The People-Centric Approach to Personal Development Plans

Launching our tried and tested Agile Growth Plan guide

A Personal Development Plan (PDP) is a structured and intentional approach to personal and professional growth. It's a document designed to identify your goals, skills, strengths, weaknesses, and the steps you need to take to achieve your objectives. 

Traditionally a PDP might involve something like this…

• Self-assessment [where are you now]

• Goal Setting / SMART goals [where do you want to be]

• Action Steps (with a timeline) [how will you get there]

• Development Strategies [what resources will you need]

• Monitoring/Review process [how will you know if the plan is working]

• Accountability plan [who will help you succeed]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach. There is, however, a problem with the underlying philosophy - which is typically that both the existence and the format of a PDP are mandated by company norms / policies. In other words, many PDPs feel like a form filled out by a team member because they’re supposed to do so. It isn’t really ‘theirs’.

The result of this weird ownership relationship is that the PDP is created and then sits in a digital drawer somewhere, being hardly ever opened. In other words, many (perhaps most) PDPs are where learning and growth aspirations go to die..

The PeopleStorming philosophy for learning is that it should be driven by the person who will be doing it. Put simply, it should be selfish. Yes - selfish. Your growth plan should be one you’ve decided on based on all the things you’ve experienced and all the feedback you’ve had. It should be up to you to decide what you want to learn, in what sequence and over what period.

Think of it this way: if you can’t work out the ways you need to grow to be better at your current job or those ways don’t appeal to you, you have a far more fundamental introspection journey to undertake. That journey can’t be replaced with someone else leading you by the nose so that you never have to do the hard reasoning for yourself. Of course, your mentors and managers are there to offer important advice on areas you should consider growing in. But you have to be free to make the ultimate selection and (importantly) to refine your talent for making that selection.

With this in mind, we’ve spent years refining a tool for driving your own growth 🎉

The Agile Growth Plan is designed to be a living document stripped bare of everything non-essential so that it takes a few seconds to review it and keep it up-to-date. Additionally, it embodies a number of valuable ideas from product management, GTD™  and Kanban.

We’ve tested it with over 1000 people both inside organizations, with individual coaching clients, and with participants of our leadership program. We’ve had great feedback and now it’s time to share it more broadly in our newsletter (both to say thanks for being one of our supporters and because this stuff is hard so we figured you might value our best thinking on the subject).

Test drive it yourself. Share it with a colleague, a team, or your whole org. And, please, let us know what you think so we can continue to improve it 🙌