Do you have a development plan?

[Razgovory]

My goal is to retire early.  Therefore my development plan is actually my financial plan. 

When? My goal is be able to semi-retire at age 35.

Me too.  I better get a job soon.  I'm 31.

[merithyn]

Who changed my poll??

You mentioned "development plan".    Sorry, gotta go, will elaborate later.

[merithyn]

Everybody needs to have a plan for their career, if they want to get ahead.  Meri, the fact that you and I didn't is probably a big part of why neither of us is where we want to be.  I know that it is for me,  anyway (though the fact that I still haven't quite figured out where I want to be is another big factor--after all, it's hard to plan how to get to your destination if you don't know what your destination is).

Absolutely agree. My sister has given me some great suggestions on how to build on even without a definitely solid end-game.

OTOH, an employer forcing people to have a formal, written plan--well, I think Malthus isn't far off the mark there.  Especially considering that if people are being honest about it, most of them would include changing employers in that plan at some point.

The plans that my sister is talking about actually almost cross the line into Personal Dev Plan from Professional Dev Plan. Basically, it's "figure out what you want to do with your career and how to get there". Then, the manager is supposed to check over it and see how the company can help the individual succeed while staying in the company. (It's all about employee retention.) If someone wants to move out of Customer Service and into IT, the manager is tasked with helping the employee get there. My sister's bonus is actually tied partially to retention of her teams.

[DGuller]

I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line.  In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.

[merithyn]

I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line.  In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.

Why?

[DGuller]

I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line.  In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.

Why?

Because they're one of those classic generic forms that fit virtually no one.

[HisMajestyBOB]

My plan is/was to get a nice government job at State, USAID, or similar.
Instead I'm wrapping up my third year teaching English in Asia and probably going to start my fourth, though at least I'm in a leadership role now.
If I'm lucky, I'll get a grad school scholarship and finally get out of teaching in fall 2013.

[Phillip V]

Everybody needs to have a plan for their career, if they want to get ahead.  Meri, the fact that you and I didn't is probably a big part of why neither of us is where we want to be.  I know that it is for me,  anyway (though the fact that I still haven't quite figured out where I want to be is another big factor--after all, it's hard to plan how to get to your destination if you don't know what your destination is).

It's the process that is most important, not necessarily that the milestones and endpoints in the plan perfectly happen.

The key is to know who you are and to have productive plans and goals. It will all change along the way, but that should be because you are doing productive activities that lead you to good people and opportunities that you weren't aware of before.

Do not hold yourself back with silly ideas like "finding my passion" and "this specific job is who I am".

[merithyn]

Well said, Phil.

It's interesting. I was seriously bummed about my job until I had that talk with my sister. Now, I have an agenda when I go in. It makes a huge difference in how I view my work, and my place in the company. Even if I only end up here through the end of June, I have every intention of making a positive contribution so that I can use that to get a better job next time.

Christ, I sound like an advertisement for HR! I just know that I need to feel like what I do makes a difference, and having some goals at all is one way to help me get there.

[dps]

The plans that my sister is talking about actually almost cross the line into Personal Dev Plan from Professional Dev Plan. Basically, it's "figure out what you want to do with your career and how to get there". Then, the manager is supposed to check over it and see how the company can help the individual succeed while staying in the company. (It's all about employee retention.) If someone wants to move out of Customer Service and into IT, the manager is tasked with helping the employee get there. My sister's bonus is actually tied partially to retention of her teams.

My problem is that at this point, if I actually had a plan, it would be something along the lines of, "Save up enough money to take enough college classes to get a teaching certificate, then get a teaching job so I could have a decent income AND summers off".  Somehow, I don't think that my employer would have a lot of incentive to help me reach that goal.

[Ideologue]

Lolololololno.

[Eddie Teach]

I'll be in the same position as Max in 2 years, minus the wife and stepkids and living in a foreign land which used units of measurement I found incomprehensible.

[Brazen]

It used to form part of my annual review. With a combination of people not staying long at any company and an ongoing pay freeze, annual reviews, and indeed having any sort of career plan, fell into disuse. They were generally a miserable review of your shortcomings over your plan from last year, highlighting where you had failed to exceeded expectation so could languish in the same role and salary band. Skill gaps were intended to identify training requirements that were never met, other than "learn from your peers." Now my career plan is "Don't get fired; get a better paying job."

[Tamas]

I was going for "have to run to the bathroom to vomit some more" line.  In my company, everyone has a development plan on their performance reviews, and unless someone has flaws that need to be noted in writing, I find it to be an utterly useless exercise, the kind that sucks up a lot of energy to create.

well me too, except that it doesnt take that much energy for me to change a few sentences from the previous year's dev. plan

[merithyn]

I expected a mostly negative view of them, this being Languish and all, but I'm still surprised that so few see the benefit of them. I wonder if it's because of how it was presented to the individual.

If it's an HR thing used to measure your shortcomings, I can totally see the problem. Mine, on the other hand, will be entirely self-started and self-maintained. As far as I know, they don't even use them at my company. So, for me, it's kind of a: How can I make an impact today, tomorrow, and next month, and how can I use that impact to propel me to where I want to be regardless of where we end up? But again, it's self-dictated, which seems to make the difference.