Tool 10. PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PLANS

About This Tool

The Professional Growth Plan (PGP) is jointly prepared by the performer and the manager to whom they report. Its purpose is to help frame and record their discussion around the performer's career goals and interests in the context of the unit's plans and opportunities. The PGP includes specific actions to help advance those professional goals, and, contribute to the needs and success of the organization. It also includes milestones and target dates to help gauge progress against the plan.

Some organizations try to keep the PGP (or Individual Development Plan - IDP as it's often called) as brief and simple as possible. Others believe the performer should go through a fair amount of reflection to underscore their ownership for their own growth. Thus their PGP's are more involved. The following example takes the latter approach and helps guide the performer to a realistic view of his or her strengths, developmental needs, and commitment as they relate to their professional growth goals. Even a committed performer with a well-written PGP can be stalled without manager support. So some companies hold their managers accountable for ensuring a certain number of items on each performer's PGP are achieved each year.

Using This Tool

A PGP is a logical extension of a self-assessment and works nicely in linking the performance management, career planning and succession planning processes. A PGP should be done at least by everyone that appears on a succession plan. Since professional growth is one of today's top retention criteria, every employee and manager should actually do one. Some companies use the introduction of a PGP process to reinforce the concept that growth doesn't come through promotions only - lateral development is valuable as well.

In addition to a sample PGP, this tool also includes a list of different types of developmental assignments so people can see that training is only one piece of the development process. We've also included some examples of development actions taken from actual PGP's. The last page shows the respective responsibilities of the performer and their manager - reinforcing again the co-ownership for development.

The manager and performer should meet quarterly to discuss progress against the plan, any difficulties encountered, changed circumstances, etc. Managers often resist formalizing this process because they fear they don't really have time to spend on it. To that we'd suggest helping managers understand that 70% of development takes place on the job. A thoughtful PGP isn't some isolated document. It's a plan for weaving the performer's growth into the things the manager needs to get accomplished during the year. Both can and should benefit.

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