Following the trend of increased executive coaching, more and more,
high performers expect personal development plans as a minimum. This should
be no surprise since we know that primary desires of high performers is
to know what is expected of them and that someone cares about their futures.
See First, Break All The Rules, Buckingham.
How should an organization get started to create personal development
plans? Individual Development Plans (IDP’s) must start
with effective definition of performance expectations, along both the
outcome and behavior dimensions. While all education and development has
some value, organizational resources are best focused on improving performance
directly related to strategy. Based on such individual-strategic performance
expectations, in addition to supervisor assessments, self assessments
and multi-rater assessments can be performed. Additionally, statistically
valid written assessments are available on the market. Together, these
provide a total view of a performer’s needs and identify areas for
development.
How many improvement objectives are appropriate in an IDP? While
there is no textbook answer to this since situations vary, typically,
three areas of behavior are manageable. We all have at least three lower
behaviors that can be improved. This is best done by defining the following
for each area of development:
• Pick three strategic or job-specific competencies.
• Pick a behavior within each competency.
• State what development actions should be taken.
• Describe what successful change should look like.
What role does a supervisor play once an IDP is created?
A supervisor’s role in development is to: create awareness, provide
motivation, monitor progress and offer feedback. The IDP, itself, should
create awareness and proper support from a supervisor is motivational.
Monitoring progress involves observations of behavioral change. Feedback
is as simple as regularly letting the performer know how close the new
behaviors are to the intended goals.
STARway Service provides web-hosted supervisor assessments, supervisor
assessments, multipoint assessments and a linked online, self-administered
statistically valid assessment, all utilizing the same competency and
behavior system.
To find out more, please send an e-mail to contact@starwayservice.com.
