Situation: A CEO wants to develop employment growth/professional development plans to help individual employees reach their next level of skill and/or responsibility. This includes determining company needs, skill sets requirements, etc., and a plan to fulfill these.  How do you create a professional development plan for employees?

Advice from the CEOs:

• Start by defining company needs and the skills required to meet these needs. Ask:
  • Do we currently have staff in place with the requisite skills? How deep is our resource base?
  • Do we have individuals who desire to acquire skills where we are not deep?
  • Do we need to be looking outside for these skills?
• Create a mechanism to enable employees to express their expectations and aspirations.
  • Ask about individual employee’s aspirations during quarterly manager / employee 1-on-1s.
  • Look for alignment between employee aspirations and company needs. If there is alignment draft a training plan to meet both the employee’s and the company’s needs.
  • Explore alternative options for them available within company. List skill sets needed. Develop a growth plan.
  • Ask employees to set three objectives for next 12 months. This is best done with a standard self-evaluation and aspiration form.
• How often is the plan reviewed with each employee?
  • For specific action items – track follow-up to milestone dates.
  • Manager one-on-ones – monthly.
  • Quarterly or semi-annual evaluations.
  • Annual formal performance reviews.
• How does the company, demonstrate that they are paying staff more than fairly?
  • Research salary surveys to determine how the company’s salaries measure up to typical local or regional salaries for comparable companies in the industry. Plan adjustments if necessary.
  • On the company level, produce data that shows overall company salary levels vs. industry averages in the company’s locale.
  • In individual salary discussions, let the employee know how their salary measures up against area averages for their position.

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