[Onboarding and growth](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates#onboarding) # Individual development plan template An individual development plan with strengths, direction, a table of three development goals and a review rhythm, to fill in, copy or print. Employee Manager Period **Where I am now** My strengths, with an example of each Skills I want to build **Where I want to go** The work I want to be doing in a year My longer-term aim **Development goals** Two or three goals are enough. Columns: Goal, Action, Support needed, By when, How we will know. 3 rows. **Review** How often will we review this plan? - Every month - Every quarter Notes from the last review Last updated October 14, 2026 ## A development plan turns a career aim into dated steps. An individual development plan, often shortened to IDP, is a one-page agreement between an employee and their manager about what the employee will learn over the next six to twelve months, and how. It is the written result of a career conversation. The plan belongs to the employee, and the manager's part is to supply support: time, a project, an introduction, a budget. This template covers where the person is now, where they want to go, three development goals with an action and a date for each, and how often the two of you will review it. ## Here is how to use the individual development plan template in five steps. _Figure: How to use the individual development plan template in 5 steps. Step 1: Hold the career conversation first. Step 2: Let the employee write the first draft. Step 3: Keep to three goals. Step 4: Favor doing over courses. Step 5: Review it on a schedule._ 1. **Hold the career conversation first.** The plan records what was agreed in a conversation about direction. Do not start with the form. 2. **Let the employee write the first draft.** They fill in the strengths, the direction and the goals, and bring the draft to a meeting with the manager. 3. **Keep to three goals.** Three goals with real actions get done. Ten goals become a list of wishes. 4. **Favor doing over courses.** Most skills are built on a real project with feedback. Use a course or a mentor to support the project, not to replace it. 5. **Review it on a schedule.** Look at the plan every month or every quarter in a one-on-one, and update the dates openly when things change. ## Here is a worked example with invented names. Take an invented company, Marlowick Studio. Devi Anand, a senior designer, tells her manager, Greta Olsen, in a career conversation that she wants to lead client projects within a year. Devi drafts the plan. Her strengths are visual systems and presenting work to clients. The skill she wants to build is running a project budget, which she has never done. She sets three goals: co-lead one project with a budget by June, present a quarterly review to a client alone by September, and mentor a junior designer through one full project. _Figure: A filled-in example. Marlowick Studio, an invented company: one development plan. Employee: Devi Anand, senior designer. Aim: Lead client projects within a year. Skill to build: Running a project budget. Goal 1: Co-lead one project with a budget by June. Goal 2: Present a quarterly review to a client alone by September. Goal 3: Mentor a junior designer through one full project. Support from her manager: A co-lead place on the next mid-sized project, and an hour a month with the finance manager. At the June review: Project co-led and delivered 4% under budget._ Greta supplies the support: a co-lead place on the next mid-sized project, and an hour a month with the finance manager. They review the plan each quarter. By the June review Devi has co-led the project and delivered it 4% under budget. ## These mistakes spoil a development plan. - The manager writing the plan for the employee, who then feels no ownership of it. - Listing courses with no project to apply them to. - Setting goals with no date and no way to tell whether they were met. - Tying the plan to a promotion the manager cannot promise. - Writing it in January and opening it again in December. ## People ask these questions about individual development plans. ### What is an individual development plan? An individual development plan is a short written plan that sets out an employee's strengths, the direction they want to grow in, a few specific development goals and the actions and support needed to reach them. The employee and the manager agree it together and review it regularly. ### Who is responsible for an individual development plan? The employee owns the plan and drafts it. The manager helps shape the goals, makes sure they are realistic for the business and provides the support: time, projects, introductions and budget. ### How many goals should a development plan have? Two or three. Each should have one clear action, a date and a way to tell whether it worked. More goals than that spread the effort too thin to finish any of them. ### How often should you review a development plan? Every month or every quarter, in a regular one-on-one. Shorter reviews held often work better than one long review a year, because goals and circumstances change. ### What is the difference between a development plan and a career conversation? The career conversation is the discussion about where the person wants to go. The development plan is the written outcome: the goals, actions and dates that follow from it. One without the other tends to go nowhere. ## These glossary terms explain the ideas behind it. - [Internal mobility](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#internal-mobility) Internal mobility is people moving into new roles inside the company, sideways or upward, instead of leaving to get the same move elsewhere. - [Employee value proposition (EVP)](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#employee-value-proposition) An EVP is the whole deal an employer offers in exchange for work: pay, growth, flexibility, the work itself, the people and the mission. - [One-on-one](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/one-on-one) A one-on-one is a recurring private conversation between a manager and a direct report about the work, the obstacles and the person's growth. - [Employee retention](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary/employee-retention) Employee retention is a company's ability to keep the people it wants to keep, for as long as the business needs them. - [Succession planning](https://www.teampredict.ai/glossary#succession-planning) Succession planning is identifying who could step into critical roles, and closing the gaps before the seat is empty. ## These pages on this site go deeper. - [15 employee retention strategies](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/employee-retention-strategies) - [Why good employees leave](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/why-good-employees-leave) - [Succession planning guide](https://www.teampredict.ai/blog/succession-planning) ## These templates pair well with this one. - [Career conversation template](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/career-conversation) Nine questions in five parts, from what gave energy to the next two or three steps. - [One-on-one meeting agenda template](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/one-on-one-meeting-agenda) Six timed parts for a 30-minute one-on-one, with their topics first. - [Succession plan template](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates/succession-plan) Critical roles, who could step in, emergency cover and development for successors. ## Find out who is showing exit signals. Score one person against ten factors in five areas, in a few minutes, and see which signals are contributing most. [Run a flight risk assessment](https://www.teampredict.ai/tools/employee-flight-risk-assessment) Free, no signup required. About TeamPredict TeamPredict is retention early-warning software that flags resignation risk from public LinkedIn signals, so you have lead time to keep the people you want to keep. [See how TeamPredict works](https://www.teampredict.ai/retention-software) [Back to the HR templates](https://www.teampredict.ai/templates), where all 22 are listed.