Development Planning for Managers
How to build confidence and skill in having effective development conversations with staff.
Level - Intermediate
For leaders at all levels.
For HR Business Partners wishing to support their leaders more effectively.
Duration and timing
The workshop runs for 3.5 Hours (half day).
Your Tutor
The sessions will be run by Tim Fordham.
Career and development conversations are tricky.
As appraisal time looms, you know you should be having them alongside performance objective setting. But you fear raising expectations that you can’t meet like promotions, secondments or time away to go on courses the business can’t afford.
Or you lack the skill or confidence to support someone to think through what they want from their career, what motivates them, what their strengths are, their interests and so on. You don’t know how to practically tease that out.
Other issues can be knowing practically what to develop and the learning activities that would be most relevant and effective, and how to develop the high-flyer who is already excelling in the job or the employee who is doesn’t think they need to develop anything.
Once trained in having these conversations, however, your staff will thrive knowing you care about their development and that the support you are giving is exactly what they need to excel in their current role and prepare for a future one. You won’t have to fear “my manager doesn’t develop me” appearing on next year’s staff engagement survey.
Objectives
Objectives
Learn simple models to identify what can be developed – and the best way to develop – both to excel in the current role and reach future aspirations
Practice having effective development conversations and receive feedback to improve
Understand how to write meaningful development plans
Empower your team to take ownership of and follow through on their plans – and how to keep the development conversation alive (not just at appraisal time)
Agenda
Agenda
Career progression and development
What do we mean by these and are they realistic? Using the Ladders and Climbing Wall model to facilitate conversations about next career moves (which may not be up)
What can be developed?
How to identify relevant development objectives using KUSAB model
How to develop
Using 70:20:10 to explore a range of learning activities and choosing the most beneficial to reach objectives.
Writing development plans
Capturing the conversation in a SMART plan, which forms the basis of their development for the coming year
Keeping conversations alive
How and when to check-in on how the plan is being fulfilled and to keep your direct report engaged in his or her own development on an on-going basis to realise their potential
Previous managers have said …
Previous managers have said …

“Thank you very much for the session, which was focused and productive”
Marie-Anne Birken, Office of General Counsel EBRD
“Ros conducted a session for managers looking at how we can better support our staff in having conversations relating to personal and career development. Ros pitched the session at the right level, recognising that many people had a lot of management experience, while others were newer in post. She offered helpful tips and ideas about how to structure conversations to support development, but also specific examples of how development can be taken foreword and monitored. The group found the session useful and a number of the team are already implementing her ideas. ”
Clare Ettinghausen, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) (part of the Civil Service)