Your personal development coach

Create a SMART Individual Development Plan (IDP-S)

The SMART Individual Development Plan (in Tools) assumes that you want to sharpen and guide your learning in the moment, from the past, toward future goals. It also assumes that you are part of a learning network and culture – assisting teams and individuals to learn at a 4.0 level.

Your IDP-S will guide you to create a 21st century plan that you can both use to keep you on track, and that you can modify as you learn and as your future vision evolves. So, create and continually update your SMART IDP to help manage yourself as a SMART 4.0 Learner. Here’s how:

Your SMART Individual Development Plan (in Tools) will help you identify your learning priorities. Plan some reflective time to create your plan and then revise it as you see fit. It will anchor the important learning and development that would not automatically occur without dedicated time and effort.

List the daily opportunities that you want to learn more from in the next few months

  • At work and professionally: meetings, projects, research, colleague interactions, expert contacts, reports, problems and failures, opportunities to innovate, company and other announcements, intranet information, company learning programs and apps, chat rooms, conferences, cross-functional contacts, etc.
  • At home and with friends and community: partner, children, projects, problems, recreation, travel, community events and meetings, TV, internet, social media, online groups, news channels and printed material, etc.
  • Your own internal signals and messages: about your needs, your purpose, your reactions, your assumptions, etc.

Where will you use SMART Inside techniques to support teams/groups you are part of. See the Team Learning section of this App for more about helping team members learn together as well as get work done.

Whose learning will you assist as a SMART 4.0 helper?

  • At work: People you lead, colleagues, someone you are sponsoring or mentoring or coaching, a new hire, etc.
  • At home and in community: a child or other relative, a friend, someone in a community group with you, etc.
  • See the App section, Help Others Learn

These are the longer-term life and work scenarios (beyond today) that you want to bring to life and that will require special planning, learning focus, and investment.

  • Create a Future Card (in Tools) for each of these

Look for the best resources, tools and actions for your needs. Consider your resource preferences, but sometimes the best resources are not those you prefer. Stretch yourself into new realms (e.g., take an online course, use an app, read something you normally would not read, and more). The best lifelong learners are versatile learners, able to learn from any resource, anytime, anywhere!

  • List important development steps that are not part of your daily routine. Include specific learning activities, touching bases with a partner, benchmark dates, etc.
  • Identify completion times and put time on your calendar to meet your goals.
  • Note that this step will test your real commitment to your learning and change. The challenge is to intentionally guide and make time to do the work that will bring your future dream to life. It probably won’t happen automatically.
  • If you don’t feel committed to do the work you’ve described, modify your plan or make a go-no go decision regarding whether to carry on.