Are you tired of feeling stuck in your career?  Worried about stagnation and being obsolete in your job?  I mean things are changing so fast now.  Or maybe you are worried that you are going to miss out on the next opportunity because you are not prepared.  

In today's fast-paced world, having a clear roadmap for your professional development is crucial.  A development plan outlines your goals, identifies areas for improvement, and maps out the steps you need to take to reach your desired destination.  A great development plan will provide you focus and direction.

Today, we're focusing on the art of crafting an effective development plan for 2024.  I am going to share the 5 step process that has worked for me for years.  This process should be used for your own personal development plan, but you can follow the same process with each of your direct reports.  Helping you build an amazing team that will be ready to hit their objectives in 2024.  Whether you're a first-time supervisor or an experienced manager, this framework, that I have fine tuned over many years, will help you navigate the year ahead with confidence and clarity, for both yourself and your team. 

Now let's get right into the 5 step plan 

Step 1:  Identifying behaviors to work on.  While many development plans would say choose a skill, like learning some new software or networking at a conference, my framework requires you to choose a behavior, one that really boosts your value in the workplace.  Let me go through these quick examples to demonstrate why focusing on Behaviors is the best way to boost your career.

Consider this for a moment, and I will purposely be a bit extreme to make the point.  Here are some benefits of learning new skills or networking.  I can perform a new task, my Linkden connections are over 1K, I can make better looking presentation, I have mastered excel vlook up, or I went to a conference.  Like I said earlier these are all good things and I encourage it all, but they are just do it type of things.  Now let's take a look at the benefits of improving or learning new behaviors.  I am ready for any difficult conversation, I am calm under pressure and crisis, I am not avoiding high profile projects because I overcome my fear of failure, I am motivating and inspiring others, and I am seen as a leader in the team.  I think it goes without saying that this list is looking a lot more valuable for my career.

Some behaviors to consider are maybe finally tackling your fear of failure, difficult conversations, or public speaking.  Or enhancing something you are already really good at.  Regardless, the goal here is to make a list of potential targets.  

I will say that I am supportive of learning new skills and networking.  These are all valuable activities.  But If there are skills or networking that you require, you don't need a development plan, just go do it already.  

Now if you have never considered this before, you may be wondering how am I going to pick a behavior or even the right behavior to work on?  If you https://www.trevityinc.com/development-plan-mini-course-free you can get access to our completely free development plan mini course.  It includes 9 videos, a worksheet, and a completed worksheet example.  In the videos I go into much further detail on each step.  It is everything you need to make a career advancing development plan.

Step 2:  Is to describe what success looks like.  So I really want you to take a hard look at the options you thought of in Step 1, is there a theme there, maybe several things are pointing in the same direction.  And I want you to consider if things worked out in the best way possible and you really crushed this development plan, what would that success look like specifically.  Don't worry about how right now, just what may be possible, don't be shy here.  Really give yourself some credit, and assume you did awesome.   What would you have or not have, what would you be doing differently, or what would you not be doing?  Maybe it is that promotion you are waiting for or the new job that you want. 

Step 3: Now we need to select one or two, at the most, behaviors from step 1 that we are going to work on.  Take a look at how you described success, and also look at what you had as options from step 1.  Now which of these behaviors is the best choice to work on to get you to your picture of success, which one will make the most impact.  That is what you want to pick, it is usually the one that you think will be tough to work on.  Remember to only pick 1 or 2 at the most.  More than that and you will lose focus. 

Step 4:  Define the action plan - Here I want you to write down the behavior you selected in Step 3.  Then describe what the current outcome is today when you exhibit that behavior.  Now you need to brainstorm how you can interrupt or change the behavior so you can create a new more effective outcome.  

I know this one can be a little difficult to visualize if you have never done this before so let me give you an example  from my first supervisor role. I avoided difficult conversations or giving negative or corrective feedback to my direct reports.  The reason I avoided this was because I didn't know exactly what to say, how to say it, or even how to just start the conversation.

So in this case, one action could be to trigger a new behavior, and that could be planning ahead of the conversation and preparing myself when I know that a conversation is needed, for example I can lay out the conversation on paper first, consider what I could say, try different options see how they sound, I can anticipate what my direct report may say, then think about how I would respond, And finally role play with a colleague, preferably I want to choose someone with at least a little more experience than me, This is easier than you think, most people managers would be happy to role play as it is good practice and preparation for the many difficult conversations you will encounter, Role playing was a life saver for me when I was learning how to handle difficult conversations, In this example by triggering planning ahead the outcome is that I feel more prepared and have a plan on how to drive the conversation to the intended outcome, so I will not only have the conversation that I previously avoided, but more importantly this will lead to a better conversation and likely a far better outcome. 

Before we get to step 5 and if you like what you are hearing I encourage you to sign up for our free development plan mini course. https://www.trevityinc.com/development-plan-mini-course-free

Step 5: Is to review and adjust, but you need to be sure not to skip this step.  You can do this by yourself but better if you can do it with a trusted colleague, mentor, or your supervisor.  In preparation for reviewing your progress you need to ask yourself some questions like, what were the positive outcomes from the change you made, was it hard and why, how did you feel, what didn’t work - then when you share this with whoever you are meeting with you can discuss and consider what you may want to do differently or the same next time.  Now it is important to review as soon as possible after you try something new.  So maybe this is once a week or less frequently depending on what you choose to work on.  

A well-crafted development plan is the key to unlocking your full potential and growing your career. It gives you purpose, motivation, and a clear trajectory. So, why wait? Start building your development plan today and unleash your true potential.