Preparing the IDP Draft

Drafting Your IDP

Follow these steps when drafting your IDP:

• Start with a short and long term goal.
  • Use the Personal Goals Worksheet to capture your short and long term goals.
• Decide what KSAs are needed to reach these goal. Focus on your short term goal first. Make them formal, informal, and self developmental.
• Review the KSA Definitions and General Competencies.
• Determine specific training/details that will provide the KSAs.
• Prepare a draft IDP.

The IDP form records your specific developmental plans over the next one to five years. The employee is responsible for preparing this form with the supervisors input and after the employee and supervisor have met to discuss the plan.

The final IDP should be submitted for formal approval to your supervisor or manager. The approval will affirm that actions proposed in the plan are consistent with agency needs and resources, and, most importantly, that support should be forthcoming to assist you in the implementation of your personalized IDP. YOU have the primary responsibility for pursuing career development and for completing your IDP. The agency is committed to assisting the employee within the limits of available resources. Individual initiative is the key, along with divisional support and agency commitment.

The career planning process is facilitated by your continual monitoring of the IDP. You and your supervisor should periodically review and examine objectives and assignments, and make modifications and revisions to accommodate personal and organizational changes. IDPs are typically reviewed by the supervisor and employee semi-annually. Each employee participating in the IDP process should complete a progress review with their immediate supervisor during the semi-annual discussion

Preliminary Questions

Preparing an IDP and deciding on what’s most important to you can be difficult. You now have a good idea of what direction you want to take however, ask yourself the following questions first to see if they may have an impact on your decision. A number of these questions were addressed in earlier chapters in one form or another. They are meant to help you make the transition from looking at the work you do now to viewing the work that you will be doing when you complete your goal.

These questions are merely to help you get started on your IDP. You don’t have to write all the answers down or show them to anyone. Taking the questions one by one in order is highly recommended to help you build up the data to see where you are now, where you can realistically go, and how to get there.

First, take out your position description and read it. Review your assessment charts and think about the work you have done over the last year and your past performance appraisals, and answer the following:

• What assignments did I like doing in the last year?
• What assignments did I not like?
• What am I really good at doing on the job?
• What kinds of assignments would I like to have this year? Is there any different or new work I might like to get into? (Refer to assessment charts)
• What work would I not like to be assigned this year, if possible?
• Do I have these skills/knowledge already? How strong or weak am I in these skiffs/knowledge? (Review Chapter Three’s KSA Comparison Charts)
• Is it feasible for me to develop these skills?
• Look at my short-range goals. Make sure they’re realistic and attainable.
• What skills/knowledge are necessary to do the work defined in my long-range goals?
• Which of these skills and knowledge do I already have?
• What kinds of training/experience do I need to develop these skills/knowledge? How long will it take?
• Is it feasible for me to develop these skills/knowledge? Look at my long-range goals. Are they realistic? Plan a course of action.

Refer to these questions every time you complete a new IDP or review your current plan. The planning will help assure that the developmental efforts you take will be worthwhile to you and your organization.

Next Step: Write Your IDP