Steps for Creating an Employee Development Plan

Posted on March 26, 2023 by Donald Stuart Chappell, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

INTRODUCTION

Four general steps with several additional sub-steps. The steps below reference identifying and developing needed skills through training, but they can also be used for leadership/management development.

1. CONDUCT A SKILLS GAP ANALYSIS

The skills gap analysis is based on the skills needed by each employee—both now and in the foreseeable future—to better equip them to meet the goals and objectives of the organization. Of course this analysis should begin with what each employee is required to do as part of the job for which they were hired, but can also include skills outside the strict parameters of the job description if you and the employee determine that the employee’s abilities, traits, and future goals align with the new skills.

A. Start with organizational needs (i.e. what needs to be performed or achieved by your organization and, as a result, by your particular section).

B. Attempt to make the needs/goals as tangible as possible, but, as with performance objectives, less tangible goals should not be precluded simply because they are less concrete. Some future needs/goals may be more “fuzzy,” but that does not mean they are any less real. Even in their fuzzy state, attempt to address these needs through the employee upskilling that best matches and, then, adapt the training/development as the need becomes more tangible (which it will as time progresses).

C. Ensure you have the support of relevant stakeholders (e.g. your bosses, other impacted areas . . .) for upskilling your employee to meet a particular organizational objective.

D. Next, identify and list the KSAs needed to meet those organizational objectives. Ensure each KSA on the list is worded to clearly articulate exactly what it is employees need to know and be able to do to meet the objectives.

E. Next, take this list of KSAs needed to meet the objective and compare them with your employee’s current KSAs as they relate to each organizational objective you are trying to address. This step is where you identify any gaps between needed skill/abilities and current or actual skills/abilities. The accuracy of this step is vital because it determines where and how much you will invest in training/developing your employees to obtain any missing skills. Ways to obtain the information for this list include:

ii. Observation of employee performing her work

iii. Conducting formal assessments

iv. Talk to the employees themselves

F. A note here to stress that you should look to first upskill employees who have demonstrated both the willingness and ability to take something from the training and add value to the organization.

2. IDENTIFY AND EVALUATE YOUR AVAILABLE TRAINING RESOURCES

A. This can be formal training offered within the larger organization.

B. Can be training you conduct in your section (e.g. side-by-side training, pairing, shadowing, methodical delegating . . ).

C. Or might be bettered conducted outside your section by someone within another section who possesses the desired knowledge to teach the skills.

D. Or, if you have the financial resources and organizational approval, may be best provided by a resource external to the organization.

E. Whatever training resource you choose, ensure the type, duration, frequency, and timing of the training match your needs.

3. MONITOR THE TRAINING PROCESS

A. If the training is relatively extensive or conducted over an extended period of time, you should ensure you are frequently checking in with the employee (and, in some cases, the trainer) to determine progress and to verify the training is indeed meeting needs and expectations.

B. Upon completion of the training, meet with the employee to discuss in detail what was learned to ensure it met expectations. Document this.

C. In fact, I recommend keeping an employee development/training template for each of your employees.

ii. Needed skills for present work

iii. Needed skills for future work

iv. Training received

v. Assignments that support and put what was learned in training to practice, which brings directly to our last step in this continuous process.

4. APPLY TRAINING TO WORK ASSIGNMENT

A. Delegation

B. Partner with someone currently performing the work

C. Job rotation

D. Temporary assignment1. Conduct a skills gap analysis

*For a more in-depth discussion of employee development, be sure to check out the corresponding episode on The Introspective Leader Podcast.