Empowering employee growth: Developing effective individual development plansAn individual development plan (IDP) can be a powerful tool to drive employee growth, engagement and satisfaction, while simultaneously contributing to the achievement of organisational goals. But IDPs are often developed and reviewed during performance appraisals, which dilutes their effectiveness. Follow these five tips to make sure that IDPs take pride of place in your organisation and deliver maximum benefits to employees and the business. 1. Separate IDPs from performance appraisalsTo save time, HR departments and managers often combine the IDP and performance appraisal processes. What this means in practice is that the employee and manager will have one meeting (or two separate meetings in close succession) to discuss the employee’s performance and IDP. While this might seem effective, this approach may lead to some significant challenges. Consider the table below, which outlines the key differences between performance appraisals and IDPs.
If the performance appraisal and IDP are not treated as separate activities, there is a risk that:
The results of the performance appraisal must feed into the IDP (see step 2 below), and it is possible to successfully combine the appraisal and IDP processes. However, this requires both managers and employees to clearly understand the differences between the two processes, and to respect these differences during their discussions. If your team isn’t quite there yet, it might be a good idea to schedule IDP discussions a few weeks after the performance appraisals – just to give everyone a chance to clear their minds. 2. Let the employee lead.An IDP primarily reflects the employee’s ambitions, not those of the manager or organisation. So, it follows that the employee should lead the process of developing their IDP, with very specific input from the manager. Employees are responsible for:
Managers, on the other hand, are responsible for:
3. Identify strengths and development opportunities.Yale University in America has developed a simple self-assessment worksheet for employees to explore their strengths and development opportunities. The worksheet contains four parts and includes key questions the employee should consider and then discuss with the manager:
1. Professional goals and aspirations2. Strengths and development opportunities: What are my current strengths in the following areas, and where could I further develop? 3. Passions: What do I simply love doing? Do I have a passion for... 4. Alignment: Now that I have a clearer sense of what I have to offer professionally, and what I would like to offer in the future... 4. Develop a concrete action plan.The ultimate purpose of the IDP is to develop a concrete action plan that the employee can follow to grow and develop both as an individual and within the organisation. The manager’s role in this step is crucial, since the employee is likely to need support and guidance to develop the plan and identify suitable opportunities for growth that are offered by the organisation. To develop a strong action plan, the employee (with assistant from the manager) should:
5. Monitor, evaluate and adjust.Responsibility for implementing and monitoring the IDP action plan falls on the employee, although the manager must provide support – especially in terms of negotiating the required resources. The employee and manager should schedule regular check-in meetings – such as once a month or once a quarter. During these meetings, the employee reports back on progress (as per the measurements specified in the action plan) and discusses any challenges and achievements. This will help identify areas that require more focus or support. The action plan and IDP are living documents and should therefore be regularly updated to reflect progress and possible changes in the employee’s goals. The HR Department should also evaluate the organisation’s IDP process to determine whether employees are achieving their career goals, and whether the process is contributing to the organisation’s success. This can be done by:
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