What is an individual development plan?
An individual development plan is a customized guide detailing an employee’s professional growth goals. It often lists new skills needed to reach those objectives and includes an action plan. The document might also cover how the employee’s performance could improve within a specific time frame. For example, a quality control (QC) inspector might aim to decrease response time by 5%.
Creating a documented process can help employees evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. From there, they can identify how to improve and where to focus their attention. Employees may also use the plan to assess current abilities and any skills gaps.
How these plans help in the workplace
Using individual development plans can identify employees’ interest in professional growth, present additional learning opportunities and ensure your team has the necessary resources.
For employees seeking advancement opportunities, individual development plan templates can help document actionable steps and outline specific actions required to receive a promotion. Other employees may set goals around improving their current role and contributing to the company in new ways.
Development plans may help managers determine whether an employee has fulfilled certain steps, such as completing a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goal. Because these objectives are predetermined, they’re also typically an objective evaluation tool.
Components of an individual development plan
The structure of an individual development plan can vary depending on your company, but it generally covers the necessary steps for advancement. Your company’s plan may include the following:
Professional goals and aspirations
A professional goals and aspirations section typically lists achievable outcomes. It might also provide target dates to help track progress. The plan can include specific projects the employee wants to complete, productivity results and desired promotional levels. Consider how IDP goals can align employee ambitions with organizational objectives.
Strengths and talents
If available, use the employee’s performance review or a list of core competencies to identify their specific knowledge, skills and talents. Employees may also identify their strengths or gather peer feedback. Positive feedback can help employees build confidence and prepare for new challenges.
Development opportunities
List each development opportunity with a corresponding goal. For example, if the development opportunity is business communication skills, the goal might be to earn a satisfactory grade in an active listening or public speaking course, which the employee can use in team meetings.
Action plans
You can make the action plan section concise and achievable. Employees may include common actions, such as:
- Mentoring others
- Completing a development course or educational seminar
- Earning professional certifications
- Leading or presenting at meetings
- Cross-training for another position
- Taking on more challenging tasks in their current role
- Coordinating team-building activities or events
For each action step, identify the resources needed, such as training, mentorship or access to specific tools and support.
How to implement development plans
Launching an effective IDP program can help promote employee development and participation, but it often requires a set procedure to be successful. These steps might help you implement precise development plans for your employees:
1. Start with your plan
Employees generally appreciate when managers lead by example. When development plans are required for all levels of the organization, employees may notice that even the highest-ranking team members prioritize self-improvement. This can help build trust and encourage everyone to participate.
2. Prepare for your conversations with staff members
You can prepare for one-on-one meetings by giving each employee a development plan questionnaire. These forms may ask employees to identify:
- Professional goals and aspirations
- What inspires and motivates them
- Passions, skills and talents
- Opportunities for development
Review employees’ answers, and consider rereading performance reviews before your individual discussions.
3. Meet with each employee
Employee development plan meetings usually take an hour and are conducted in a one-on-one format to create a trusting atmosphere. It may be helpful to let the employee lead the discussion about their goals, passions and skills while you contribute by defining next steps.
For example, if an employee says they’d like to transition from a virtual assistant to a support role for the tech team, you might suggest they attend weekly meetings with the software development and operations (DevOps) team to become better acquainted with that department.
4. Help the employee define their development plan
When determining the best ways to achieve goals, consider what’s possible within the context of the organization. The following questions may help you encourage SMART goals:
- What can the employee accomplish while carrying out their primary responsibilities?
- How much can your company afford to contribute to this goal?
- Which action steps most benefit both the employee and your company?
Best practices for individual development plans
To help maximize the impact of individual development plans, you can follow best practices that support employee growth and organizational success. Here are some strategies for effective individual development planning:
- Schedule regular check-ins: Ongoing conversations between employees and managers can help track progress, address challenges and make timely adjustments to the development plan. Regular feedback sessions help keep the process dynamic and responsive.
- Encourage continuous learning: Foster a workplace culture of continuous learning by motivating employees to seek feedback from mentors and peers, attend workshops and stay informed on industry trends.
- Use a structured approach: Leveraging an IDP template can ensure all important steps are covered, from goal setting to action planning. It can also help employees differentiate between short- and long-term objectives.
- Balance short-term and long-term goals: Address immediate development needs with short-term career goals, such as improving a specific software, and plan for future career growth, such as preparing team members for leadership roles. This dual focus may help employees develop a well-rounded skill set and prepare them for new organizational opportunities.
Tracking progress on your development plan
Monitoring and evaluating progress is generally part of a successful development plan. Regular reviews help identify areas for improvement, celebrate success and make necessary adjustments to stay on track toward career goals.
Consider using digital tools or software, such as the UKG Pro Talent suite or other talent management software, to streamline the development planning process. These tools can help track progress, set reminders and store important documents, making it easier to manage the IDP process.
Individual development plan templates
Consider using this individual development plan template as a starting point for yours.
Employee name:
Position, function, location and title:
Date:
Development focus area:
List professional goals and aspirations:
List strengths and talents:
List key development needs:
List development opportunities:
Action plan (Specific steps or tasks to achieve goals):
Action step:
Schedule:
Cost and conditions:
Development plan template example:
Here’s an example of a completed individual development plan using the above basic template.
Employee name: Ellen Lu
Position, function, location and title: Management, coordinating social media campaigns, New York, NY, social media coordinator
Date: 03/09/2025
List professional goals and aspirations:
- Gain management skills
- Advance to social media manager position
List of strengths and talents:
- Time management skills
- Organizational skills
- Content planning
- Communication skills
List of development opportunities:
- Create content that’s more engaging and successful at converting leads
- Exceed the minimum expectations of client accounts
- Become a team supervisor within the social media management department
Action plan (Specific steps or tasks to achieve goals):
Action step: Build a highly talented team of social media staff for each major social network. Coordinate with them to develop targeted customer acquisition campaigns that raise the marketing department’s conversion rates by a reasonable amount, such as 10%.
Schedule: Recruit team members and have them develop fully formed campaigns for each network within three weeks. Reach the conversion rate goal within three months.
Cost and considerations: Achieve a 50% improvement in customer acquisition conversion rates without exceeding the current social media marketing budget by 20%.
Individual development plan template for PDF & Word
Check out our individual development plan template to create a development plan for your employees.
*Indeed provides these examples as a courtesy to users of this site, such as an employment contract template. Please note that we’re not your HR or legal adviser, and these documents don’t reflect current labor or employment regulations.
