Very often when we speak to people about challenges they’re facing delegating, new opportunities they’re interested in, or how to demonstrate performance to their senior leadership, the first question we ask is, “Do you have an individual development plan?” And the most common answer is broadly similar to “kinda”. A development plan is essential for you (and your manager) to be clear about the direction you’re going, how you’re doing, and setting you up to achieve the long term goals you have in mind. Below is a template you can use to begin drafting your individual development plan with a particular emphasis on gaining strategic agility and visibility.

Creating a professional development plan is a critical step in your leadership journey as it provides the map by which you can continue to progress, grow, and stay consistent and focused in what you want to accomplish. Keep in mind that this is a living document and should be revisited every six months to check in on progress and also revise as needed depending on changes in your interests, organization, or professional or personal circumstances. Once it has been shared in writing with your manager, it also allows informal check-ins on progress on some aspect of the plan as well as focused coaching in real time. This is different from setting annual goals, which tend to be more short term and role based, however it should inform and compliment your goals in that at least 1-2 goals should also further your development plan.

If you are already in a role, then we recommend approaching this in two stages. The first stage will assess your skills and experience against the next level in which you want to grow, typically formalized as a promotion or leveled matrix. The second stage will assess what skills and experiences you want to gain that will contribute to your professional growth in more intangible ways. The options in this category are vast, but could include areas such as increasing strategic mindset, gaining visibility, improving communication skills, developing knowledge outside of your main area of expertise, growing your network, or demonstrating initiative.

​​For the first stage, you need to assess what criteria you are measuring yourself against (blue shaded column). Some organizations have published job level requirements that are made available for consistency and transparency. This is more challenging if you are changing roles or if the organization doesn’t have formal structures/processes/job families that outline this. If the latter is the case, it is helpful to find an existing job description internally or externally or even write one yourself. If you write one, you will need to ensure through your colleagues or network or through researching open positions in your field what is reasonable for the level proposed. Ultimately, you will need to align with your manager through an open and honest discussion of what their expectations are and what you need to deliver or demonstrate to be considered for the next level. As part of this conversation, you should get clarity on specifically what is needed, what time frame is expected on both sides, and then document these in your development plan and annual goals.

For stage two, you want to think strategically to identify themes and specific actions for organizational and individual development. You should be thinking quite broadly for this stage. Either with your current knowledge or after speaking with colleagues informed on your organization’s strategy, write down significant areas of growth or change for you, your group, and your organization. The point here is to spark ideas based on the natural movement of the organization, challenges you face, or things you are interested in and may want to move to. Consider both the internal and external landscapes and what challenges or opportunities might be coming down the pike. What are the areas that interest you, where you could demonstrate positive impact, or where you could grow your skills and leadership? These go in the purple shaded column.

Based on stages one and two, you now need to assess what is needed from you to accomplish stage one and leverage the areas in stage two (orange column).

Finally, the green shaded columns ask you to identify skills and experiences you need to develop to reach, be eligible, or be successful in your current role or new job. Do not let your internal editor get at this as you work on a first cut, just get ideas down. Then go back and try to put the first three into priority order, but within the columns. This ordering should then inform the priority for skills and experiences that you want to pursue.

Having a comprehensive and up to date development plan is also a great way to stay motivated, continue to grow, maintain relevancy, improve delegation, and leverage challenging situations during lean, changing, or ambiguous times.