Choosing the Right Development Plan

Bill Kennedy, Head of E-Learning and Technology Section at Sinarmas Land

A development plan is such a basic thing in the learning and development world. It defines menus of training or development programs that should be done by individuals or employees in a given period of time. Choosing a development plan can be tricky if you don't have common ground on deciding what is the right program for yourself or your team.

If we divide competencies into two major pillars, we can segregate them into technical and soft competencies, where technical competencies are related to skills that are needed to operate or use certain tools, while soft competencies help to boost skills in need with intangible things.

Choosing a gap in technical competencies might be easier since it's also easier to define. But, choosing the right soft competencies might be somewhat challenging.

In choosing a gap in soft competencies, we need to conduct certain tests or assessments regarding behavior. Take 'demonstrating integrity' as an example; we need a comprehensive assessment to measure the level of these competencies. Therefore, here are the steps that I would recommend

1. Define Your Core and Managerial Competencies

To be able to measure correctly, we need to define core and managerial competencies that may vary depending on company culture and values and how company strategies drive the business.

"Choosing a development plan can be tricky if you don't have common ground on deciding what is the right program for yourself or your team."

2. Measure the Correct Measurement for Each Level

After competencies have been defined, we must define the score level for each managerial level, ranging from the lowest to the highest level for the company. A higher level will require a higher score for each measurement, depending on the company's standard.

3. Assessing

As stated above, assessment is the key to defining these soft competencies. Ideally, all employees should undergo a competencies assessment to see their gaps. Assessment can be done within 2 to 5 years of repetition, depending on your needs and budget.

4. Assigning

After receiving the complete data on gap competencies, we can now assign courses that are related to their gap competencies.

This process may take a long time and a long journey, especially for companies with a larger amount of employees. But the right development plan will really impact your people as an important asset of the company.