You've got a team bursting with potential, but without direction, that potential withers. Enter the career development plan, a GPS to professional growth for professionals and the managers guiding them. So in this post, we'll:
An employee career development plan is a strategy that focuses on helping employees build their skills, knowledge, and experience to advance in their careers.
An employee career development plan aims to support the growth and development of an individual's career path while also helping the organization achieve its strategic goals.
The five core elements any career development plan should include are:
By using assessments as a starting point, employers can create tailored plans tailored to each employee's unique skills and goals, leading to greater engagement and success.
At this stage, it's essential to consider two types of ways to assess employee skills and competencies:
This step lets you identify the specific skills an employee needs to develop to reach their career goals.
A skills gap analysis can provide a realistic look at what competencies and skills employees need to acquire for a specific role or to reach their career aspirations.
Templates can save time and energy by giving you an easy-to-use framework you can change to fit the needs of each employee. Creating a standardized template within your entire organization will also let you keep things consistent and ensure everyone receives the same quality of support and resources when developing their career.
โก๏ธ We added a template, which you'll find below.
Defining what the current and desired states for career development planning for employees helps you ensure that the plan is tailored to their individual needs and goals.
You need to sit down with each of your employees to understand this.
Otherwise, you risk having one single plan for everyone. That's not going to work for the majority of your employees. Not seeing progress would mean they're not staying motivated and won't have many results to celebrate.
As per the SMART framework, the development goals you set should be:
โก๏ธ Not sure where to start? Have a look over our best ideas for development goals you should set.
๐ก Tip: Don't forget to distinguish between performance and development goals so employee progress on each will finally make sense.
The more detailed and actionable the steps are, the easier it'll be for the employee to follow through and achieve their career aspirations. So follow up with every person once you've shared their career development plan to clarify any uncertainties.
To decide which tasks an employee should achieve first to reach their desired outcome, you can prioritize tasks based on:
You'll then have to further tailor the career development plan to the individual and their particular needs and interests. ]
๐ก Tip: Encourage managers to give employees tasks or responsibilities in their current role that align with their development goals. This will make employee growth more manageable, compared to having to sit through courses that would take the employee out of work-related tasks.
No deadline? Employees won't prioritize it. You need clear timelines (and particularly due dates) to prompt employees to work towards those tasks or goals.
Let's be clear: Nothing extreme should happen if they don't finish a task on time.
Instead, follow up with them regularly and check on any missed deadlines to assess the situation. Sometimes employees could get caught up with other tasks or miss the resources needed to finish a development activity.
๐ก Tip #1: Consider setting milestones to keep employees motivated in their professional life.
๐ก Tip #2: You can gamify the entire process by giving out shout-outs or small rewards once they hit these milestones.
This is probably the most challenging and often overlooked part of a career development program. But ensuring employees can access high-quality resources is vital to keeping them motivated and engaged throughout the process. Plus, it guarantees that their training and progress meet industry standards.
โก๏ธ Try Zavvy's extensive library with over 10,000 training materials and courses for various roles and professional levels.
Nothing's set in stone. Career development planning should continuously evolve as you observe progress, results, struggles, or new goals.
One-on-one meetings are perfect for regular check-ins on employees' career development progress.
Alternatively, set aside time for dedicated career growth conversations where the employee and their manager (or mentor) can adjust timelines or actions and re-prioritize tasks.
You don't need to call a meeting for every update, though. Allow employees to self-track their progress and create documentation managers can openly access to keep up with everything.
๐ก Tip: Use digital tools like Trello, Asana, or specialized HR software like Zavvy, where employees can add progress updates, attach certificates, or leave notes.
โก๏ธ Drop an eye over our list of recommended career development tools for more digital solutions that can take your employees' growth to the next stage.
Don't postpone building an effective career development plan. Download our free template to get your copy and customize it today.
๐ก Bonus: Get an extra career discussion template to help you structure follow-up conversations and one-on-one calls.
Already got a rough idea of what you want in your employee career development plans?
We're analyzing a few public career development plans to share extra inspiration. We'll cover what we like about them and where we'd like to see improvement.
This career development plan from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology uses a process of analyzing their current position and past roles from the perspective of the goals employees need to achieve.
This personal and career development plan example is similar to the one by SEEK as it's heavily focused on development goals and actions.
This example by Case Western Reserve University is more than a template. It is a guide designed to help employees and their supervisors set goals and identify the training or support needed to achieve those goals.
This career growth and development plan provides a structured approach for employees to consider their individual, professional, and career progression goals. By evaluating any deficiencies in their abilities, knowledge, and past experiences, many employees can develop an actionable plan to reach their career goals.
We want to stress the importance of making data-driven choices to guarantee you've got happy and skilled employees.
Zavvy's AI-based career management software will allow you to:
And so much more!
๐ Ready to use Zavvy for your employees' career development plan? Book a free demo to see how it can change the future of your employees.
The best time to create an effective career development plan for employees is as early as possible, even during their first weeks within your company. This will help to ensure that both you and the employee have a clear understanding of that employee's career goals and objectives. Remember you should regularly review and update the career development plan to ensure it is still relevant.
Career development is focused on achieving long-term career goals. It's a process of making decisions and taking action to help employees move up in their current career path or into a new career. On the other hand, professional development focuses on improving and developing skills and knowledge to stay up-to-date in their profession. Its purpose is to help employees remain competitive in the job market and their careers.
Alex is a marketer at Zavvy. On this blog, he mainly shares insights gained from discussions with selected experts and from helping our customers set up and improve their onboarding or learning programs.
