Individual Development Plans

What is an IDP and why do I need one?

An Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a professional development tool used to help identify strengths, interests, and areas for growth in order to set goals. IDP's have been used for years in government careers, industry, and K-12 education, and are often recommended for graduate students as a professional development tool for exploring and preparing for academic and non-academic careers. Graduate students paid by grants from the NSF and NIH may be required to complete an IDP and review it annually. PI's must include IDP usage and mentoring plans in their grant's annual report. Even if it's not required for you, the IDP process is a useful way to think intentionally about career interests, skill building, and planning for your future.

An IDP can assist you in thinking about the skills you need to gain during your time in graduate school that might not necessarily be part of your courses or reflected in your degree requirements. The IDP is a separate, optional planning tool to use alongside your Degree Works plan in order to get a broader view of what you can do to support your overall goals and future plans. There are many kinds of IDP templates and you should choose the one that feels most useful to you. Western does not require a specific format.

Your IDP is about what you need: it can help you focus on and advance your academic and professional goals and understand when it's time to reassess those goals. It can help guide your meetings with your advisor or mentor and give you a structure for keeping track of your progress. You might think of it like an expansive and adaptable strategic plan for your future.

This page outlines the steps for creating an IDP, but the process doesn't need to be linear. You can circle back to any stage as needed to reassess, revise, and rewrite. It may he helpful to schedule a quarterly or annual review of your plan.

Forms and Assessment Tools

ChemIDP - American Chemical Society's career planning tool

MyIDP - Includes tools, assessments, and planning for the STEM fields

ImaginePhD - Includes assessment tools and career exploration for the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and allows you to build a profile and plan on the site. The Resources section also includes useful tips and examples of cover letters, interviews, negotiating, and building a professional community.

APA's Resource for Individual Development Plans

University of Wisconsin Madison - a comprehensive IDP form for all disciplines

Step 1: Assess Skills, Values, and Interests

Start the IDP process by taking some time to reflect on your interests, skills, aspirations, career objectives, and areas for growth. 

Interests, Aspirations, and Career Objectives

You may be in graduate school because you have a clear career goal, or you may be pursuing an interest and have not quite identified your path post-graduation. Either way is fine, and an IDP can help with both!

Think about your interests and why you decided to go to graduate school. What is important to you? What type of work would you like to pursue?

The Career Services Center offers free assessment tools to help you explore these questions. This may be especially helpful if you have not yet identified a clear career objective.

Current Responsibilities and Requirements

Thinking about your current responsibilities and requirements will help you develop goals for your IDP. Consider the requirements of your academic program, your research and/or lab responsibilities, etc. Are there particular skills or areas of knowledge you need to develop? Are there milestones you need to meet or scholarly activities you would like to pursue?

Assess Your Skills and Areas for Growth

What skills are important for progress in your graduate program? What about for your career objective? How confident do you feel in these skills, and where do you need additional training? Be honest about your current abilities and what you need to work on. It can also be valuable to talk with mentors, advisors, peers, and friends to help you identify your skills and what your areas for growth might be. A number of IDP tools include skills assessments that can help. Most of these sites and forms assume users are PhD students or post-docs; if you are pursuing a master's degree, don't let this put you off. You will still find value in the process.

Step 2: Identify and Prioritize Goals

Your process of reflection and self-assessment should lead you to identify goals in the areas of academics, career exploration/development, and skills development. You might also want to include goals for money or funding and personal development or well being. Remember that you can choose which parts of your IDP to share with your mentor(s). For example, you might share most of your academic, career, and skills development goals with your advisor and keep other goals private.

Learning Goals vs. Performance Goals

In developing your plan, it may be helpful to think about learning goals versus performance goals. Early in your program, you may have more learning goals, such as:

  • building your disciplinary knowledge through a literature review
  • learning a technique that will be needed for your data collection

As you revise your IDP later in your program, these could become performance goals such as:

  • contributing to disciplinary knowledge through presenting your research at a conference
  • completing data collection and analysis on a specific schedule

SMART Framework

Your goals should also follow the SMART framework: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timebound.

Specific: what will be accomplished, and what actions will I take?

Measurable: how will I know I've accomplished the goal?

Attainable: can I reasonably accomplish this goal within my timeline?

Relevant: does this goal align with my long-term objectives?

Timebound: what is the deadline for completion?

The Counseling and Wellness Center offers a helpful wellness worksheet on setting SMART goals available here.

Writing Your Goals

If you have chosen an IDP tool from the previous section, it may guide you through a specific format for writing your goals. If not, you'll want to make a list of the goals your IDP will address, and for each of them identify:

  • Objective
  • Approaches and strategies
  • Timeframe
  • Outcomes

Share this list with your advisor or mentor, who may have suggestions for revising or adding to your goals.

Step 3: Discuss and Develop Your Plan

Decide who to share your IDP with. Your IDP is a personal document used for YOU to set, track, and document your professional development progress. As such, it is up to you to decide who you discuss your plan with. You can share the entire document with your mentor(s) or only share the portion you feel that mentor will be helpful with.

If you are supported by an NSF grant, you will be required to discuss your IDP (in whole or in part) with your PI, and your PI may need a copy to certify mentoring activities annually with the NSF.

Establish Expectations

Make sure that your mentor is aware of the purpose of an IDP before you discuss it with them, and that the two of you are on the same page. IDPs can be useful ways to ensure you and your mentor(s)/advisor have the same expectations, goals, and desires for your graduate experience. Establishing a set of shared expectations early on can help you move through your graduate program smoothly. The suggestions below can be adapted to your unique program and goals. Also see the page called Working with Your Faculty Advisor in our Canvas course.

Students

  • Take primary responsibility for the successful completion of my degree
  • Understand the requirements and policies of my graduate program and the Graduate School
  • Meet regularly with my advisor(s) and provide them with updates on my research, writing, and/or other activities
  • Establish a shared understanding of satisfactory progress with my advisor
  • Discuss expectations for work hours and leave
  • Actively seek out advice and feedback from my advisor, mentor(s), and others, as applicable
  • Attend and participate in department meetings, seminars, and activities as applicable
  • Maintain a collegial academic and work environment

Advisors

  • Be committed to a student's education and training as a future member of the scholarly, research, and/or professional community
  • Be committed to guiding a student's project or other work while allowing them to take ownership of that work
  • Encourage students to set reasonable goals and establish a timeline for completion
  • Discuss and establish a shared understanding of satisfactory progress and expectations
  • Provide and seek regular and honest feedback
  • Be knowledgeable of and guide students through the requirements of their academic program
  • Facilitate training in complementary skills as appropriate

Discuss Your IDP Goals

Your mentor can help you identify and refine goals based on your self-assessment and IDP draft. They may be able to suggest professional development and skills-building activities that you wouldn't know about or have access to on your own. They may also have input on your projected timelines, assessment of your progress, and financial support.

Follow Up

With your advisor, decide how often you will meet to assess your progress. Who will initiate these meetings? Are there other people you need to meet with, such as thesis committee members, collaborators, others?

Step 4: Implement and Take Action

It's time to put your plan into action!

Stay organized. Find a way to keep yourself on track and monitor your own progress. Digital or paper calendars and planners, project management tools, and other options are out there. The Grad Hub can help you find a system that works for you.

Seek out support. Look for help in your department, from mentors, and from support services like the Research & Writing Studio, Subject Teams, the Grad Hub, and Career Services.

Commit to your plan, but stay flexible. Your goals and circumstances may change, and your IDP can change along with them.

Step 5: Reflect and Revise

Reflect on Goals and Accomplishments and Revise the IDP

Each quarter or year, set aside time to celebrate your accomplishments and think about what obstacles you encountered that may have prevented you from completing specific tasks. An IDP is a living document. It will grow, change, and evolve throughout your graduate experience.

Once you have reflected on your IDP, consider what areas you want to improve in next. These areas can be the same or different from those set in your previous IDPs.

As you revise your IDP, remember what you have learned about setting attainable goals, your career goals, and personal growth since you wrote your first IDP.

When you are ready, share your revised version with your mentor(s). This can allow you to have a conversation about successes, obstacles, and shared goals for your growth.