Individual Development Plan

Name

Date

Manager

What are your career aspirations?

(please refer to Section 1 in the guidance before completing this section)

Skills assessment summary

(please refer to Section 2 in the guidance before completing this section)

Strengths Development needs

Your plan
(please refer to Sections 3, 4 and 5 in the guidance before completing this section)

Goals Objectives Actions/strategies Timeline Outcomes

What are your specific What skills do you How will you do this? When will you do this? How will you know you
development goals? need to meet these (the 3 Es: experience, (start and finish dates) have reached the
(SMART) goals? exposure, education) goal? (measuring
success)

1.

2.

3.

4.

1
Guidance for completing your Individual Development Plan
Section 1: Identifying your career aspirations

Your Individual Development Plan gives you the opportunity to identify your development goals.

In this box, outline what your professional aspiration or goal is.

What do you want to achieve?

This will inform the short-term goals that you then go on to identify: goals that will help you to achieve your
longer-term career aspiration.

For example, you can consider:

Where am I now?

 What do I value?
 What makes me happy?
 How satisfied am I in my current job?
 How well does my job meet my needs?
 If I wanted to make a change, what would it be?

Where do I want to be? Do I want to:

 Move up or over to a new organization?

 Enrich my present job?
 Develop new skills?

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Section 2: Identifying your strengths and development needs (Skills assessment summary)

A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis can help you to identify your
development goals. Here are some questions that can help you to carry out this analysis.

Strengths Weaknesses

 What are you good at? What are your areas of  What tasks do you usually avoid because you
expertise? What do you do better than anyone don't feel confident doing them?
else?
 Are there any aspects of your job that you don’t
 What tasks do you enjoy the most? enjoy?
 Which of your projects or achievements are you  Are there aspects of your work that you don’t
most proud of? What was it about your unique feel you know enough about, or don’t think you
qualities, skills, knowledge, or strengths that are very good at?
made it possible to achieve these results?
 What do you think the people around you might
 What sets you apart (eg skills, certifications, see as your weaknesses?
education, or connections)?
 Are you completely confident in your education
 What do other people (and in particular, your and skills training? If not, where are you
manager and colleagues) see as your weakest?
strengths?
 Do you have any negative work habits (eg are
 What positive personality traits do you have? you disorganized, do you have a short temper,
are you poor at handling stress)?
 Do you have personality traits that hold you
back in your field (eg fear of public speaking)?

Opportunities Threats

 Are there sources of formal training (eg  What obstacles do you currently face at work?
courses) or informal training (eg online videos)
that you can access?  Are any of your colleagues competing with you
for projects or roles?
 Are there any opportunities through networking
events or conferences?  Is your job (or the demand for the things you do)
changing?
 Do you have a network of strategic contacts to
help you, or offer good advice?  Does changing technology threaten your
position?
 Are there any new projects that you can take on
to gain experience or learn new skills?  Could any of your weaknesses lead to threats?

 Are there any trends in your company that you

might be able to take advantage of?
 Is there a need in your company or industry that
no one is filling, or that you can find a better
solution to?
Note that these SWOT questions have been adapted
from content on MindTools.com.

The IDP contains space for you to highlight your strengths and development needs.
 Use the prompting questions under ‘Strengths’ above to identify your strengths.

 For your development needs, consider the questions that appear under ‘Weaknesses’ and
‘Opportunities’ to identify areas that you wish to focus on. ‘Threats’ may also inform your choices.

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Section 3: Setting out SMART goals (Goals, Timeline and Outcomes columns)

You’ve identified a particular aspiration. What short-term goals for the next 12 months would help you to move
toward that aspirational goal?

You are not going to tackle every one of your identified weaknesses all at once! Which of these would be the
most beneficial for you to move toward your aspirational goal?

When you identify your short-term goals, you should aim to create them based on ‘SMART’ methodology:

S Specific Write goals that are clear, specific and detailed, not broad and general.

M Measurable Define what evidence will prove that you’re achieving your goal.

A Achievable Set goals that are challenging but can realistically be accomplished.

R Relevant Ensure your goals contribute to your longer-term career aspirations.

T Time-bound Set a realistic end date by which you want to achieve your goal.

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Section 4: Using KSAs to identify your development objectives (Objectives column)

The developmental objectives that you list on your IDP are the areas that you choose to improve to meet the
short-term goals that you’ve identified.

Understanding the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) of your current job, or the job that you identified as
your career aspiration, will help you to do this.

The KSAs represent what is required for someone to be able to perform a task or carry out a role.

The information that you need to know in order to be able to

K Knowledge complete a task or prove that you understand a concept (eg
knowledge of regulations or processes)

The observable activities (verbal, manual, mental) that you need to

S Skills
carry out in order to meet your goal (eg hard and soft skills)

Your capacity to use or perform your skills within the context of the
A Abilities
role (eg ability to organize, analyze or communicate)

So for each of your short-term goals, what specifically would you need to do in order to meet that goal?
 What knowledge would you need to gain?

 What skills would you need to perform?

 What abilities would you need to have?

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Section 5: The three E’s (Actions/strategies column)

Remember that Cielo encourages us to think about learning opportunities in terms of the three E’s. These may
be helpful for you to consider as you identify the actions and strategies that you will put in place to meet your
development goals.

Experience Exposure Education

Learning through structured

Learning by doing Learning from others
training

For example, you could: For example, you could: For example, you could:
 take on new responsibilities  seek feedback  attend courses, workshops,
conferences and webinars
 champion change  obtain coaching from your
manager or others  take part in distance learning
 take on stretch assignments courses
 take on a mentoring role
 participate in a group to solve  complete e-learning relevant
a real business problem  establish or join online to your role
professional communities
 introduce new techniques and  take professional
approaches  buddy up with a co-worker to qualifications
share experiences and
knowledge  experience training
simulations

For each short-term developmental goal and associated objectives, what actions can you take, and what
strategies can you put in place, to successfully achieve that goal?
 What relevant action or strategy involves you doing something towards meeting your objectives?

 Are there opportunities to learn from others in order to meet your objectives?

 Can you identify any structured training opportunities or events that would help you to meet your
objectives?