Individual Development Plan: what it is and how to build one

You have surely reached the end of a year tired and thought: “next year will be different. I’ll make my plans happen”, but you barely get past Carnival and the promise already seems to have been pushed to next year. That is a very common scenario, and it is closely tied to the topic of this article: the Individual Development Plan, also called the IDP. Do you know it?

This tool has become essential for organizations that understand that, for the company to grow and thrive, their employees also need to develop alongside it. That takes organization, and just as teams have their goals, employees have their own, focused on professional and personal development.

So, want to know more about the Individual Development Plan? Keep reading!

What is the Individual Development Plan (IDP)?

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a personal and professional tool that, as its name says, works on people’s improvement in a singular, unique way, taking into account their particular competencies and needs.

In other words, even people on the same team, and even in the same roles, will have different IDPs, since they have different points to improve.

The logic is for the employee to see, in a practical and functional way, what they need to work on to earn a promotion or a raise, for example. After all, when we talk about professional growth, goals can be subjective if they are not well defined.

In other words, without an Individual Development Plan, an employee may feel ready for a leadership role, for example, when to their leader they are clearly not ready, because the necessary skills are missing.

This way, when there is no IDP culture in the company, demotivation and low collaborative performance between leaders and team members are common.

Practical example of an Individual Development Plan

At a graphic design company, Marina, a talented graphic designer, went through her annual performance reviewopens in a new tab, in which her manager, Rodrigo, identified that, although she is exceptional at creative design, she could improve her project management and team leadership skills to move into a supervisory position in the future.

This need came to light during the review, which showed that Marina sometimes struggled to meet deadlines when leading projects that required coordinating several stakeholders.

After the performance review, Rodrigo proposed an individual development plan that directly addressed these areas. They started by setting clear objectives for Marina’s development: first, improve her time management skills and then develop effective leadership competencies.

In addition, for the Individual Development Plan, Rodrigo suggested specific project management courses and leadership workshops that Marina could attend over the next six months. They also agreed that Marina would take the lead on small projects to practice and apply her new skills in a controlled environment.

Rodrigo and Marina also set specific milestones to assess her progress. They decided that, after each course or workshop, Marina would apply the techniques she learned in her projects and meet monthly with Rodrigo to discuss her progress and adjust the plan as needed.

These meetings, held during their one-on-ones, would also let Rodrigo provide continuous feedback and let Marina express any concerns or request additional resources to support her development.

Six months later, at a follow-up meeting, Marina presented a portfolio of the projects she worked on, highlighting how she applied project management techniques to improve on-time delivery and how she led her team more effectively.

Rodrigo recognized Marina’s significant progress, and they discussed the next steps to continue her development, including joining a mentoring program for young leaders at the company.

How to build an Individual Development Plan?

The IDP is a unique tool: everyone will have their own, and it should never be copied from someone else. There are simple ways to build and plan the Individual Development Plan. Below, we created a step-by-step guide for you:

Step 1: Performance review and identifying growth opportunities

To start the Individual Development Plan, it helps if a comprehensive performance reviewopens in a new tab that assesses the employee’s skills, competencies and results has already been carried out. This process should be fair, objective and aligned with the company’s strategic objectives.

Since there are several types of performance review, the ideal is to find one or more that make sense for the company’s objectives.

So, based on the review results, identify specific areas where the employee can improve or where new skills can be developed to help their career progression. This should be done together with the employee to make sure the plan meets their personal and professional aspirations.

Step 2: Setting objectives and goals

For the practical part of the Individual Development Plan, set clear, measurable (SMARTopens in a new tab) objectives for the employee to achieve. These objectives should be challenging but achievable, and aligned with both the company’s needs and the employee’s career goals.

Create a detailed roadmap of activities and resources needed to reach these objectives. This can include training, reading, special projects, or even role changes.

Some examples:

1. Technical skills development

• Objective: improve knowledge of a specific software tool.
• Goal: complete a certified course in three months and implement a project using that tool by the end of the semester.

2. Improving leadership competencies

• Objective: develop leadership skills to prepare for management roles.
• Goal: take part in a leadership program for six months and lead a team on a pilot project.

3. Increasing operational efficiency

• Objective: improve efficiency in time management and task execution.
• Goal: reduce the average task completion time by 20% in four months, applying time management techniques learned in a workshop.

Learn more: What is a Y career path?

Step 3: Tracking progress

The leader should act as a mentor or coach, offering guidance and support throughout the process. They should help the employee navigate challenges and provide the resources needed for development.

This way, during the practical period of the Individual Development Plan, make sure all necessary resources, such as courses, materials, access to conferences or time for learning, are available to the employee.

In addition, set regular checkpoints to review progress against the established objectives. This can be done through monthly or quarterly meetings.

During the checkpoints, give constructive feedback on progress and discuss any adjustments needed in the development plan. Regular feedback is essential to keep the employee motivated and on track.

Step 4: Periodic reviews and adjustments to the Individual Development Plan

Evaluate the success of the employee’s individual development plan at regular intervals, preferably tied to the company’s performance review cycle.

So, based on the results and the employee’s feedback, adjust the development plan to reflect new learning, changes in company priorities or changes in the employee’s career goals.

Step 5: Apply it whenever possible

A very important point of the Individual Development Plan is the dedication to gaining the skill. Since we are talking about improving skills, your team member will hardly learn something one day and perform it perfectly the next. It will take time.

So, with close follow-up, encourage your team to practice their new skills until they reach a level where they no longer need supervision.

Going back to the example of joining the team in the United States, you can include the employee being trained in international calls, run small tests and even train them with other specialists so they can feel confident in what they are learning.

5 tips for organizing an IDP for your employees

1- Use specialized tools

The Individual Development Plan can be planned manually, but it becomes much easier and even strategic when your team is allied with technology. On the market, you can find performance management software that helps from the performance review through to IDP monitoring.

Stratwsopens in a new tab is one of these performance management tools. It is robust software that connects employees and their development plans to the company’s objectives, organizing the whole history of progress, from feedback to the growth of hard skills and soft skills.

2- Set a schedule

A mistake that can happen in any IDP is the famous and tempting procrastination. When you do not work with deadlines, it is very easy to put off tasks and actions that at first may seem complex or boring.

That is why you should set a development schedule in your IDPs, with a start, middle and end, with follow-up dates, so you can see progress.

3- Assess strengths and weaknesses

In an Individual Development Plan it is normal to focus on improvement points, on what we are weak at. However, identifying the competencies in which your employee has reached excellence is also important, because it helps you understand how your team member works and also make sure they keep standing out in that practice, through a development action plan for it as well.

4- Promote a feedback culture

Feedback is one of the most powerful development tools there is. Although for many it may seem scary, many people will only develop if they can identify points for improvement.

This way, feedback (from the leader and from teammates) serves both as a practice to identify possible needs to develop in your IDP and as a thermometer to see whether your team also notices your constant improvements.

5- Avoid the main mistakes

Although the Individual Development Plan is unique to each person, there are mistakes that are quite common when many are put into practice. That is why we list some of them here so you can watch out for them and keep them from happening:

• Setting goals that are impossible to reach;
• Lack of follow-up from the manager;
• Low commitment from the employee;
• Working only with goals and not with career planning.

What are the benefits of the IDP for your organization?

In a company, it is no secret to anyone that good management is the key to good results. And I am not talking only about managing metrics, activities and finances. People management is essential for good numbers to actually happen.

That is why investing in talent management with the Individual Development Plan is important, as it can generate several benefits, such as:

#01- Meeting goals

Have you ever stopped to think that, for your sales team to win more customers, they need to be performing well? That is, they need to be working at their highest levels and growing in order to give their all. However, you will hardly have that in your company if individual development is not planned.

In this scenario, it is essential for the manager to point out development areas that will help the employee grow and, as a consequence, improve their numbers. In other words, it does no good for the manager to just say “you need to improve your sales” if they do not point out how to do that correctly.

#02- Higher productivity

As a result of applying the IDP, one of the benefits managers, and the employees themselves, will find is increased productivity. That is because, if the leader defines what the employee needs to grow professionally and those goals are reached, productivity will improve as a consequence.

In addition, with the support of feedback the team will be in constant evolution, thus generating better results for the company as a direct consequence.

#03- Participative leadership

According to research by Gallupopens in a new tab, 70% of employee engagement is influenced by leadership. In other words, the manager’s role is not only to make the hard decisions and track the results achieved. It is also their role to help and develop their team members so they can grow professionally and perhaps one day take over their role.

When you have this kind of leader in the organization, it will be normal for team members to feel fulfilled, challenged and engaged with the company, since they have a manager who encourages them to be better every day.

And the Individual Development Plan is only one factor that supports this, since one-on-one meetings and performance reviews are other tools that encourage this scenario of continuous improvement for the company.

Next steps

So, do you think you can step out of your comfort zone and create your own Individual Development Plan? Remember to define the objectives to be achieved or you will end up in that huge group of people who give up on their fitness life that year before Carnival even arrives.

Since we are still talking about careers, every time you leave starting your IDP for next year it is a mistake, because with each passing day, there are small goals that could be getting done.

So how about starting your Individual Development Plan right now? Stratws is the ideal solution for that. The software has several solutions developed to make your HR much more strategic and people management much smarter.

Talk to an expert in performance management and see for yourself!