&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Administration And
Resources Management
(3633)
EPA 21O-K-94-002
April 1994
Creating
Your
Individual
Development
Plan
Recycled/Recyclable
Printed with Soy/Canda Ink on paper that
contains at toast 50% recycled fiber
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Foreword
The primary purpose of this guidance is to provide assistance
in establishing an Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP is
both a valuable planning process and an excellent communication tool.
The process helps individuals identify short-term needs for improving
current job performance and long term career aspirations. As a
result, both the individual and the organization benefit from the
opportunity to exchange ideas, concerns, and important developmental
information.
The target audience for this guidance is EPA managers. They
are expected to implement an annual IDP which reflects a minimum
of 40 hours of management development. Due to numerous requests
and inquiries from non-management employees for IDP guidance, this
guide has been updated to facilitate use by all EPA employees. Non-
management employees should consult their supervisors for policy and
guidance regarding IDP's in their specific organization.
It is the responsibility of the organization, the supervisor and
the individual to ensure that the IDP is established, revised as needed,
and completed within the year. Managers who have questions or need
help, should contact their Human Resources Officer, Program
Management Officer or the Office of Human Resources Management,
Management Assessment Services staff at (202) 260-8830.
Apnl 1994
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IF
YOU DON'T
KNOW
WHERE YOU'RE
GOING YOU'LL
PROBABLY
ENDUP
. SOMEPLACE ELSE"
DAVID P. CAMPBELL
PRESIDENT, STRONG & CAMPBELL, INC.
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
The Individual Development Plan Process 2
Step 1: Conduct Self Assessment 3
Step 2: Obtain Others' Assessment 6
Step 3: Survey Environment 7
Step 4: Take Action 8
Choosing Developmental Opportunities 11
Optional IDP Format 13
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INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS
INTRODUCTION
Individual Development Plans (IDP's) provide the individual
with a planning process that identifies both developmental needs and career
objectives. Furthermore, IDP's serve as a communication tool between
employees and their managers.
The goals of the IDP process are to help individuals identify:
• Short-term needs for improving current job performance.
• Long-term career opportunities and options they want to
pursue.
Some very specific benefits of the IDP process are:
~ Organizations benefit by having motivated employees who have
good skills, high morale and job satisfaction. These factors contribute
to the organization by creating a more efficient, productive work
force.
-- Supervisors benefit from understanding the strengths and career
aspirations of their employees. The process encourages them to
readily and openly discuss developmental objectives with their
employees.
— Individuals benefit when they can communicate their goals and
developmental objectives to their managers and focus on achieving
their career aspirations.
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BASIC STEPS IN THE INDIVIDUAL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN PROCESS
STEP 1: Conduct Self-Assessment
• Examine your interests and values
• Assess your skill strengths and limitations
• Establish long-range (3-5 years) and short-range (1-2 years)
career goals
• Examine management priorities
• Rank developmental areas
STEP 2: Obtain Others' Assessment
• Obtain objective assessment of performance from
supervisors, employees, peers and customers
• Obtain others' perception of potential
STEP 3: Survey Environment
• Identify job options and developmental opportunities
• Consider constraints: time, money and personal responsibilities
• Adjust ranking of top three strengths and limitations
STEP 4: Take Action
Commit your plan to paper
Discuss it with your supervisor
Implement
Revise and modify as needed
Begin again
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STEP 1: CONDUCT SELF-ASSESSMENT
Examine Your Interests and Values
-- Interests and values determine how satisfied you will be in
your career. To identify interests and values, start by
examining what you like and don't like about your present job,
such as:
- Work setting
- Relationships with co-workers
- Supervision received
- The work itself
- Compensation
- Ability to balance job and personal responsibilities
— Next, think back to your earlier jobs, and identify the most
satisfactory and the least satisfactory ones. Look for any
patterns in your likes and dislikes.
-- Finally, consider elements you find desirable in jobs held by
others. Recall occupations you have always been interested in
learning or doing.
This exercise will give you an idea of your interests and values.
> Assess Your Skill Strengths and Developmental Areas
-- A critical part of career planning is taking a realistic look at
your current abilities. Use assessment tools to examine what is
needed to improve present job performance or meet the
requirements of a promotion or career change.
-- Assessment tools can be formal or informal. Formal
assessment tools are structured or systematic in nature. They
can include instruments such as assessment surveys, workshops
or courses. Informal assessment tools are unstructured. They
can be as simple as writing a checklist or asking the opinion of
others.
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Establish Goals
A goal describes a particular direction or outcome which an
individual wants to pursue. For example:
I want to be a second level manager in the Air program in a
region. (Tangible)
I want to achieve a greater balance between my personal and
professional life. (Intangible)
~ Establish both long-term goals (3-5 years) and short-term
goals (1-2 years). With clearly defined goals, you will be
ready for opportunities that come along. Although goals can
change, they provide a sense of direction and focus.
— Short-term goals will normally apply to what you can do in
your current position; long-term goals may involve several
options, including a promotion, a career change outside of the
organization, or perhaps a lateral move with a new set of
responsibilities.
~ To be effective motivators goals should have the following
characteristics:
Personal
Challenging and achievable
Specific and measurable ( How will I know when
I get there ? )
Reasonably controllable
Compatible with your values, priorities, and
existing obligations
Compatible with the organization's needs
Build on your interests and values
Time bound ~ specific start and target dates
Format: Concise, clear, simple, short (10-45
words)
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Examine Management Priorities
~ Another critical piece of information is determining
whether your goals and development needs are
compatible with the management priorities in your
organization. If they are not, the challenge is to work
with your management to identify developmental
activities which allow you to continue to contribute to the
organization's priorities while still moving toward your
long-term goal.
Rank Developmental Areas
— Prioritize those developmental areas to achieve the best
balance between your individual needs and the needs of
the organization.
— For example, although your long-term goal may point
to a certain set of developmental areas, high priorities in
your organization may require focusing on another set of
developmental areas to maintain an acceptable level of
performance in your current job.
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STEP 2: OBTAIN OTHERS' ASSESSMENT
• Obtain Objective Assessment of Your Performance
~ The act of assessment analyzes and evaluates aspects of
performance in order to determine developmental needs and
activities to improve them. When analysis comes from a
variety of sources, it provides a different and more
comprehensive perspective. Therefore, a good assessment
should involve input from others, including your supervisor,
employees, peers, customers, mentors, family and friends.
~ How well you manage your personal relationships, and your
work is very important. Career success is largely determined
by how well we serve our customers, work with peers, relate
to employees, and deal with managers.
— Similarly, the reputation you create has a profound affect on
your career. How others perceive you is critical to your
success.
~ Ask others what they think are your strengths and
developmental needs. Seek suggestions on ways to improve
developmental areas.
• Obtain Others' Perception of Your Potential
~ Get others' view on your future career progression.
~ Ask them what position they see you holding 5 or more years
from now.
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STEP 3: SURVEY ENVIRONMENT
Identify Job Options and Developmental Opportunities
~ Now that you have decided on goals and identified priority
developmental areas, gather information to determine their
feasibility and appropriateness. How well do your goals match
the organization's goals and objectives? Do the types of jobs
you are interested in exist in your organization; if not, where
are they? What developmental opportunities are available to
you?
- Considerations for "Choosing the Most Appropriate
Developmental Activity" are discussed on page 11.
Consider Constraints: Time, Cost and Personal
Responsibilities
— Finally, be realistic about developmental areas that can be
addressed within the effective dates of your IDP. Your work
schedule, budget constraints or family responsibilities may
influence the types of development opportunities that are right
for you at a particular point in time.
Adjust Ranking of Developmental Areas
— The information you collect in this step may require that you
adjust your ranking of development areas. For example,
although your highest developmental need may be to broaden
your perspective by taking on work in new areas, it may not be
possible to address that need in the near-term because of the
workload demanded by current projects. Similarly, attempting
to address all of your developmental needs at once is
unrealistic. Therefore, it is recommended that you focus on
no more than your top three developmental areas within a given
year.
7
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STEP 4: TAKE ACTION
Commit Your Plan To Paper!
-- Now that you have both long-term and short-term goals,
write them down along with the remaining steps outlined
below. Writing your goals down promotes clarity and indicates
a commitment to yourself.
- An optional IDP format is provided on page 13. You are
free to use other formats that you or your organization may
prefer as long as the same minimum information is recorded.
Those organizations that have automated IDP's are encouraged
to use them.
Establish Effective Dates
IDP's are established at the Midyear Performance Review and
cover one full year. Therefore, the effective dates should be
May 1 of the present year through April 30 of the next year.
Identify Specific Developmental Objectives
- Objectives are a group of intermediate actions taken towards
a goal. They are shorter in time, more specific and immediate.
~ Draw your objectives from the developmental areas identified
earlier. Be specific about what you want to accomplish. Being
specific will help you figure out which developmental
opportunities will help you the most.
~ Keep in mind the difference between a developmental
objective and a goal. A developmental objective is a specific
knowledge, skill or ability you want to improve to help you
achieve a goal, and a goal is where you want to be at some
future point in time.
8
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Define Developmental Activities and Time Frames
~ What specific activities will you be undertaking? What time
frames do they have? How will you know when you have
succeeded in changing a developmental need to a strength?
Answering these questions helps both you and your supervisor
plan for the activities.
~ Refer to "Choosing the Most Appropriate Developmental
Activity" on page 11. Keep in mind that there is more to
development than formal classroom training.
~ At a minimum, the developmental activities must reflect 40
hours of management development for executives, managers
and supervisors. Although technical development should be
pursued if needed, it does not substitute for the 40 hours
intended to focus attention on managerial abilities.
Discuss the Completed IDP With Your Supervisor and
Co-sign
~ Discuss your plan with your supervisor and reach an
agreement. Both of you sign the completed document to
signify this agreement. Documenting your agreement helps
ensure that you both understand what is involved in your
development.
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Implement Your Plan
— You've made a good start on your lifelong journey of
learning and development, now it is time to take action. Your
plan is just the beginning of your development and serves as the
road map to your success. Start acting on your plan today.
Revise and Modify Plan As Necessary
~ Remember that your plan is not cast in concrete; you will
need to modify it as circumstances change. The challenge of
implementation is to remain flexible and open to change.
Continue discussions with your manager and others who can
provide useful perspectives.
— Review your plan in six months to see if you are on track.
This will help keep your development plan realistic and up-to-
date.
— It is the responsibility of the organization, the supervisor and
the individual to ensure that the IDP is established, revised as
needed, and completed within the year.
Begin Again
10
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CHOOSING THE MOST APPROPRIATE
DEVELOPMENTAL OPPORTUNITY
There are a variety of ways to develop your competence in any
given area. They are not limited to formal classroom training.
Choosing an effective developmental activity involves more than
checking to see what courses are available. Actively seek
developmental opportunities and be creative.
You should consider whether you need to:
• Build skills;
• Increase knowledge or understanding; or
• Gain experience.
Developmental activities may include:
Developmental assignments
- On-the-job training
- Rotations
Formal training
- Classroom training
- Developmental programs
- Workshops
Self-Development
- Task forces
- Professional associations
- Reading/video tapes
Refer to current EPA Management Development Directory for a list of
formal developmental opportunities
11
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Environmental Protection Agency
Individual Development Plan
Name:.
Effective Dates:
Long-Term GoalL
Short-Term Goal:
DcNclnpmcnt Ohjectixcs
Specific Deu'lopmcnt .\cli\ilies
Description
Time Frame
See reverse side for signatures
EPA Form 3140-31 (4/91)
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I )t-\i-lop me lit Objectives
Specific Development Acti\ ities
Description
Time Frame
Others, as appropriate:
Employee Signature
Date
AssblanI/Regional Administrator
Date
Manager Signature
Date
Executive Resources Board
Date
KPA Form 3140-31 (4/91)
Mentor
Date
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