(888) 893-2165Individual Development Plans (IDP) are a classic; they’ve been around for a while and aren’t going anywhere. Have you paused to think about why? In this article, we’ll lay out five reasons why it makes sense to put the time and effort into building your team using Individual Development Plans. At the end, you’ll find an Individual Development Plan template to help put IDPs into action at your company.
1. Engagedness
We all have to come to work every day. Some days when your alarm clock goes off, do you dread getting up to do the work that you know awaits you? Of course, you do—everyone does. So what can leadership teams do to help? A clear sense of purpose at work can help you avoid the unease. Purpose comes from several different areas. If you’re lucky, the work you do has an impact on the world around you. Making an impact improves sentiment and can drive you to action. No more snoozing your alarm—well, less snoozing your alarm.
Not everyone has the luxury of doing impactful work every day, so how can leaders foster a sense of purpose in a smaller realm? The answer is simple—having a clear career goal in mind with actionable steps to achieve the goal. Every single person that works deserves the opportunity to have career advancement options. Whether they choose to work on those opportunities lies in their court. Give your team members solid next steps for a chance to move ahead using the attached Individual Development Plan template.
2. Retention
The reality is that every team most likely has a handful of A players, a solid contingent of B players, and a smattering of C players. Without the opportunity for professional growth, the A and B players will take their talents to a place that will encourage and allows growth.
While that hurts in the immediate term (how do we quickly fill this gap?), churn also seriously impacts the bottom line. A Center for American Progress study showed that turnover costs companies between 16 and 22 percent of that person’s annual salary, with highly paid employees costing much more. Is that a cost you are prepared to pay?
To be clear, growth isn’t a made-up new title to trick someone into believing they experienced true growth. The growth that I’m recommending is looking at either skillsets or behaviors and putting in the time and effort to “leveling up” these areas.
Further, LinkedIn did a study on 2,000 professionals. They found that employees who spend time learning at work are:
- 47% less likely to be stressed
- 39% more likely to feel productive and successful
- 23% more ready to take on additional responsibilities
- 21% more likely to feel confident and happy
*More on this study by Inc. (a great follow up read).
3. Paving The Way For Future Leaders
We’d wager that if asked which of your team members had the highest potential, you could tell me without even a moment of hesitation. So what gives? What’s keeping that person from moving forward with their career? Typically, there is a behavior that’s just not quite where it has to be to take that next step. Does he/she lack a strategic mindset? Perhaps this person isn’t quite where he or she should be in building an effective team.
Whatever it is, not taking the initiative now to build this person up leaves the team and organization vulnerable when unexpected churn occurs. People find new opportunities, win the lottery, relocate. The organization should be prepared by having an orderly succession plan in place.
This is an issue that grows harder every passing day. Take a look at this research done by SHRM that discusses the global skill gap. What can be done? Simple—build the skills in house. We’ll say it again for the people in the back: BUILD THE SKILLS IN HOUSE. It takes a lot of effort but Individual Development Plans future proofs your company and creates a positive work environment—get started with the attached template.
4. Talent Agility
The only constant in life is that nothing stays the same. The market that you are currently dominating in could be gone in a flash (hello, COVID). How prepared is your company to reassess the changing world and reposition your employees to continue being effective? This article from McKinsey takes a scuba dive into enterprise agility (of which talent agility plays a major role) to show the importance of agility in the workplace. A more agile team can lead to a more engaged team by 20 to 30 points.
How do you begin to have more talent agility? First, you must assess your talent. Where are your skill gaps? How do you compare to competitors? Once you answer these questions, you can shape a plan for learning. Your leadership and development team will be an integral part of your success in building a team that is prepared for even the most unexpected shift in the market.
5. Tapping Into Innovation
Who doesn’t want to have the next great idea bubble up from within? Developing a team of innovators is the goal of all CEOs. This research study found an immense correlation between innovation and engagement. However, this is a bit of a “chicken and the egg” situation. Innovative environments drive engagement, while engaged employees drive innovation.
Use professional development as a key to unlocking engagement. This Process Street article reports that 97% of highly engaged employees have someone that encourages their development and that 98% of these folks have opportunities to grow. Once we open ourselves up to cultivating an environment where our employees can try new things without fear of failure, their growth can spark innovation which encourages further growth.
Conclusion: Implement Individual Development Plans
Okay, we’ve proven without a shadow of a doubt that development plans are essential. However, I can hear you thinking, “where in the world will I find the time??” I get it. A quick google search of Individual Development Plan templates shows forms that look like they will take 5 hours to complete—PER person.
Along the way, leaders have overcomplicated the process. In an ideal world, we would carefully assign 70% of our time to on the job learning, 20% to learning from a SME, and 10% to formal learning. Fortunately, we’re not robots. The chances of this set up being put into practice are extremely small. So what can be done?
Quite simply, it all boils down to having a transparent conversation. The template I’ve included will help you guide this chat. Be sure to find out your employee’s aspirations, his/her passions, and long term goals. You get to bring to the table what business cases can be made for these desires.
You also hold a tight grip on your budget. Do not despair if you just don’t have the money to send your A players to a conference. We live in the gig economy! There’s a plethora of information to be had for free if you dig.
I encourage you to set time aside on your calendar for these conversations. Get to know your team, really and truly. How do they wish to grow their career? What help can you provide for them? You can absolutely have the talent on your team that you desire. It takes effort, but individual development plans are a game-changer.
Download The Individual Development Plan Template Here
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