Individual development planning. It’s one of the time-honored organizational rituals that leaders turn their attention to as they turn the calendar to a new year. It’s an activity that — when performed effectively — drives significant motivation, engagement and meaning for employees. Unfortunately, too frequently — rather than being performed effectively — it’s simply performative, lacking substantive attention or care.
Curious to know if your IDP efforts are more theater than transformation? Watch for these cues.
- Scripted acts: Leaders and employees go through the motions, sticking to the staging of individual development planning. They recite the lines and complete all the checkboxes as directed without infusing real feeling into the experience.
- Overly rehearsed monologues: Development plans frequently feel like a rerun of generic goals, with cookie-cutter objectives that fail to capture the unique storyline of the employee’s distinctive character and growth.
- Miscast roles: Leaders take center stage and dictate the production, leaving employees as mere supporting characters. Or worse, they expect employees to direct the show solo without guidance or support. Either way, it doesn’t produce an award-winning performance.
- Stage fright: Tough topics like performance gaps or skill needs are avoided entirely, as both players sidestep challenges when the heat of the spotlight is upon them.
- Bravo without backstage support: Grand gestures and lofty goals are agreed upon at the moment, but the details associated with execution are never addressed, halting the plotline and undermining success.
- Empty encores: Follow-up meetings – if they happen at all — serve as formulaic check-ins. They’re little more than staged curtain calls, focusing on forms and metrics rather than the employee’s (the character’s) actual development.
These dramatized behaviors highlight how easy it is to act like development is happening without truly investing in the meaningful, authentic growth people crave — the same growth that drives sustainable individual and organizational results.
Want to take the stage and deliver a masterful development production that will inspire standing ovations this year? Try these straightforward strategies.
Go off-script and improvise
Don’t get me wrong. The process, forms and deadlines are essential. They support an organization’s ability to engage in important functions like staffing and succession planning. But from an employee’s perspective, these development artifacts operate at the level of sub-plot. The central narrative or storyline for them is the experience of joint reflection, authentic conversation and collaboration that drives their personal clarity, focus and action.
That’s why leaders need to move the paperwork into the background and shine the footlights directly on human engagement and connection. That’s what moves the individual. (It also moves the needle around important business outcomes.)
Embrace the idea of an unfinished or evolving story
So often, leaders and employees alike place inordinate pressure on themselves and the process. They feel compelled to create a complete and perfect plan that will serve their needs for an entire year … all in just one hour. For many, that’s simply impossible.
Take the pressure off and instead recognize that this is the first act of an ongoing storyline. Think of development planning as an iterative process. Maybe you can only settle upon one goal at this point. No problem. Workshop that one. Build it out. Start working with it and come back over time to make adjustments and layer in more development as the plot thickens and characters evolve.
Ensure audience involvement
In today’s dynamic and distributed workplace, development cannot continue to operate as an exclusive relationship between a leader and an employee. Co-workers, subordinates, colleagues, partners and even customers are in a powerful position to offer insight and support.
Effective leaders work with employees to help them invite and gather meaningful feedback — whether through a formal 360 process or informal conversations –sparked by curious questions like:
- What’s the unique value proposition I bring to our team?
- What behaviors have you observed that undermine my effectiveness?
- What’s one change I might make that could have a significant positive effect on my performance and success?
Once employees begin getting reactions from their audiences, it becomes natural for them to start sharing their growth plans with others, elevating the quantity and quality of support they’ll receive.
The curtain is rising on a new year, and a new opportunity to drive the development people crave and the performance organizations need. The stage is set. The audience is ready. Step into the role of inspiring and co-creating a narrative of growth that earns a standing ovation from your employees and organization.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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