A successful employee development plan must address three issues: personal development, group development, and career development.

Personal development is based on the profile of the employee’s specific capabilities. The employee’s strengths and weaknesses are identified as part of the performance assessment process, and together with the employee a plan is tailored for him to close gaps and fill in missing skills. Such a plan is usually built from a “menu” of options that include coaching, courses, organizational experiences, mentoring etc.

Group development is intended to meet the common talent needs of a group, such as developing long-term strategic thinking, bringing about change, and more. There are organizations that send such employees for training, for example, to Harvard or INSEAD. Others stretch the process over an extended period of time, during which managers from other organizations visit and describe their experiences, and so on.