An individual development plan becomes more effective when the employee's manager actively supports its implementation. The IDP identifies development goals and strategies, while the manager can help provide opportunities, resources, feedback, assignments, and reinforcement that enable those goals to be achieved.
Manager involvement also helps connect individual aspirations with organizational requirements. A development objective may require stretch assignments, exposure to another function, mentoring, project leadership, formal learning, or opportunities to practice a new skill. Many of these require managerial support or approval.
An IDP should not depend primarily on the manager's privileged organizational knowledge, nor should the manager unilaterally create the plan merely to accelerate the process. Effective development requires substantial employee ownership. The plan is also not fundamentally a disciplinary instrument; using it primarily for punishment would undermine its developmental purpose.
The strongest arrangement is therefore shared responsibility: the employee owns personal development, the manager provides support and organizational opportunities, and TD systems can supply frameworks and resources.
Study Guide Topics: Career & Leadership Development; individual development plans; manager support; employee development; development strategies.