Building
a Successful Development Plan
Copyright © 2006 Marion Stone
Used with permission of the author:
Author:
Marion
Stone
Director
Cornerstone Connections
marion@cornerstoneconnections.co.za
www.cornerstoneconnections.co.za
10 May 2007
After a long
discussion where the manager and the employee have discussed this
year’s objectives, last year’s objectives, progress made,
obstacles, new projects, ratings and possibly even behaviours,
they both stop talking, look awkwardly at their pieces of paper
and realise that it is time to complete "The Development
Plan".
What makes completing
this part of the performance appraisal so torturous? Why are
development plans so light on real goals and challenges? How many
development plans have you come across that simply refer to
"Attend time management workshop" or "Attend
advanced Excel training" because the employee did not know
what else to write?
At this point I hasten
to add that intrinsically, there is nothing wrong with time
management workshops or IT training, however if your aim is to
develop an organisation that is flexible to the demands of the
marketplace, then more thought needs to be given to what learning
is taking place and why. The great father of action learning, Reg
Revans, said "Learning must be greater than change for the
organisation to survive".
The plan equips for
the future
So a successful
development plan has employees learning things that are relevant
to the growth of the organisation.
How do we know what is
relevant to the growth of the organisation?
Well, the
organisational strategy and goals will tell us where the
organisation is heading and at the individual level, their
objectives will show how their work supports the strategy.
Thus, the first
important component of a successful development plan is that it
should equip the individual to achieve their objectives. Has the
employee managed a project before? Will they know how to approach
and influence key stakeholders or build a team? If they are to
manage people, do they know even basic employment law or how to
manage performance? Will they be required to use new technology?
It sounds obvious, but a careful analysis of the skills and
behaviours required for each objective will reveal important
information for the development plan.
The plan accounts for
past performance
An important element
of learning, is reviewing past experience. What went well and what
didn’t and why?
Learning is a process
– one way of looking at it is as a cycle composed of 4 steps:
The Learning Cycle
1. Having an
Experience
3. Concluding from the Experience  4.
Planning the Next Steps
2. Reviewing the
Experience
Without the review,
conclude and plan steps, individuals would be doomed to repeat the
same mistakes over and over. Evaluation of past performance is an
important part of moving on. So, a successful development plan
accounts for past performance. Skills and behaviours found to be
lacking when considering the past year’s performance should be
made part of the development plan. Equally, skills and behaviours
found to be a strength can be further enhanced or harnessed to
achieve following year’s objectives.
The plan encourages
the individual
So often, development
plans are seen as a kind of punishment for not quite making the
grade. "Your presentations lack substance and clarity so you
need to attend a presentation skills course." "You
failed to engage the stakeholders of that project so we’ll send
you on an influencing course."
Not surprisingly,
employees feel like they are serving some kind of penance when
completing the actions on their development plan.
Is it possible to
create a plan that motivates and engages people and encourages
them to take ownership for the plan? I believe it is and in order
for that to be the case, there must be something in it for the
individual.
This does not mean
sending employees on expensive residential courses in order to
motivate them. The solution is to include learning objectives in
the development plan that will lead them closer to their personal
goals.
What does that look
like? Does it mean supporting employees to learn skills that are
not relevant to the organisation? Not at all, however it does
acknowledge that an individual might have personal goals and plans
that are outside of their current department and even possibly
outside the company. By including learning objectives relating to
the individual’s personal goals, you will capture the energy and
motivation that they have for their personal goals in order to
drive forward the whole development plan.
Employees can be
supported in the exploration of their personal goals through
trained line managers, onsite career coaches, on-line tools or
personal development workshops. The benefit of providing this kind
of support is that it enables individuals to assess the
motivational fit between themselves and the organisation
– what do I really want to do with my life and how does that fit
with what I am doing currently. The better the motivational fit,
the higher the level of engagement will be with the organisation
and therefore the more responsibility they will take for their
development within it.
The plan includes the
right components
You ask, why should
one have a plan at all? After all, don’t we learn all the time?
Why is it necessary to write it down?
For learning to be
truly effective it needs to be translated into action. The last
step of the learning cycle refers to "planning the next
steps".
How many of you know
that if you do not write it down it gets forgotten – from the
minutes of the management meeting to the shopping list for dinner!
To build an organisation of
learners, it is necessary to develop the discipline of all 4 steps
of the learning cycle.
The essential
ingredients of a development plan are very simple:
-
What are you going
to do? (Learning objective)
-
How are you going
to learn it? (What activities will help you develop the
objective?)
-
When are you going
to do it? (Timing)
-
What help will you
need? (Time, coaching from manager, finance, introductions to
other experts)
-
How will you know
when you have been successful? (Measures)
Most plans are in some
type of table format (although they need not be) – mind maps,
lists and other formats are all acceptable as long as they capture
the essence of the above headings. Most importantly there should
be space for some review notes.
The key to writing a
good development plan is to define a very specific learning
objective. Objectives such as "improve management of my
team" or "learn more about excel" are difficult to
take action on and almost impossible to measure. Ask the
"Why?" question to find out the core learning need.
Question: ‘Why
do you want to improve the management of your team?
Response: To
increase motivation levels.
Question: Why?
Response: Good
performers are frustrated that a few team members are not
"pulling their weight."
Learning need: Management
of underperformance
The plan is realistic
In reality it is
neither possible nor practical to focus on more than about 3
well-defined development goals. Simplicity is the key ensuring
that a development is a live tool.
Plans should be:
Used appropriately,
development plans are another a tool that will drive high
performance through the encouragement of learning.
Marion
Stone is an
experienced training and development consultant with over 10 years
of experience both nationally and internationally. Her
comprehensive understanding of training strategy and practice has
been acquired in various sectors including manufacturing, FMCG,
construction, media and travel. Her work has focussed
predominantly on middle managers although she has worked with
various levels within the business from the shop floor to senior
managers. Marion
holds a first degree in chemistry (UCT) and an MSc in Strategic
Training and Development (University
of Surrey Roehampton). She is accredited by the South African Board of Personnel
Practitioners as a Chartered HR Practitioner. Her diverse
background ensures a practical approach to development activities
that are joined up with organisational goals and processes. She can be contacted at marion@cornerstoneconnections.co.za
and www.cornerstoneconnections.co.za.
Cornerstone
Connections builds
connections between the organisation and it’s employees and
between managers and their teams. Consultancy and training are
offered in the areas of:
Short
description
A successful business plan enables organisations through employees
preparing and learning for future developments, taking past
performances into account and encouraging employees. It is seen
within context of an organisation's situation, setting realistic
objectives and focusing on specific learning objectives.. Keywords
and related phrases
Development plan, learning, measure, objectives, performance,
progress, skills, time management, training, workshops.
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