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    You are here Home » IDP

    Free Individual Development Plan (IDP) Template

    Last updated on Nov 4, 2016 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    The most popular post on this blog
    continues to be one of my first posts written in 2008 called How
    to Write a Great Individual Development Plan (IDP)
    .



    In one of the earlier versions of
    that post I had offered to send readers an IDP template. With the growth of my
    blog, the volume of requests got to be unmanageable so those requests now get
    an auto-response directing them to my eBook, which includes a
    copy of the template, along with a 9-Box
    Performance and Potential Grid
    .



    For those of
    you that may have landed here as a result of a search, this post serves as
    another option for you. Consider it to be a menu of elements often found in
    IDPs and feel free to copy and paste it into your own template and adapt it as
    you please.



    Individual Development Plan


    Name: The employee’s
    name

    Position: The employee’s
    current position

    Department: The employee’s
    department, unit, or function

    Location: City, country,
    building, etc…

    Manager: The employee’s
    immediate manager

    Time period: The development
    planning period, usually one year



    Development Focus:
    Development in current role, preparation
    for a future role, or both


    Potential Next Position(s): If
    applicable, list possible next
    positions, could be lateral or vertical
    1.
    2.
    3.



    Top 3 Strengths: List the employee’s top 3 strengths, from
    last performance review or other assessments. It’s important to acknowledge
    strengths in a development discussion as they often can be used to help
    overcome development needs.

    1.
    2.
    3.


    Top 3 Development Goals: Development goals are areas in which if
    strengthened, the employee’s performance would improve in their current role or
    they would help prepare the employee for potential future positions. They can
    come from performance reviews and/or other assessments. Organizations often use
    competency models and 360 assessments as a way to identity strengths and
    development needs.

    1.
    2.
    3.


    See Top
    12 Development Goals for Leaders
    for some examples.



    Development Actions: This section is the heart of the development
    plan. It should include specific actions that will enable the employee to learn
    and practice skills related to their development goals or leverage their
    strength’s.

    Development
    actions should include a combination of projects, assignments, courses,
    reading, learning from others, coaching, and mentoring.

    Some
    development actions, like a stretch assignment, may end up addressing multiple
    development needs – in fact, they usually do.



    Current
    Challenges:
    What challenges is the employee currently facing that would
    provide an opportunity to learn new skills tied to the development needs?



    New
    Challenges:
    What new challenges will the employee be facing that
    would provide an opportunity to learn new skills tied to the development needs?



    Ongoing
    Feedback:
    How can the employee receive ongoing feedback in order to
    check progress on development goals or identify new development needs?



    Specific
    Tasks:
    Projects, stretch assignments, task forces, delegated
    responsibilities from the manager, etc…



    Role Models,
    Coaches, and Mentors:
    Role models are other employees that the
    employee sees as highly skilled in the areas in which they to improve. Often,
    they may not be able to identify anyone, so the manager can be a resource in
    helping to identify subject matter experts.

    Coaching can
    come from the manager, or an external executive coach.

    Mentors are
    often other managers, sometimes 1-2 levels above the employee’s manager, who
    can provide career advice and assistance.



    Training:


    Reading:

    Timing: Start date for each action

    Cost: cost, if any.

    Desired results: List what will change or improve, and how the improvements
    will benefit the employee and the organization. When you take the time to
    discuss and document the benefits of development, it helps provide context and
    continuous motivation.



    Notes on Progress, Lessons Learned: A development plan should be a living document that is discussed
    throughout the year and updated as needed. It’s important to track progress and
    adjust as needed. Use this space to make notes on progress or obstacles, and to
    reflect on lessons learned from completed development actions.


    Start date of
    plan
    : when the first development action
    should start

    Agreement —
    This plan is agreed to as indicated by the signatures below.

    Plan
    Participant
    :                                 Date:   
    Manager:                                             Date:


    While it may seem overly formal, having
    the employee and manager sign the plan represents a two-way commitment.
       
                            
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