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An employee development plan is a roadmap that turns the vague notion of "we need to keep progressing our people" into something tangible. An effective plan will outline the skills and competencies each individual needs in their role along with their professional goals. You'll then map out a clear path, including all the growth and development opportunities they'll need as they progress throughout their careers.
That’s the high-level overview. But it becomes trickier when you need to think about what exactly your employees should focus on developing.
If you’re wondering where to start, this guide covers ten employee development examples you can borrow from. We also answer some frequently asked questions about individual growth.
Top of the list is the need for employees to build on their foundational skills. By staying up to date on the latest practices and technologies, they’re able to perform well in their roles.
Many companies weigh up the value of buying skills externally rather than building them from within. But SHRM reports recruiters also experience problems sourcing candidates with adequate skills.
While some open vacancies may require external candidates, many companies can circumnavigate the challenges of hiring someone new by ensuring their internal bench is packed full of highly skilled personnel.
One skills enhancement area growing in importance is familiarity with AI. CEO Dr. Christina Strauss describes what professional development in this technology could look like:
“When people think about AI upskilling, they often picture a crash course in prompt engineering or a rundown of the latest tools. But here's the catch: true AI upskilling is much deeper and more nuanced than crafting clever prompts. In reality, effective AI upskilling starts with building foundational skills that go beyond technology. It's about cultivating the ability to ask the right questions that clarify intentions, probe deeper into issues, and consider all angles of a challenge. This isn't just about feeding commands to a machine; it's about developing a mindset of curiosity, critical thinking, and adaptability.”
Of course, AI is just one professional growth area to consider. For each skills topic you include in your employee development plan, it’s essential to list the learning methods you’ll offer to support your workers’ growth. These might include:
Each of your career development plans should include individual goals related to your employee’s professional aspirations. But they should also understand the strategy and importance behind being able to set their own goals. This ensures they have a clear direction and North Star to aim for in every task they complete or project they contribute toward.
Sports psychologist Jimmy Yoo articulates how goal setting is an essential practice used by athletes. And the same discipline is also highly valued in the business world.
“Goal setting acts as your roadmap, guiding you through the journey to success. With clear, well-structured goals, staying motivated, focused, and resilient becomes easier, even when obstacles arise. Understanding the different types of goals—outcome, performance, and process—can help you shape a plan that fuels both immediate progress and long-term achievement.”
The SMART goal-setting framework is a useful technique for employees to know. Smart goals are:
Example: I will increase my productivity by 20% within three months by implementing time management techniques and delegating tasks more effectively.
Beyond simply setting goals, employees must also understand how to track progress toward each milestone. Use the process of committing to a development plan and regularly checking in on progress to teach those in your team how to stay on top of their tasks and self-prioritize.
64% of full-time employees have experienced significant workplace conflict, with 15% subsequently looking to change roles.
Disagreements are part and parcel of the working world, and in some cases, they can be constructive, as they're a sign your employees are passionate about their work. But more often, personal differences can be a drain on productivity and morale.
Employees must understand how to harness diverse perspectives and translate them into a positive working relationship. You might use role-playing scenarios or advanced communication techniques to support your workers in developing this critical skill. High-performance coach Harry Karydes is a believer in working through disagreements, sharing, "Growth happens on the other side of conflict…if you handle it right." He offers the following tips to get through a difficult exchange with a colleague:
Wrike reports that knowledge workers spend an average of 40.8 hours of their personal time, making up for wasted time at work. Many factors feed into this tremendous burden on employees, such as unrealistic workloads and picking up the slack from departing team members after a round of layoffs.
Yet, employees can undoubtedly benefit from boosting their own time management skills. Some popular ways to encourage employees to make constructive use of their time include:
Many communication struggles occur when people haven't listened to each other effectively. They've been in the same conversation, and they've exchanged dialogue. But somehow, the message is lost in translation, and one or more people have not actively listened to the others.
Active listening is a critical skill that enables employees to understand their colleagues, clients, and managers better. By switching on and paying attention to non-verbal cues, such as body language and tone of voice, employees can develop stronger relationships and avoid misunderstandings. Luckily, this is a skill managers and employees can easily practice, either together, with their peers in a workshop scenario, or by taking a short course.
The focus of any active listening session will usually include the following steps:
Emotional intelligence (EI,) also known as emotional quotient (EQ,) was introduced as a concept in 1990 by psychologists Salovey and John Mayer. The idea is that emotional intelligence allows people to recognize, understand, and manage their own emotions and those of others. It's a critical workplace skill that can impact employees' communication styles, conflict resolution skills, teamwork abilities, and overall job performance.
Vantage Circle provides these fascinating statistics on the link between EI and performance excellence:
Every employee in your org chart has their own emotional intelligence starting point. But each can take steps to develop their emotional intelligence through self-reflection, empathy practice, and interpersonal skills training.
Negotiation is a strong tactic employees can use both to achieve their own personal goals and to secure wins for the overall business. Those working in sales or account management roles are expected to have excellent negotiation skills, but in reality, all employees can benefit from knowing how to negotiate effectively.
For some, negotiation can feel uncomfortable, as described by Joanne Lee, Career Coach and Communication Expert,
“Negotiating is something a lot of people avoid. We all feel at times, like ‘’we don’t want to rock the boat,’’ or we just want to take what we get and hope we can improve our situation down the line. But here is the thing. Successful people always rock the boat! Know your value, know what you want, and negotiate everything at once. If there are three terms you want to negotiate, negotiate them together. Do not negotiate one thing at a time.”
Employees can develop their negotiation skills by:
Leaders don’t just sit around boardroom tables making decisions. Their behavior, example, and guidance has a tremendous impact on the people who work for them, shaping the overall employee experience. Gallup research points to managers (and even team leaders) accounting for a 70% variance in team engagement levels.
But all too often, leaders are simply promoted into these positions without being equipped to manage people effectively. And they don’t necessarily know who to be or how to behave. Global senior manager Omaer Rana weighs in on the difficulty of balancing assertiveness and empathy as a leader.
“Assertiveness gives you the power to set clear expectations and stand up for your team’s needs, while empathy allows you to connect with your team on a human level, understanding their perspectives and concerns. Together, they create a leadership style that fosters respect, trust, and collaboration.”
An investment in leadership skills is a savvy move for any future-facing company. Development options for potential leaders, or those already in-seat, include:
Succession planning programs to identify and develop high-potential employees
Critical thinking is listed as the second most important skill employees can put on their resume, according to Forbes. Why? This analytical skill helps companies solve complex problems and make better decisions, often using data to get from A to B. Employees can improve their critical thinking skills by:
The ability to present and communicate with confidence is a skill employees can use either internally as they interact with team members or externally with clients and customers. While public speaking comes naturally to some people, others find it hard to convey their message in a way that feels comfortable to them and engaging to the audience. Public speaking coach Eva Rose Daniel breaks down the difference between the delivery and the content of a message.
“What people perceive as delivery challenges particularly in public speaking—maybe they have a lot of filler words or a lot of rabbit trails or they don't know what to do with their hands on stage, or they have nerves—a lot of times those challenges are directly tied to their content. They're not clear on what they're trying to say or how they're going to say it. Maybe they haven't organized their content in a compelling way or they don't have stories or humor. But I've seen really dynamic presenters and it was actually a cotton candy experience. It was exciting and fun but there wasn't really any depth there. I've also seen people that have incredible stories and messages, but because they haven't worked on the delivery side, it falls really flat.”
To ensure your employees develop both the delivery and the content aspects of their public speaking, practice makes perfect. Ensure the employee development plan includes opportunities for them to practice and receive feedback, attend workshops or courses on public speaking, or bring in external coaches to work with your team.
Benepass is an employee benefits administration platform that puts your people at the front and center of your business. We offer a flexible Benepass Professional Development Account that supports employees with their career growth and ties closely to their individual development plans. Here's how it works:
Start developing your people by booking a free Benepass demo today or contact sales@getbenepass.com to connect with a benefits specialist.
Employee development programs are entirely customizable but may include learning opportunities such as mentorship, workshops, cross-training, and online courses for skills enhancement.
Employee development is closely linked to business impact. The LinkedIn Workplace Learning report lists employee retention, upskilling, and aligning learning programs to business goals as some of the top ways that L&D moves the needle for organizations.
Of course, employees can progress toward their goals using traditional methods like formal classroom-based courses and participating in mentoring relationships. But as with most other areas of business, technology lends a helping hand by providing access to online training sessions, and providing employee development software to track progress.
A mentorship is a structured program where experienced employees guide and support less experienced colleagues. In the right partnership, both mentor and mentee should gain something. Mentees will learn from the expertise and experience of the more seasoned professional, while the mentor can benefit from a fresh industry perspective and the chance to practice their teaching.
There are multiple ways to structure employee development reviews. As a rule of thumb, regular check-ins between managers and their direct reports keep progress on track and offer the right space to ask any clarifying questions. Try to find time weekly or monthly for brief check-ins, then schedule a more formal development review for a quarterly meeting.
Personalization is the key to creating an engaging development program that resonates with the individual employee. Start by identifying the employee’s strengths, skills, and interests. From there, create an individualized development plan that includes a clear roadmap to achieve goals within your organization.
Managers are integral to employee growth, providing accountability for progress, offering guidance and feedback, and identifying opportunities for development. They should also be responsible for creating a culture of continuous learning and growth within the organization.
While managers are important, they can’t do the work for their employees. Individual workers must be proactive in seeking out opportunities for their own development. They should be encouraged to take on new projects, volunteer for cross-functional teams, and actively seek feedback from colleagues and mentors.
It's useful for company leaders to provide examples and success stories of individual employees who have grown and advanced within the organization to inspire others to take initiative in their own development. For example, did they have a mentor, or perhaps participate in a job rotation program to learn about an adjacent area of the company? The more detail you can provide, the more your workers will feel compelled to find their own path to success.
On-the-job training is a type of employee development that happens in the flow of work. Rather than sitting in a stale classroom environment, studying the theory of a topic, on-the-job training allows them to pick up practical experience in the flow of work.
For example, a marketing professional might learn about the history and latest trends of search engine optimization in a formal training program. Learning this topic on the job would involve working on a live SEO campaign and optimizing website content to see firsthand how it affects search engine rankings.
On-the-job training can be a real time-saver, as it allows employees to learn and develop skills while still keeping up with their work responsibilities.
However, formal employee development initiatives are more structured and often involve external resources such as workshops, conferences, or online courses. These programs offer a deeper dive into specific topics and may be useful for developing specialized skills or knowledge.
