Creating a powerful Personal Development Plan

Personal Development Plans can often be “something and nothing” – a paper exercise mandated by HR for line managers and direct reports to undertake as an annual ritual. When they are at their best they:

• Identify clearly the difference between where you are now and where you want and/or need to be
• Link immediate (short-term) objectives and actions with longer-term, wider personal goals
• Have both a developmental (learning) perspective and a career management perspective
• Link goals explicitly with values
• Provide an appropriate level of stretch
• Are motivating and create a bias for action
• Are shared with your support network
• Can be monitored to check that progress is happening and how fast it is happening
• Are a “live” document that you refer to at relatively frequent intervals, to benchmark how you are doing
• Are flexible enough to allow for new goals and to respond to unexpected opportunities

Try using the grid below as a framework:

Some useful questions to ask

• Why do I want this?
• How does this goal align with my personal values?
• How does it align with the values of the organization?

© David Clutterbuck, 2014