CASCADE HR
Personal Development Plans (PDPs)
Personal Development Plans (PDPs) support colleagues to develop the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and experience required for current and future success.
A PDP should be more than a list of training courses. It should help managers and colleagues identify meaningful development opportunities that build capability, support career aspirations, and meet future organisational needs.
Types of development
When agreeing development goals, managers and colleagues should identify whether the development is:
Role-specific development – development that builds the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to perform effectively in the colleague's current role or to meet current business needs.
Aspirational development – development that supports future career aspirations, broadens experience or prepares colleagues for future opportunities within Amplius.
In many cases, a Personal Development Plan will include a combination of both role-specific and aspirational development to balance current performance with future growth.
Development plans should typically focus on one or more of the following areas:
Current role capability
Development that supports colleagues to perform effectively in their current role.
This may include developing technical knowledge, systems expertise, professional skills, leadership capability, communication skills, or role-specific competencies.
Future career aspirations
Development that supports future progression, broader responsibilities, or long-term career goals.
This may include preparing for leadership roles, gaining professional qualifications, developing strategic skills or building experience through projects, secondments, or wider organisational exposure.
Organisational priorities
Development that supports future business needs, organisational objectives, and workforce capability requirements.
This may include developing digital capability, regulatory knowledge, customer service skills, leadership capability, change management skills or other areas identified as organisational priorities.
Managers should typically agree between two and four development goals with each colleague. In most cases, development plans should include a balance of current role development and future-focused development opportunities.
Development may be achieved through a range of activities, including:
- Learning programmes and qualifications.
- Coaching and mentoring.
- Project work and stretch assignments.
- Shadowing and secondments.
- Networking and knowledge sharing.
- Participation in organisational initiatives and change programmes.
- Self-directed learning and professional development.
Each development goal should clearly identify:
- The development objective.
- Actions and development activities.
- Support or resources required.
- Success measures.
- Progress status.
PDPs should be completed and recorded within Cascade by 31 August each year. Please note that PDPs for this year have a completion deadline of 31 October 2026.
This timing supports workforce planning, learning and development planning and budget discussions for the following financial year. Where development activities are expected to incur a cost, this should be identified within the PDP to support organisational planning and investment decisions.
PDPs should not be treated as a once-a-year activity. Progress should be reviewed regularly through one-to-one meetings throughout the year.
Managers and colleagues should use one-to-one meetings to discuss:
- Progress against development goals.
- Learning and development completed.
- Skills, knowledge, and experience gained.
- Changes to development priorities.
- Additional development opportunities
Development plans should be updated within Cascade as priorities, learning needs or career aspirations evolve.
Regular review helps ensure development remains relevant, supports changing business needs, and enables colleagues to continue building the skills, confidence and capability needed for current and future success.
Personal Development Plans should be developed collaboratively, with colleagues taking ownership of their development and managers providing support, guidance, and opportunities where appropriate.