HBR Guides to Performance Management Collection (4 Books) (HBR Guide Series)

CHAPTER 10

Craft a Development Plan

Skill training, job redesign, mentorship—your employee could take advantage of all of the development options available to them, but without a strategic plan, they still might not achieve their professional goals and aspirations. You must clearly identify a path that you both think will work best and outline the specific actions required to gain the skills they need to grow. In other words, you and your employee must define a development plan.

An individualized development plan includes specific growth objectives your employee will strive to meet over the long term, with a time line and clear steps for achieving them. Like the performance goals you developed in section 1, these targets should be challenging ...