Lesson 7

• Personal developmental plans


  Specify courses of action to be taken to improve performance
• Personal developmental plans


  • Highlight an employee's strengths and the areas in need of development
  • Provide an action plan to improve in areas of weaknesses and further develop areas of strength
• How can I continually learn and grow in the next year?

  Question answered by personal developmental plans
• How can I do better in the future?

  Question answered by personal developmental plans
• How can I avoid performance problems faced in the past?

  Question answered by personal developmental plans
• Developmental plans can be created for every job, ranging from entry-level to the executive suite
• Information to design developmental plans comes from the appraisal form
• The greater the extent to which employees believed the system was being used for developmental purposes

  The more satisfied they were with the system
• Perceptions of the extent to which the system was used for evaluative purposes


  Did not relate to employee satisfaction with the system
• Objectives of developmental plans

  • Encourage continuous learning, performance improvement, and personal growth
• Improve performance in current job


  A developmental plan includes suggested courses of action to address each of the performance dimensions that are deficient
• Sustain performance in current job

  A developmental plan provides tools so that employees can continue to meet and exceed expectations regarding the current job
• Prepare employees for advancement


  A developmental plan includes advice and courses of action that should be taken so that employees will be able to take advantage of future opportunities and career advancement
• Enrich the employee's work experience

  A developmental plan provides employees with growth opportunities and opportunities to learn new skills, even if the new skills learned are not a formal part of their jobs
• Content of developmental plans

  • Include a description of specific steps to be taken and specific objectives to reach
  • Objectives should be practical, specific, time oriented, linked to a standard, and developed jointly by the supervisor and the employee
• Developmental plans


  • Keep the needs of both the organization and the employee in mind
• Developmental activities


  • On-the-job training
  • Courses
  • Self-guided reading
  • Mentoring
  • Attending a conference
  • Getting a degree
  • Job rotation
  • Temporary assignments
  • Membership or leadership role in professional or trade organizations
• Direct supervisor's role


  Explain what would be required for the employee to achieve the desired performance level, including the steps that an employee must take to improve her performance
• Feedforward interview (FFI)


  1. Elicit a success story

  2. Analyze the behaviors and skills that enabled the success

  3. Identify ways to apply those behaviors and skills to future situations
• Feedforward interview (FFI)


  1. Elicit a success story

  2. Uncover the underlying success factors

  3. Extrapolate the past into the future
• Feedforward interview (FFI)


  • Goal is to understand the types of behaviors and skills that allow individuals to perform well and to think about ways to use these same behaviors and skills in other contexts to make further improvements in the future
• Supervisor's role in the success of the developmental plan:
• 360-degree feedback system


  A preferred tool for helping employees, particularly those in supervisory roles, improve performance by gathering information on their performance from different groups (superiors, peers, customers, and subordinates)
• 360-degree feedback system is most helpful when used for developmental purposes only and not for administrative purposes
• 360-degree feedback system is usually implemented for individuals who have supervisory roles, but these systems can be used for all positions within the organization
• Internet-based 360-degree feedback systems

  • Minimize the amount of paperwork and time involved in collecting data, allow employees to select raters, provide online training for raters, detect rating errors, include an online virtual feedback coach
• Trend of software companies offering integrative "talent management" systems that include 360-degree feedback, learning management, compensation, recruiting and succession planning
• Vendors of Internet-based 360-degree feedback systems


  • CheckPoint, Qualtrics, Halogen, Cornerstone OnDemand, SurveyMonkey, Quantum Workplace
• CheckPoint 360-degree feedback system


  Includes self-evaluations and evaluations from direct supervisor, direct subordinates, and peers; provides feedback in the form of a graph illustrating discrepancies between self- and others' ratings as well as scores for each competency
• CheckPoint system uses a scale of 1-5 to rate competencies: 1-Seldom, 2-Sometimes, 3-Usually, 4-Almost Always, 5-Always
• CheckPoint system provides detailed information on the scores provided by each source of information in a Reference Group Comparison chart
• Self-rating


  Manager believes she displays behaviors indicating the competency "development of others" somewhere between "usually" and "always"
• Ratings by boss, employees, and peers


  They believe the manager demonstrates these behaviors somewhere between "seldom" and "sometimes"
• The self-rating falls within the favorable zone whereas the ratings provided by others do not
• All sources, except for the manager herself, agree that work is needed regarding the competency "development of others" because all scores are between the "seldom" and "sometimes" categories
• The manager believes she is doing an exceptional job of cultivating individual talent (score of 5) and motivating successfully (score of 4)
• Development summary


  Describes strengths and areas that should be developed further
• The report includes specific suggestions on how to improve the "facilitates team success" dimension of the competency "relationships"
• Individuals high on self-efficacy


  • They are more likely to improve their performance based on feedback received from peers compared to individuals low on self-efficacy
• Individuals low on self-efficacy


  • They pay more attention to the feedback received from their line managers