Individual Development Plan (IDP)

What is an individual development plan?

An individual development plan (IDP) is a personalised, written roadmap that sets out an employee’s development goals and the specific actions, resources, and timelines to reach them. It is usually created by the employee together with their manager, and it links a person’s growth to both their own aspirations and the needs of the organisation.

An IDP is a living document, not a one-off form. Reviewed regularly, it keeps development deliberate rather than accidental, and it often draws its goals from a 360-degree feedback exercise or a competency framework.

Why IDPs matter

People are far more likely to grow when their development is explicit, owned, and revisited. IDPs give structure to that, help managers have better development conversations, and signal to employees that the organisation is invested in their future, which supports engagement and retention. They also connect individual growth to career pathing and succession.

What a good IDP includes

Development goals. A small number of clear objectives, ideally written as SMART goals.
Actions. Specific steps, often mapped to the 70-20-10 model of experience, relationships, and formal learning.
Resources and support. Coaching, mentoring, courses, or stretch assignments.
Timelines. Realistic dates and checkpoints.
Measures. How the person and manager will know progress is real.

Example

A product manager wants to move toward a leadership role. Her IDP sets one goal around influencing without authority, with actions to lead a cross-functional initiative (experience), work with a coach (relationship), and complete a short course on stakeholder management (formal learning), reviewed quarterly with her manager.

Best practices

Keep it focused. Two or three goals beat ten that go nowhere.
Let the employee own it. An IDP imposed by a manager rarely sticks.
Weight it toward experience and coaching, not only courses.
Revisit it in regular one-to-ones so it stays alive.

Development plans that lead somewhere

The best IDPs are backed by real support. Coachello adds coaching to development planning, so goals turn into sustained action and measurable progress, with visibility for the People team across the whole organisation.

Give development plans real momentum. Book a demo.

FAQs

Who is responsible for an individual development plan?

The employee owns it, with the manager as an active partner. Ownership by the employee is what makes it stick.

How often should an IDP be reviewed?

At least quarterly, and ideally touched on in regular one-to-ones so it stays current rather than becoming an annual formality.

What is the difference between an IDP and a performance review?

A performance review looks back at how someone has performed. An IDP looks forward at how they will grow. They are related but serve different purposes.