Individual development plan: a simple template for leaders

An individual development plan is a one page document that shows where you want to grow, which things block you, and the steps you will take to deal with them. It turns a vague wish to "get better" into a few clear steps with dates. You can write a first draft in about an hour.

This guide gives a simple template that any leader can fill in, plus tips for keeping the plan alive after the first week.

What the plan is and why it helps

The plan is a short agreement with yourself, and often with your manager. It lists a few goals, the skills you need to reach them, the actions you will take, and when you will check progress.

Most plans fail for one reason. They are too long, and nobody reads them twice. Keep yours to one page and no more than three goals. If you can read it in two minutes, you will use it.

Why most of your growth happens on the job

A well known idea in leadership research is the 70-20-10 model. It says leaders report learning about 70 percent from challenging experiences and assignments, about 20 percent from other people, and about 10 percent from courses and training. It grew out of the Center for Creative Leadership's research on how executives learn. It was written up as a planning tool by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger in 1996.

The numbers come from what executives said about their own learning. They are a rule of thumb, not a law. The useful message is simple: do not fill your plan with courses alone. Put real work, real people and some study side by side.

Sources: Center for Creative Leadership, "The 70-20-10 Rule for Leadership Development"; Wikipedia, "70:20:10 model" (1996 citation to Lombardo and Eichinger, The Career Architect Development Planner).

The one page template

Draw five boxes on one page, or make five headings in a document. Fill them in this order.

Where I am now. Write two or three strengths and two or three gaps. Use facts, such as feedback you received or results you missed.
Where I want to be. Name your target role or the change you want to lead in the next 12 months.
Goals. Pick one to three. Make each one specific, such as "run the monthly review meeting without help by December."
Actions. For each goal, list at least one action from each learning type: a stretch task, a person to learn from, and one short course or book.
Check dates. Set a review every 90 days and write the dates on the page.

How to find your real skill gaps

Leaders are often poor judges of their own gaps. Ask for outside views before you write the plan.

Talk to three or four people: your manager, a peer, and someone who reports to you. Put two questions to each person. "What should I do more of?" and "What should I do less of?" Write down the answers without arguing. Look for points that more than one person raised. Those are your best candidates for goals.

Then compare the gaps with your target role. A gap matters only if it blocks the next step you want. Skip the rest for now.

Turn goals into actions

Each action should be small enough to start this week. Here is an example for a leader who wants to run better team meetings.

Stretch task: chair the next four team meetings and send an agenda the day before.
People: watch a leader you respect run a meeting, then ask for 20 minutes of feedback on yours.
Study: read one short guide on meeting design and try one new method.

Give every action an owner (you), a finish date and a sign of success. A sign of success can be a number, such as "meetings end on time in three of four weeks," or a comment from your team.

Keep the plan alive

Put the 90 day review in your calendar now. At each review, ask three things. What did I finish? What did I learn? What should change? Cross out goals you have met, and add a new one only when there is room.

Share the page with your manager and ask for one thing: a chance to practise a skill on real work. A plan that your manager has seen is far more likely to happen. Update the page after every review, and keep old versions so you can see how far you have come.

Sources: practical steps in this section are editorial guidance built on the 70-20-10 learning model described above.