Personal Development Plans

2. Who is Involved?

2.1 Ideally, every employee should have a PDP.

• Junior employees benefit from PDPs that help them to develop their roles within the business.
• Managers and employers also benefit from PDPs, which keep them motivated and stop them resting on their laurels.

2.2 Typically, each employee's line manager should be responsible for the employee's PDP.

• Managers may need appropriate training to ensure they can manage PDPs effectively. Developing these skills can be built into the manager's own PDP. Courses to develop the relevant skills of counselling, coaching and mentoring are widely available. For further information, contact Business Link or the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (020 8612 6200) .
• The most senior employees - and those whose performance has the most impact on the performance of the business - may benefit from an external mentor (see Using training effectively).

2.3 Get the involvement of all your people by encouraging a learning culture.

For example, senior employees may be involved in mentoring others.

• Provide support and training to enable mentoring.