Every year, millions of employees sit down with their managers and fill out an individual development plan. They write down goals like “improve leadership skills” or “become a better communicator.” The document gets saved to a shared drive. And nothing happens.
If that sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. Research from Gartner shows that only 29% of employees agree that their development plans actually help them grow. The problem isn’t that people lack ambition or that managers don’t care. The problem is structural: most individual development plans are designed as compliance documents, not behavior-change tools.
What follows is different. Instead of the standard goal-setting template, we’ll use behavioral science — implementation intentions, habit formation, and deliberate practice research — to build an IDP that drives measurable growth.
What Is an Individual Development Plan?
An individual development plan (IDP) is a structured document that outlines an employee’s development goals, the specific actions they will take to achieve them, and the timeline for doing so. IDPs are typically created collaboratively between an employee and their manager, and they serve as a roadmap for professional growth.
At their best, IDPs connect an employee’s career aspirations with organizational needs. They answer three questions:
- Where am I now?
- Where do I want to go?
- What specific steps will get me there?
Most organizations use IDPs as part of their talent development strategy, often tying them to performance reviews or succession planning. The concept is sound. The execution, however, is where things break down.
Why Most Individual Development Plans Fail
The traditional approach produces disappointing results for four structural reasons.
1. They Are Too Vague
“Improve communication skills” isn’t a development plan. It’s a wish. Behavioral science tells us that vague intentions produce vague results. A meta-analysis by Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006) found that people who form specific implementation intentions — “I will do X behavior in Y situation at Z time” — are 2-3x more likely to follow through than those who set general goals.
Most IDPs are filled with general goals. That’s the first problem.
2. They Operate on Annual Cycles
The typical IDP is created once a year, reviewed at mid-year, and evaluated at year-end. This cadence is misaligned with how behavior change actually works. Habit formation research from University College London found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic — not 365 days of occasional effort.
Annual plans encourage procrastination. When the deadline is twelve months away, there’s no urgency to start today.
3. They Focus on Outcomes, Not Behaviors
“Get promoted to senior manager” is an outcome. “Lead the weekly team standup using the SBI feedback framework every Monday” is a behavior. Traditional IDPs are filled with outcomes that employees can’t directly control. This creates a sense of helplessness when progress stalls.
Behavioral science research consistently shows that focusing on controllable inputs (behaviors) rather than uncontrollable outputs (outcomes) produces better long-term results. James Clear’s research on habit formation calls this “identity-based habits” — focusing on who you want to become through daily actions, rather than fixating on a distant result.
4. They Lack Environmental Design
Most IDPs assume that motivation and willpower are sufficient to drive change. They aren’t. The behavioral science literature is clear: environment is the strongest predictor of behavior. If your development plan doesn’t account for how you will restructure your environment — your calendar, your routines, your cues — it’s unlikely to produce lasting change.
How to Write an Individual Development Plan Using Behavioral Science
Here’s a step-by-step process for creating an IDP that actually works. Each step is grounded in peer-reviewed behavioral science research.
Step 1: Conduct a Behavioral Audit
Before setting goals, you need an honest assessment of your current behaviors. Not your skills, not your competencies — your actual daily behaviors.
Ask yourself:
- What do I spend most of my working hours doing?
- Which of those behaviors are aligned with my development goals?
- Which behaviors are actively working against my growth?
- What situations or contexts trigger my least productive behaviors?
This audit should produce a list of 3-5 specific behaviors you want to change or develop. For example, instead of “I need to be a better leader,” you might identify: “I tend to solve problems for my team instead of asking coaching questions.”
Step 2: Define Target Behaviors Using Implementation Intentions
For each development area, write a specific implementation intention using the if-then format:
“When [situation], I will [specific behavior] for [duration/frequency].”
Examples:
- “When a team member brings me a problem in our 1:1, I will ask ‘What have you already tried?’ before offering a solution.”
- “When I finish reading my morning emails, I will spend 15 minutes writing a summary of yesterday’s key decisions for my team.”
- “When I feel frustrated in a meeting, I will pause for 3 seconds and paraphrase the other person’s point before responding.”
Notice the specificity. Each intention identifies the trigger situation, the exact behavior, and (where applicable) the duration. This specificity is what separates effective development plans from vague aspirations.
Step 3: Design Your Environment for Success
For each target behavior, identify one environmental change that makes the behavior easier or more likely:
- Remove friction: If your goal is to prepare for meetings more thoroughly, block 15 minutes before each meeting on your calendar automatically.
- Add cues: If your goal is to give more recognition, put a sticky note on your monitor that says “Who did something great today?”
- Create accountability: If your goal is to practice public speaking, commit to presenting at least one agenda item in every team meeting.
BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model tells us that behavior happens when motivation, ability, and a prompt converge at the same moment. Environmental design ensures that the prompt is present and the ability barrier is low, so you don’t have to rely on motivation alone.
Step 4: Set a 66-Day Sprint, Not a 12-Month Plan
Instead of spreading your development over an entire year, pick one or two target behaviors and commit to a 66-day sprint. This timeframe is based on Phillippa Lally’s research at University College London, which found that 66 days is the average time needed for a new behavior to become automatic.
During the sprint:
- Practice the target behavior daily (or in every relevant situation).
- Track your consistency, not your results.
- Review progress weekly with your manager (a 5-minute check-in is sufficient).
- After 66 days, assess whether the behavior has become habitual and decide whether to continue, adjust, or move to a new behavior.
This approach creates urgency and focus. It’s much more effective than trying to develop five skills simultaneously over twelve months.
Step 5: Track Behaviors, Not Outcomes
Your IDP tracking system should measure whether you performed the target behavior, not whether you achieved the desired outcome. Outcomes are influenced by factors outside your control. Behaviors aren’t.
Create a simple daily tracker:
| Date | Target Behavior | Did I Do It? | Notes | |——|—————-|————–|——-| | Feb 14 | Asked coaching question before solving | Yes | Team member came up with a better solution than I would have | | Feb 15 | Asked coaching question before solving | No | Time pressure — reverted to directive mode |
This tracking approach accomplishes two things. First, it keeps the development plan present in your daily routine rather than buried in a shared drive. Second, it creates data you can discuss with your manager in development conversations.
The Behavioral IDP Template
Here’s a complete template you can use. It replaces the traditional goal-outcome-timeline format with a behavior-change format.
Section 1: Current State Assessment
- Role: [Your current role]
- Key behavioral strengths: [2-3 behaviors you consistently demonstrate well]
- Key behavioral gaps: [2-3 specific behaviors you need to develop]
- Evidence: [How you identified these gaps — feedback, self-observation, 360 data]
Section 2: Target Behaviors (Pick 1-2 Per Sprint)
Target Behavior 1:
- Implementation intention: “When [situation], I will [behavior].”
- Environmental change: [One change to make this behavior easier]
- Frequency: [How often the situation occurs]
- Sprint duration: 66 days, starting February 24, 2026
Target Behavior 2:
- Implementation intention: “When [situation], I will [behavior].”
- Environmental change: [One change to make this behavior easier]
- Frequency: [How often the situation occurs]
- Sprint duration: 66 days, starting February 24, 2026
Section 3: Support and Resources
- Manager support needed: [Specific asks — e.g., “Observe me in team meetings and give feedback on my coaching questions”]
- Learning resources: [Books, courses, models — but only ones you will actively practice, not just read]
- Practice opportunities: [Specific situations where you will deliberately practice]
Section 4: Tracking and Review
- Daily tracking method: [How you will record whether you performed the behavior]
- Weekly check-in: [Day and time for a 5-minute manager review]
- 66-day review date: [When you will assess and decide next steps]
Common IDP Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Writing too many goals. The average IDP contains 4-6 development goals. This is too many. Goal competition research shows that pursuing multiple goals simultaneously reduces the likelihood of achieving any of them. Pick one or two target behaviors per 66-day sprint.
Confusing learning with behavior change. “Complete a leadership course” is a learning activity, not a behavior change. The APA estimates that only 10-20% of what people learn in training transfers to on-the-job behavior. Your IDP should specify the behaviors you will practice, not just the content you will consume.
Ignoring the manager’s role. An IDP isn’t a solo document. Managers play a critical role as observers, feedback providers, and accountability partners. The most effective approach is for managers to actively observe the target behavior in real situations and provide specific, timely feedback.
No consequences for non-compliance. If nothing happens when you ignore your IDP, you will ignore your IDP. Build in natural consequences: weekly check-ins where you report on behavior frequency, peer accountability groups, or tying development progress to career conversations.
Treating the IDP as a one-time event. Development is a continuous process of behavior change. Your IDP should be a living document that evolves as behaviors become habitual and new development areas emerge.
How to Make Individual Development Plans Stick
Even a well-designed IDP will fail without sustained effort. Here are four evidence-based strategies for follow-through.
Use habit stacking. Attach your new target behavior to an existing habit: “After I close my inbox at 9:15, I will spend 10 minutes practicing my presentation for the leadership meeting.” Existing habits serve as reliable cues for new behaviors.
Build in social accountability. Research by the American Society of Training and Development found that people who commit to someone else have a 65% probability of completing a goal, compared to 10% for those who keep it private.
Start embarrassingly small. BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits research shows that starting with a behavior so small it feels trivial — “I will ask one coaching question per day” — dramatically increases the likelihood of consistency. You can always scale up after the behavior becomes automatic.
Use technology intentionally. Platforms like GWork use behavioral science principles — nudges, micro-learning, and habit formation mechanics — to embed development behaviors into the daily workflow. The advantage is consistent cues and tracking without relying on individual willpower. In one deployment, MTS saw a 46% improvement in feedback frequency by using behaviorally-designed nudges rather than traditional training. Whatever tools you use, the key is that they support daily behavior practice, not just annual goal setting.
What This Means in Practice
An individual development plan should be a behavior-change tool, not a compliance document. By applying behavioral science — implementation intentions, environmental design, habit formation, and deliberate practice — you can create an IDP that produces genuine, measurable growth.
Start with one behavior. Practice it for 66 days. Track your consistency. Get feedback from your manager. Then move to the next behavior.
Development isn’t about writing impressive goals on a document. It’s about changing what you do every day. Build your IDP around that principle, and you will see results that the traditional approach simply can’t deliver.
Related Reading
- How to Write a Professional Development Plan
- Personal Development Plan
- Employee Development Plans That Change Behavior
- Professional Development Goals: 25 Examples
- Career Development Tools
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