Creating a personal development plan with your staff

Personal development is an important aspect of an employee’s career and professional development. It’s intertwined with the performance management and appraisal process, but is specifically centered around progressing employees, whether they’re aiming for a promotion, or simply wanting to enhance their performance.

This article will break down the different elements of a successful personal development plan, including how to implement them and what to include in its content.

What is a personal development plan?

A personal development plan, or PDP, is a structured method of mapping out a staff member’s progression path, and identifies the various personal growth milestones they’ll need to hit in order to achieve the overall goal.

It’s often at the end of an appraisal, once strengths and development areas have been identified, that employers are able to form personal development plans with staff members. The PDP differs from other aspects of the performance management process which are more focused on past performance.

What isn’t a personal development plan?

Personal development plans shouldn’t be mistaken for performance management plans. These are developed for employees who are underperforming to prevent them from heading into a downwards trajectory. Personal development plans aren’t a cause for concern, but rather an opportunity to be seized as part of supporting staff in achieving their career goals.

How an employer benefits from personal development plans

It’s important for employers to recognise that they also stand to benefit from developing their employees, not just the employees themselves.

An employer benefits in the following ways:

• Staff are happier and more motivated
• Enhances staff performance
• Improves staff retention
• Helps to align staff with business aims
• Provides an opportunity to accelerate business growth

In a nutshell, personal development plans develop future talent and retain key staff who are going to help drive the business towards its long-term goals.

Aims of a personal development plan

There are several aims of personal development plans that relate to the employee’s development, and that of the overall business. It’s good practice to consider both personal and work objectives in a personal development plan.

Personal objectives relate specifically to the development of the individual, whether that’s connected to learning a new hard skill, or developing some of their soft skills. On the other hand, work objectives are linked with their progress in achieving the wider business aims and can usually be tracked through the use of Key Performance Indicators.

As part of wider performance management and progression planning, PDPs aim to:

Set clearly defined career goals

PDPs should clearly establish the overall goal that the employee is trying to achieve. Without clearly defined goals, employees lose their sense of purpose, leading to a drop in motivation and productivity levels.

Nurture existing talent

Not only do PDPs boost employee motivation, but they also help businesses to retain staff by offering development opportunities. In fact, Totaljobs research shows that two in three UK workers have quit a job because there was a lack of learning and development on offer. Similarly, a recent survey showed ‘career development’ to be the most common reason why people switch jobs, so it’s essential that companies take the time to nurture their talent to keep that sense of job satisfaction among its employees.

Highlight key development areas

A structured PDP allows employers to identify any skill gaps that need overcoming in order for the employee to progress. This helps the employee to avoid aimlessly wandering towards their goal and, instead, to identify what actionable, concrete steps they can start taking.

Improve self-awareness and capability

Developing a personal development plan is a two-way street. It isn’t about the employer telling the employee what they need to work on, but rather it’s an exchange of ideas and a collaborative effort to agree upon development areas together. This develops the employees’ ability to self-assess and understand for themselves their own potential and capabilities.

Aid career progression

Employers must remember that the aim of a personal development plan is to further an employee’s career. Its milestones should therefore always be able to explain how the employee is contributing towards achieving the long-term career goal.

Achieve business aims

PDPs provide a great opportunity for businesses to accelerate their growth. It’s vital that the aims of the PDP are always aligned with the wider business goals through the ‘work objectives’ that are included. All steps and milestones within the PDP should answer yes to the following question: will this help the business to achieve its aims?

Actions employers can take to support an employee’s personal development

Employers can support employee development in the following ways:

• Allow dedicated ‘study time’ during office hours to attend webinars, complete coursework etc
• Assign additional responsibilities
• Provide regular 1:1 catch ups
• Ask what resources they’re likely to need

As an employer, you can consider some form of training to further staff development:

• Online courses
• Webinars and events
• 1:1 mentoring
• Shadowing
• Desk coaching
• Internal group training sessions
• External training days

Alongside this, appraisals or performance management reviews work in conjunction with achieving personal development plans. Once the career aims in a PDP have been set, appraisals are a great way to review the employee’s progress, keep them on track, or even amend the aims and milestones where appropriate.

Personal development plan template

One of the most effective ways to monitor an employee’s development towards their career aims is to use a structured company form that tracks progress over time.

A staff personal development plan should include the following elements:

Career goals

The first section in the plan specifies exactly what the employee wants to achieve within the business on a more long-term basis. Ensure that this is as specific and, where possible, provide a timeline for achieving this goal.

Examples of career goals

• Become a manager
• Become fully certified
• Take on more complex responsibilities
• Manage a larger team
• Gain a promotion
• Develop into a trainer

Key strengths

The PDP needs to identify the employee’s key strengths and should use the input of both employee and employer or manager, since both are likely to have different perspectives. This will help to assess their suitability to the long-term career aim, and will also ensure that both parties understand the need to nurture these skills.

Examples of professional strengths

• Delegation
• Project management
• Multi-tasking
• Marketing strategy
• Understanding certain systems/processes
• Positive mindset

Areas to develop

Just as it’s vital to identify key strengths, it’s equally as important to identify areas of development or any skill gaps preventing the employee from achieving their aims. These are going to form the basis of the employee’s milestones in working towards their career aspirations.

Examples of skills gaps

• Breakdown in communication
• Underperformance against KPIs
• Poor time management
• Unable to use certain software
• Lacking confidence
• Not demonstrating leadership

Actions

Once you’ve established the areas to develop, it’s time to put in place the actionable steps and goals that the employee needs to achieve. These goals should be written as clearly and specifically as possible following the SMART goals approach. This way, the employee knows exactly what’s expected of them.

It may be necessary to break each step down into more digestible sub-steps. For example, if the aim is to complete all work to deadline over the next 6 months, how can that be broken down into monthly, weekly and daily steps?

Examples of actionable steps

• Improve time management skills
  • Sub-step: Create a spreadsheet with work and deadlines, and use a daily planner to ensure all work is completed to deadline
• Make a conscious effort to build more morale among the team
  • Sub-step: In daily team meetings, recognise at least one team member for their efforts
• Complete a course or certification
  • Sub-step: Commit to one hour of study per day and complete one unit per week
• Improve public speaking skills
  • Deliver group training once a month
• Improve teaching ability
  • Sub-step: Become a mentor to a junior member of staff
• Develop leadership skills
  • Sub-step: Project manage a new assignment

In addition to setting aims, you want to ensure that you’re providing any necessary resources to facilitate the employee’s development.

Download your employee personal development plan