What is a professional development plan (PDP)? 6 steps to create one
Times have changed. While our parents and grandparents typically picked one job and stuck with it until retirement, following a very straightforward career path, the modern knowledge worker is presented with a variety of new industries, jobs, and ways to prove ourselves.
This abundance of opportunities is amazing but can also be overwhelming. If you’re looking to streamline your career goals, a professional development plan, or PDP, is the tool you need.
A professional development plan is a document that outlines your current skills and knowledge, your goals, and the steps you need to take to achieve these goals.
We’re going to cover the six steps your PDP should include, examples of professional development goals and plans, and tools that will help you track your career development.
How to create a professional development plan in 6 steps
Your professional development plan is not a one-time project. Rather, it’s an ever-changing document that you update as your goals, surroundings, and priorities change.
Step 1: Assess yourself
Self assessment is the foundation of your PDP and a critical step you should take seriously whenever you update your PDP in the future. In this step, you’ll evaluate your personal and professional interests, any hopes, plans, and dreams you have for your career, as well as your current knowledge and skill set.
Read: 6 steps to create a performance evaluation template (with examples)
You have to first identify where you stand with your current skills and knowledge of relevant topics so you can figure out what you need to improve or change to progress in your career.
Assessing yourself isn’t always easy. To jump-start this process, try using an assessment tool or personality test. Here are a few popular ones to try:
- The Big Five
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- DISC personality
These tests can help you get a better understanding of who you are and what you want out of your life and career.
Step 2: Set your goals
Now that you’ve evaluated your current position and skills, it’s time to set your goals. To break up your main goals, you’ll want to set long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals.
- Long-term goals can be months or even years into the future.
- Mid-term goals should range from a couple of weeks to a couple of months.
- Short-term goals should range from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
Generally speaking, aim to set one long-term goal and then break the mid- and short-term goals up into manageable chunks. The number of short- and mid-term goals you set depends on how far into the future you’re planning and how many steps you need to complete to reach the finish line.
Setting more than one long-term goal only makes sense if they’re on different tracks. For example, you could set a long-term goal for your career, another one for your fitness, and a last one for your finances. While the progress you’re making in each of these aspects of your life may influence one another, these goals are different enough to require unique mid- and short-term goals.
If you do set more than one long-term goal, consider the mental, emotional, and physical strain that multiple goals can have on you and adjust your schedule accordingly so you don’t burn out.
Whether you’re setting long-, mid-, or short-term goals, use the SMART goal technique to ensure that your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound. We’ll cover some examples later on.
