their outcomes . With this methodology, you establish two core components: objectives ( what you want to achieve ) and key results ( how you will measure progress towards achieving objectives ). 

The OKR approach, made popular by companies like Intel and Google and now used by many modern businesses, can be a great tool for aligning individual, team, and organizational goals . By setting clear objectives and measurable key results , employees can focus on what truly matters and ensure their efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

Complete advanced sales training and apply new techniques to improve conversion rates by 15%.

Locke and Latham’s 5 Principles  

Locke and Latham’s 5 Principles are part of the Goal-Setting Theory developed by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham . This theory emphasizes the importance of setting clear, challenging, and attainable goals to enhance employee performance and motivation.

Specifically, the 5 principles introduced by the theory are:

• Clarity : Set clear, specific goals to avoid ambiguity.
• Challenge : Make sure goals are challenging but still attainable.
• Commitment : Make sure employees commit to the goals. (Commitment is crucial)
• Feedback : Provide employees with regular feedback on their progress so they can make adjustments where necessary.
• Task complexity : Adjust goals according to task complexity so that they are manageable.

Goal : Improve project management skills.

• Clarity . Complete a project management certification course.
• Challenge . Achieve certification within six months.
• Commitment . Dedicate at least five hours per week to study and coursework.
• Feedback . Meet with a mentor bi-weekly to review progress and address challenges.
• Task complexity . Break down the certification course into weekly modules to manage workload effectively.

Goal Pyramid  

Finally, the Goal Pyramid methodology is a hierarchical framework for setting and organizing performance goals at work. Strategic goals are placed at the top of the pyramid, and individual operational goals are placed at the bottom . In between, you will usually find levels including tactical goals and departmental goals . This structure increases the chances that high-level strategic objectives align with day-to-day operational tasks .  

Advantages of using this methodology include improved clarity , better resource allocation , and enhanced coordination across departments . By aligning goals at every level, employees can see how their individual contributions support the overall mission and objectives of the organization , fostering a sense of purpose and direction .

Strategic goal : Expand market share by 15% in the next fiscal year.

• Tactical goal . Launch three new product lines in the next six months to attract new customer segments.
• Departmental goal . Increase marketing efforts by 25% to promote new product lines and generate leads.
• Operational goal . Each sales team member to achieve a 10% increase in monthly sales targets by the end of the quarter through targeted campaigns and client outreach.
• Individual performance goal : Attend advanced sales training and apply new techniques to improve personal sales conversion rates by 20% within the next quarter.

Examples of Performance Goals at Work  

Now we’re getting to the heart of things: specific examples of performance goals at work . This is where we will see all the theories we’ve just covered put into practice. In other words, the sort of goals you should be setting in line with your underlying objective.

Keep in mind that there are various categories of performance goals relating to different aspects of employee development .

Common areas that managers work on when they implement measures to improve performance include:

• Soft skills
• Accountability
• Professional growth
• Collaboration
• Problem-solving

Whichever goals you set for your employees, make sure they are clear, specific and tailored to both the employee in question’s professional development and the company’s strategic objectives . It’s also important to use performance management software to track and measure progress once you have set each employee’s goals. 

Without further ado, let’s get to it!

Here are 20 examples of performance goals at work to inspire you (adding to the 4 we gave you in the previous section). We’ve split these examples into different performance categories to help you understand how you can address each area of development through targeted goal setting .

Soft Skills Performance Goals 

Soft skills are personal traits or attributes that enhance an employee’s job performance as well as their personal and professional growth . While hard skills are technical and industry-specific, soft skills can be applied to all sorts of jobs and positions. These skills are more about the character and values of an employee rather than what they know. Examples of soft skills in the workplace include critical thinking, communication, motivation, conflict management and time management .

Here are 4 examples of performance goals at work that aim to improve an employee’s soft skills :

• Improve active listening skills by summarizing key points in meetings and asking for feedback.
• Enhance conflict resolution abilities by mediating at least two workplace disputes.
• Develop better time management skills by meeting all deadlines for a quarter.
• Strengthen public speaking skills by presenting in at least two team meetings per month.

Accountability Performance Goals

Employee accountability is when employees take responsibility for their actions, decisions, and performance . When an employee is accountable, they take ownership of their work, fulfil their duties, meet expectations, and understand the impact of their actions on organizational goals .

It’s important to encourage employee accountability because it helps you foster a culture of trust, reliability, and productivity . When employees are accountable, they turn up on time, meet their deadlines, and continuously strive to achieve their goals . 

Here are 4 examples of performance goals at work that aim to improve an employee’s sense of accountability :

• Complete all assigned tasks by the agreed deadlines with no need for reminders.
• Regularly update project management tools to reflect the current status of all tasks and projects.
• Own up to and document any mistakes within 24 hours, along with a plan to address and prevent them in the future.
• Attend all scheduled meetings on time and fully prepared, contributing constructively to discussions.

Professional Growth Performance Goals

Professional growth refers to the ongoing process of developing skills, knowledge, and abilities to enhance your career and achieve personal goals within a chosen profession . It involves continuous learning, skill development, and adapting to new challenges and opportunities . 

Encouraging professional growth in your organization is important because it helps employees stay up to date with industry trends , improves job performance , increases job satisfaction , and fosters a culture of innovation and excellence . It also helps you build a skilled and adaptable workforce .

Here are 4 examples of performance goals at work that aim to improve an employee’s professional development :

• Complete a relevant certification or professional course within the next six months.
• Attend at least three industry conferences or workshops within the year to stay updated with the latest trends.
• Seek and participate in a mentorship program, either as a mentor or mentee, for ongoing development.
• Read and summarize one professional development book per quarter, sharing key insights with the team.

Collaboration Performance Goals  

Collaboration skills are about working well with others and achieving a common goal . It’s more than just finishing a project with a group of people, though. It also means building relationships with a team, resolving conflicts, and creating a work environment where everyone feels included and respected .

Collaboration skills include: 

• Communication
• Open-mindedness
• Conflict resolution
• Active listening
• Emotional intelligence
• Understanding a variety of perspectives
• Managing priorities
• Meeting expectations
• Having a cooperative spirit and mutual respect. 

These skills are essential for individual growth and team success and pretty much every role and industry needs them . In fact, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 76% of employers want candidates with collaboration skills .

Here are 4 examples of performance goals at work that aim to improve an employee’s collaboration skills :

• Participate in at least one cross-functional team project each quarter to enhance interdepartmental collaboration.
• Schedule and lead monthly team-building activities to strengthen team relationships and communication.
• Provide constructive feedback to team members during project reviews, focusing on enhancing collective performance.
• Facilitate regular team meetings to ensure alignment on goals, progress, and challenges, fostering a collaborative work environment.

Problem-Solving Performance Goals

Finally, problem-solving skills refer to an employee’s ability to identify an issue, analyze the context, and present and implement solutions that resolve it . Strong problem-solving skills empower employees to navigate challenges and contribute to organizational success . The more your employees are able to address and resolve challenges that crop up during their workday, the more productive they will be and the smoother your operations will run. Plus, effective problem-solving can lead to innovative solutions and improvements , driving continuous growth and giving you a competitive edge .

Here are 4 examples of performance goals at work that aim to improve an employee’s problem-solving skills :

• Identify and propose solutions for at least two process inefficiencies within the next quarter.
• Develop a step-by-step problem-solving guide to be used by the team for common issues.
• Lead a team brainstorming session to generate creative solutions for a current project challenge.
• Analyze and resolve a recurring problem within the department, reducing its impact by at least 50% within six months.

Regardless of the type of performance goals at work that you assign to your employees, the best way to manage goal progress is to use a performance management system like Factorial to streamline the process, create a supportive and transparent environment, and boost employee morale .

In fact, Factorial’s solution can support you at each step of the performance management cycle .

Specifically, with our performance management software , you can:

• Access comprehensive tools for setting performance goals at work, offering continuous feedback, and managing performance reviews .
• Design employee development strategies in line with the objectives of your company.
• Streamline the performance management process with automated and centralized performance review periods.
• Track employee performance over time , making it easier to identify trends and areas needing your attention.
• Monitor employee performance metrics in real time , so you can make timely interventions and adjustments.
• Generate comprehensive performance progress reports so that you can make informed decisions based on comprehensive data analysis.
• Create tailored learning and development programs for each employee to help them hit their performance goals at work.
• Set reminders for feedback, performance reviews, and goal-setting deadlines.

Not only that, but by integrating Factorial’s performance management software, you can enhance every aspect of the employee journey , helping you create a supportive, transparent, and productive work environment .

Still not convinced? Fancy a little taster of what we have to offer? Then download our free employee journey map template and use it to assess the employee experience during each step of the employee journey and measure the impact of your performance management strategy on your employees . This makes it much easier to plan for improvement and help every member of your organization hit their performance goals at work !

Related posts

7 Best Performance Management Practices

The Skill Will Matrix: Complete Guide

Get 20% OFF for HR Day!

Book a free demo until May 31st