How do I build a development plan?

Tips from Avant President and CEO, Kristin Ihle, PhD.

The growth that comes throughout a career can be both challenging and rewarding. While practicing a behavior or skill can be quite complex, I have found that in my practice the most difficult step once you get through self-awareness is drafting the plan. It is different than setting a business plan, which tends to be black and white. When it comes to professional growth and development a lot of the growth is underneath the surface and less visible to others.

Leadership development is nebulous to measure. People often feel like they are pinning jello to the wall. Often times the sponsors or managers of the employee creating the plan are inclined to say “we will know it when we see it.” IT being the change. However, that is not fair to the employee. We know that for learning we need guidance along the way to tell us we are on the right path. We don’t yell at the 11-month-old who is pulling herself up on a couch and taking two 2 wobbling steps before falling. We cheer her along so she knows she is going in the right direction. This shapes her behavior through our actions. Employee development needs to be the same. We must be able to show progress towards the desired outcome.

Remember that the overall purpose of setting a development goal is for growth. In some cases you may want to sharpen a strength and in other cases you may want to take something that is “okay” and get it to “very good.” Some development falls into the technical aspects of a role – e.g., CAD drawing or qualifying in the sales process. We may see a functional/technical development goal for someone who is early in his/her career. Early in a career there are common constellations of development that many people will have in common, for example the basics of becoming a first-time supervisor. However, as we progress through our career development tends to be a bit more individualized or customized as our interests, motivations and aptitudes become more crystallized. Mid-managers likely also have common development needs which can be accentuated by culture. 

Examples of different personas

Example 1: Consider the person who wants to get buy in for his ideas and cannot figure out why others won’t just “get with the program.” He may be overly reliant on his data, logic and how he frames the problem while simultaneously overlooking the historical perspective and the positive intent of others. What this means is that he needs to take the time to gain alignment on the scope of an issue, gather input from multiple stakeholders, and then work in partnership to solve the problem. Today, from other’s point of view he tends to steam roller folks verbally and intellectually. He will need to slow down, engage in diplomatic questioning, and become more curious about others’ points of view. How do we measure his growth? Simply checking the box saying “there, I asked more people” is not a progress index. How he goes about influencing others matters. As such, measurement might reflect whether his colleagues felt they were part of the process or the leader being able to articulate the historical view on how we got to where we are today. The latter is likely to demonstrate what I call “business empathy,” or in other words, sensitivity and respect for the good hard work others have done. Measurement could also include fewer escalations to senior leadership, etc.

Example 2: Consider the person who wants to work on her need to “win every battle.” There may be many reasons that prompt her to engage as she does. We may never know those reasons and more critically, if she is truly working on the goal we might not initially notice. Specifically, how do you measure the absence of a behavior? Meaning, if you are in a meeting with this person, how will you “notice” when she does not engage in a combative manner? To do so would mean you would have to “know” she would have engaged and that she intentionally held back. Since we cannot be inside of someone else’s mind in this way, we therefore cannot “see” the absence of the behavior. Especially if in the meeting she took on battles 4 times, but you might not know she held back on 3 others she really wanted to take on.

SMART goals

As most people already know, goals need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, and Time-bound. Below are the common sections for a development plan and how to think about each one.

GOAL NAME:

What do you want to improve or work on?
• Keep the name brief and clear, you can always add descriptive information below the title
• Use language that is common to your company culture. For example, one company might say “Executive Presence” while others may use “Professional Bearing”, etc. While different in nomenclature, these two titles likely address a common development goal.
• How many goals: This is tricky to answer given individual differences. Not to mention your organization may have some guidance on their expectations regarding the number of development goals to have. If you are asking Avant with its years of consulting experience in the development arena we recommend only 2. Sometimes goals can be incredibly complex though easy to state. Take for example someone who needs to work on managing his/her response under stress – this can involve reprogramming the amygdala, no small task.
• What types of goals: Again your company may have suggestions for what it wants to see. A best practice would be for your goal to be informed by some type of assessment – as simple as a development discussion with your manager using your company competency model or a 360 or some other tool your organization likes to use for assessment. We recommend ensuring that one goal is sharpening a strength and one be focused on true development; you can always add more as you care to.

BENEFIT STATEMENT:

State the benefits of improving a behavior or set of behaviors? Why work on this goal?

• Some may consider this to be goal definition which can sometimes get too long. We suggest a brief “benefit statement.”
• A benefit statement should get to the “so what” of your goal. What is the purpose of your goal? Why are you working on this?
• Consider the benefit statement to be something of a “tagline” that people can quickly “get” without having to do a lot of reading.

KEY ACTIONS:

Identify 3 actions you will take in the next 30 days. Put completion dates after each action. If it is a new habit you need to build indicate by what date you will have achieved frequency in the “sometimes to always” range.

Decades of guiding managers and executives in development has led us to a best practice of identifying only 3 key actions. Once you “master” your first 3 actions you can replace them with others that are more complex and advance you on your continuous (self) improvement journey. What we find is there are often fundamentals to achieving a goal so start there. Only you (with internal sponsor or manager) will be able to determine what your fundamentals are. Begin with those, gain mastery before setting another key action. A foundational example for influencing others is “listening without interrupting” or even “listening without thinking of my response while the other person is talking.”

MEASUREMENT / IMPACT:

If this goal is achieved what changes in behavior will occur? How will you know if you were successful? What does “better” look like? What will be different as a result of working your action plan – on business, relationships, efficiency, safety, etc? It is important to reflect on the change process and what impact it will have for you, for others, for your department, etc. To get started on measurement consider the following:

What stays the same? What happens if you don’t make needed change?

Example: As our business grows, I end up with more direct reports. This means I cannot touch and approve every project they have. If I do not learn how to delegate and monitor without being overly involved, I will create bottlenecks and adversely impact the growth of my team members.

Desired outcome: reduction of bottlenecks, employees growing and developing, more capacity to work on appropriate projects

What is different? Sometimes the “measurement” is more noticeable to you and therefore requires technology to track. For example, if you begin to collaborate with your peers more effectively you may personally experience a reduction of frustration and other associated tensions. It is okay to write that down as a measurement.

Others’ Perspective:
a. What will others notice if you are able to make the change you want to make? Consider multiple perspectives – e.g., what will your direct reports see, what will your manager or peers see?
b. What will others not see or not have to deal with? In the case of being more effective at managing conflict, perhaps your manager will see fewer escalations and your peers will notice projects are running more smoothly.