An Individual Development Plan (IDP) is:

Most employees want to grow in their present positions or progress to new ones. To do this effectively, a realistic action plan is needed. An IDP can be a useful tool to help plan a career, guide development and assess progress toward career goals and objectives.

IDP's shall provide meaningful training plans that will help the:

IDP's are required for all:

Note: For new permanent, full-time employees, an IDP is required 90 days after the employee reports for duty.

IDP's should be prepared annually at performance appraisal time for those individuals requiring IDP's.

An IDP and a performance appraisal have the same focus; fostering individual and organizational improvement. However, a performance appraisal is more like an end-of-year profit and loss statement while an IDP is an investment plan. They should work together, but they have different orientations.

As part of the annual performance appraisal process, the supervisor analyzes the employee's job and its requirements and communicates expectations and performance standards to the employee. Then throughout the year, the supervisor assesses the employee's performance and gives feedback on a regular basis. At appraisal time, the supervisor compares the employee's performance to the previously established standards, makes a determination about performance level, discusses this with the employee and together they set standards for the upcoming appraisal period.

The IDP process is a continuing cycle of planning, implementation and evaluation between an employee and supervisor, for the mutual benefit of both the employee and the organization. It is more than a swift review of course catalogs. It requires time to:

The critical factors throughout all phases of the IDP process are interaction and effective communication between the employee and supervisor. For the process to be effective and meaningful, each phase must be approached as a joint endeavor.

There are tools available for analyzing jobs to determine requirements. One that is readily accessible is the position description. Performance standards and performance elements also spell out job requirements.

The IDP process consists of five phases. The following table gives an overview of the process and tells you where in this guide to look for information on how to complete each phase.

The purpose of the pre-conference planning phase is to prepare the supervisor and employee for their joint conference. Both the employee and the supervisor have specific preliminary data-gathering responsibilities. This planning will not only provide time for discussion during the conference, but should also ease tensions and provide direction to the discussions by having this information readily available.

This section describes specific roles and responsibilities related to pre-conference planning. As you will see, both the employee and the supervisor have many questions to answer and things to consider in preparation for the employee-supervisor conference. The following table gives an overview of the pre-conference planning process:

The remainder of this section is divided into three major parts:

Both the supervisor and the employee are responsible for developing an IDP. While the employee completes the IDP, with the cooperation and assistance of the supervisor, it is the supervisor who normally has to approve individual activities on the IDP. The supervisor is responsible for performance improvement, and the IDP process is an important tool to achieve that objective.

Developing an IDP is a collaborative effort. When the employee and supervisor systematically work through the steps in this guide, an important opportunity exists to:

This pre-planning process should enable the employee to enter the employee-supervisor conference with some confidence and a firmer perspective on where he/she is going. It is helpful to remember that as an employee you have a two-fold role in developing your IDP.

Initiator: Assesses current skills and competencies, explores developing options, looks at the needs of the organization and sees realistic, constant improvement as a responsibility to oneself and the agency.

Owner: Assembles information, weighs alternatives, makes trade-offs, and proposes objectives and activities.

Where Have I Been? To determine where you have been, consider all previous training, development and job experiences. Include:

Where Am I Now? To determine where you are now, read your present position description, performance elements, performance standards and past performance evaluations. Think about the work performed over the past year and develop these lists:

Where Can I Go? To determine where you can go, focus on these major areas:

Positions: The following table will help you determine where you can go and how to focus on positions you are interested in.

Short-Range Goals (1-2 years): The following table will help you establish short-range goals.

Long-Range Goals (2-5 years): The following table will help you establish long-range goals.

Now, the employee should be prepared for the employee-supervisor conference. The next block will describe the supervisor's preparations for the conference.

In preparing for the employee-supervisor conference, the supervisor should remember that he/she serves in the following roles :

Consultant: Provides insights about employee's skills and potential and suggests ways to develop these skills and where employee should focus efforts.

Advisor: Shares knowledge about the organization, personal career experiences and specific position required or recommended training.

Planner: Gives insight into the employee IDP and decides what is in the best interest of the work unit as a whole.

Evaluator: Determines if the investment in the training and developmental activities resulted in improved individual and work unit performance.

The supervisor should consider the following points concerning the employee's development in preparing for the employee-supervisor conference:

Now, the supervisor should be prepared for the employee-supervisor conference.

The employee-supervisor conference provides the opportunity for open communication about all that has been considered during the pre-conference planning phase.

The employee and supervisor each have specific responsibilities to ensure that the conference is effective and objectives are met so that an IDP form can be prepared.

The following table describes what the employee should review and discuss with their supervisor during the conference.

During the conference, the supervisor should:

The matching of identified developmental needs with available development activities (training and non-training) is a major step in the IDP process.

A major difficulty supervisors and employees encounter in matching needs with activities is that of selecting the optimum developmental activity, that is the activity that provides maximum learning within the boundaries of the organization's:

To minimize this problem, a variety of developmental approaches and strategies should be considered. We often think of training only in terms of formal training courses. Actually there are four basic types of developmental experiences to consider in planning the IDP:

While all four types of experiences have their individual advantages and disadvantages, it is crucial to stress the importance of choosing the appropriate experience that most effectively and efficiently meets your specific needs. Although it would be ideal to incorporate a combination of all four types, the resources available to the supervisor may not make this possible. That is why an open discussion between the employee and supervisor concerning all options is necessary to pinpoint what is feasible for approval.

Structured on-the-job-training is the most frequently used method of individualized learning. In this situation, the employee is counseled and coached while actually performing official duties. It usually involves individual instruction by the supervisor or a designated staff member because of his/her experience in the task or procedure to be learned. This approach can be used to teach employees new procedures, tasks and technology.

Probably the most common experience is training in the classroom. This training may take place away from your work site. Depending on the objectives, specific program and instructor's approach, this experience can be very valuable. It may be the only alternative you have to acquire specific or specialized technical or managerial competency.

In many instances, however, formal classroom training is not the only way or the best way for an employee to learn. Therefore, it is suggested that no matter what the employee's needs are, consider this experience second to any training the employee can acquire at the work site.

When an employee aspires to a new career and his/her developmental needs cannot be directly related to present or anticipated work assignments, or resources are not available, the employee may undertake self-development activities:

Remember, what you want in terms of development and what your supervisor can authorize may be different. Your supervisor by law can only authorize certain types of activities on the job. To meet all your goals, it may be necessary for you to gain some competencies on your own time

One of the best ways to train for added responsibilities or higher job opportunities is through developmental activities. With the support and assistance of the supervisor, the employee's present job can be restructured or arrangements made to have the employee temporarily transferred to another area to learn firsthand the necessary technical and managerial competencies required for effective performance in that job. Examples of developmental activities include the following list:

Requires that the learner develop a product that will assist in the performance of the job, while, at the same time, serving as a vehicle for learning job-related information.

The IDP form is simply a means of formally documenting your plan. Once the employee-supervisor conference has been held, the FSA-600 form, Individual Development Plan, may be completed.

The following table describes the process of completing the IDP form.

Completion of the IDP form acknowledges the employee's commitment to accomplish the planned training and development. To implement the plan effectively, three actions are required on the employee's part:

Supervisor should:

The total of the organization's IDP's will be used to identify the agency's training needs and set its priorities. This process provides the Training Office with a tool to develop total budget data regarding training, as well as scheduling work to accommodate training needs. The IDP also provides the Training Office with some measure of the supervisor's interest in employee development.

An IDP is a plan for development, not a contract in stone. IDP's should be reviewed, revised or both as follows: