2. Personal Development Plan A personal development plan (PDP) is usually a single A4 sheet which maps out how a person can develop skills and progress in his or her job. • It looks at the development of the individual employee. • It is all about the aspirations of the employee. • It looks at broad long-term development, usually for the next year. • Development does not have to be related to work tasks. • PDP’s should be written in a structured way, recorded and reviewed. This usually means that you and your line manager: - agree long term targets - decide how to achieve them - break down targets into short term goals - regularly review what you have done, usually at least twice a year. • When PDP’s are used in an organisation it is usual for all employees in the organisation to have one.
3. Personal Development Targets The line manager and the employee have to agree the targets. It is very important that targets are SMART this stands for: Specific – targets should detail precisely what you are going to do Measurable – this could, for example, be a number or time Agreed – with your line manager Realistic – while your targets should stretch you, they must be realistic Time bound – there should be a timescale attached to achieving the target. If you write SMART targets you can more easily see if they have been met. There are basically two kinds of development: • essential development which has to be undertaken to meet the targets • desirable development which will embrace your performance or develop your potential but is not really a requirement of the current job.
