How to create an employee development plan: 10 Ideas

Planning makes the biggest difference. This remains true for organizations looking to grow their business by investing in their teams. Find promising talents, retain effective employees, and achieve company goals by understanding how to implement a professional development plan.

In this article, we’ll help you and your teams see the bigger picture by looking at 10 different ideas you can use to create and improve your employee development plan. 

What is an employee development plan?

An employee development plan details the concrete and actionable steps that will guide the personal and professional growth of each member of your team. It aims to develop the knowledge and skills of employees in a manner that’s aligned with their individual goals and the organization’s goals.

The components of this development plan may vary from one employee to another. But at the very least, an effective professional development plan should include:

• Long-term and short-term personal goals aligned with the company goals
• Performance metrics to measure the employee’s progress
• Periodic checkups to track progress
• A feasible timeline to achieve goals

The gains you’ll get from an effective development plan for employees won’t happen overnight. It’s a long-term investment for companies, but the returns are definitely worth the time, money, and effort you’ll spend on it.

Employee development plan idea #1 - Assess employee’s current knowledge and skills

Planning for professional development requires getting a grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of your employees. There are multiple ways you can go about this. Some employee development plan examples for assessment may include conducting a skills gap analysis, getting honest self-evaluations, or asking for feedback from their peers and managers.

One straightforward way to do this is to get the help of a learning management system (LMS) where you can create your own skills assessment or deploy ready-made courses. 

SC Training (formerly EdApp) is a trusty LMS with abundant choices of courses and templates that you can easily edit to fit your needs and branding. Upon completion, you can easily pull the metrics you need to assess what aspects your employees thrive on and which ones they need to develop with this platform’s real-time insights.

Plot your way to success with an effective employee development plan. Join SC Training today!

Employee development plan idea #2 - Consider your organizational goals

Your company’s objectives give a sense of direction for how every employee’s personal and professional development plan should go. It’ll shape short-term and long-term goals and influence how their growth will add to the company’s growth.

In aligning individual and business goals, make sure to take a look at how your company and your industry are changing, and how that might affect how your team’s work is done.

Employee development plan idea #3 - Value your employee’s input 

The most important component of any employee development plan is the employee itself. So it’s only natural that they’re as involved as possible in the process. Apart from considering how they can contribute to the company goals, you should also consider how the development plan can help them grow personally and professionally.

Talk to your employees. Ask them about their needs and goals and work with them in identifying how the action plan can help achieve those while still being aligned with the general goals of the organization.

Employee development plan idea #4 - Create milestones

Break up the plan into milestones so that it’s not too overwhelming for your teams. Creating milestones helps employees focus by having a more targeted, organized approach to seeing the plan come to life.

One way to motivate teams to hit milestones is by rewarding their progress. SC Training’s achievements feature keeps your teams engaged by giving badges and banners to celebrate training progress. 

Employee development plan idea #5 - Create quantifiable goals

A clear, objective way of measuring success is important to make it easier for teams to understand how they can contribute to the organization. It also erases ambiguity and guarantees that you and your employees are on the same page.

When goals can be quantified, it encourages personal accountability while giving managers the space to give out more targeted feedback and a fair basis for evaluation. Measurable goals are connected to key performance indicators (KPIs), and this will be crucial for your employee’s career progression.

Employee development plan idea #6 - Build a supportive environment

Teams thrive best in work environments where they feel supported and valued. Lay the foundation for growth and learning by making training accessible, promoting positive reinforcement, and supporting work-life balance.

Some online platforms provide opportunities for mentorship and peer learning. SC Training houses social and peer learning features that let teams turn to each other for help in training or solving problems. Avenues for knowledge sharing encourage collaboration and support while contributing to both team and individual success.

Employee development plan idea #7 - Offer relevant opportunities

Trainings are the building blocks of employee development. Regular and relevant staff training is important in plotting a professional development plan. It should focus on enhancing knowledge and skills that will aid in achieving individual and organizational goals.

In short, the development plan should shape the training journey to make sure that it’s spot-on. Regardless of what mode of training you think would be perfect for your teams, SC Training’s got you covered. Apart from its online course offerings, SC Training has blended learning features for your in-person training needs.

It’s a unified platform that's built for a mix of digital and in-person training. You can easily deploy digital training, assess their knowledge in person, track performance metrics, and dish out certificates all in one place. 

Employee development plan idea #8 - Maximize tools for professional development

An employee development software is created to complement how you and your teams want to take on employee development. Tools like SC Training go beyond workplace learning by opening doors for continuous professional development and growth opportunities.

Make the most out of these platforms to cut costs, time, and effort. Refine skills, tailor learning experiences, increase engagement, and easily measure progress with tools that do the brunt of the work for you.

Employee development plan idea #9 - Track progress and make data-driven decisions

Tracking your team’s progress is crucial to understanding how far an employee has come and how near they are to hitting a milestone or goal. It’s also important to gauge if adjustments are needed so that they can be made as quickly as possible. 

Thankfully, you can ditch paperwork and spreadsheets with tools that have built-in progress trackers. SC Training’s powerful reporting and analytics dashboard will allow you to access everything from performance insights to out-of-the-box reports. This will allow you to track compliance, training scores, and individual activity at a glance.

Employee development plan idea #10 - Refine your strategy as you go

Employee development plans aren’t set in stone. It’s helpful to make it as flexible as possible to make room for changes as your teams tick off parts of the action plan. These changes should come from the performance metrics and data you gather from training assessments and regular meetings.

Plan for success with the best tool for employee development. Join SC Training today!