Filled example: direction and capabilities
A fictional learning coordinator. Direction: move from organising sessions to leading short ones. Plan from 2 November 2026 to 26 March 2027.
| # | Capability (what I want to be able to do) | Why it matters for my work | What I can do now, with an example | What I will be able to do by the end date | How I and others will see it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Lead a 60-minute online session for 8 to 12 people | The team wants to run more short onboarding sessions, and the two trainers are fully booked until March. | I have produced sessions but never led one. I hosted the chat in four sessions in September. | Lead two onboarding sessions alone, finish within five minutes of the plan and bring every breakout back on time. | My timing notes from both sessions and the senior trainer’s observation notes. |
| C2 | Write a session plan with timed steps that someone else can run | Plans that only their author can run stop sessions when one person is away. | I edit plans that others write. My one draft, in August, ran 20 minutes over in the dry run. | Write a 60-minute plan that a colleague runs in a dry run without asking me how a step works. | The list of questions the colleague asks during the dry run, and the minutes it runs over or under. |
| C3 | Turn feedback forms into changes to a session | We collect forms after every session, but nobody reads them across sessions. | I file the forms and count the returns. I do not look for patterns. | Summarise the forms of three sessions on one page with two proposed changes, and see one change made. | The one-page summary, and the change in the next version of the session plan. |
Personal development plan: direction and capabilities
Blank version. Copy it into a document, or use the Plan sheet in the Excel workbook. Two or three capabilities are enough.
| # | Capability (what I want to be able to do) | Why it matters for my work | What I can do now, with an example | What I will be able to do by the end date | How I and others will see it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | |||||
| C2 | |||||
| C3 |
Filled example: 70-20-10 activity planner
Fictional, as at Thursday 28 January 2027. Planned hours by type: experience 22 of 32 (69%), others 5 (16%), structured 5 (16%). Done: 4 activities, 11 hours. A8 is overdue.
| # | For | Activity (starts with a verb) | Type | Hours | Start | Done by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | C1 | Lead the first 15 minutes of two sessions that the senior trainer runs | Experience | 4 | 2 Nov 2026 | 4 Dec 2026 | Done |
| A2 | C1 | Lead two 60-minute onboarding sessions alone | Experience | 8 | 21 Jan 2027 | 18 Feb 2027 | In progress |
| A3 | C1 | Ask the senior trainer to observe my first session and give feedback on timing and breakouts | Others | 2 | 21 Jan 2027 | 29 Jan 2027 | Done |
| A4 | C1 | Complete the internal three-hour online facilitation course | Structured | 3 | 9 Nov 2026 | 27 Nov 2026 | Done |
| A5 | C2 | Write the plan for the February onboarding session | Experience | 6 | 18 Jan 2027 | 5 Feb 2027 | In progress |
| A6 | C2 | Ask a colleague to run my plan in a dry run and list every question they ask | Others | 2 | 8 Feb 2027 | 12 Feb 2027 | Planned |
| A7 | C2 | Read two facilitator guides from the team library and note what makes a step clear | Structured | 2 | 2 Nov 2026 | 11 Dec 2026 | Done |
| A8 | C3 | Summarise the feedback forms of three sessions on one page with two proposed changes | Experience | 4 | 11 Jan 2027 | 22 Jan 2027 | In progress |
| A9 | C3 | Talk the summary through with the programme owner and agree which change to make | Others | 1 | 1 Mar 2027 | 12 Mar 2027 | Planned |
70-20-10 activity planner
Blank version. In the Excel tracker the hours by type, the share of each type, the status counts and the overdue flags calculate.
| # | For | Activity (starts with a verb) | Type | Hours | Start | Done by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | |||||||
| A2 | |||||||
| A3 | |||||||
| A4 |
70-20-10 activity types
The 70-20-10 split is commonly attributed to Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, drawing on research at the Center for Creative Leadership, in the 1990s. It is a rule of thumb for balancing a plan, not a measured ratio or a target. Use it to check that most activities sit in real work.
| Type | Rule of thumb | What it means | Examples at work | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience | About 70% | Learning by doing real work: a stretch task, a project, covering a role | Lead part of a meeting; build next month’s report | No time to reflect. Add a short note after each task. |
| Others | About 20% | Learning from people: feedback, coaching, mentoring, shadowing | Ask someone to watch and give feedback; shadow a colleague | Waiting to be offered. Name the person and ask. |
| Structured | About 10% | Planned learning: a course, an e-learning module, a book | A three-hour course; two chapters of a book | No practice after it. Pair it with an experience activity. |
Filled example: support needed and review dates
Fictional. Each request names one person and a date. Reviews on 3 December 2026, 28 January 2027 and 26 March 2027.
| # | What I need | From whom | For | By when | Asked or agreed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | Two sessions in November where I lead the first 15 minutes | Senior trainer | C1 | 30 Oct 2026 | Agreed |
| S2 | Three hours of work time for the online facilitation course | Line manager | C1 | 6 Nov 2026 | Agreed |
| S3 | Access to the feedback forms of the last three onboarding sessions | Programme owner | C3 | 8 Jan 2027 | Agreed |
| S4 | A colleague for a one-hour dry run in February | Learning team | C2 | 29 Jan 2027 | Asked |
Filled example: review sheet
Fictional. The third review has not taken place yet.
| Question | Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date, and who was there | Thursday 3 December 2026, with my line manager | Thursday 28 January 2027, with my line manager and the senior trainer | Planned for Friday 26 March 2027 |
| Activities done since the last review | A1 (led two openings) and A4 (the course). A7 half done. | A7 finished. A3: the senior trainer observed my first session on 21 January. | |
| What I can do now that I could not do before, with an example | I can open a session and set up the first breakout without notes. | I led a full session. It ended four minutes late; all three breakouts came back on time. | |
| What got in the way | Nothing from others yet: I had not asked anyone to watch me. | A8: the forms of the third session arrive late, so the summary is overdue. | |
| Mix check: hours done of experience, others and structured | Experience 4, others 0, structured 3 | Experience 4, others 2, structured 5 | |
| Decision for each capability: keep, adapt or stop | C1 keep. C2 keep. C3 keep. | C1 keep. C2 keep. C3 adapt: summary of three sessions by Friday 12 February. | |
| Next activity, with a date | A3: ask the senior trainer to observe in January (by 18 December). | A5: finish the February plan by Friday 5 February. | |
| Support I still need, and from whom | None new. | S4: a colleague for the dry run, asked on 25 January, not yet agreed. |
Manager conversation guide
A 30-minute conversation. The person owns the plan. Replace the square brackets with your own words.
| Minutes | Part | What the manager does | Words you can use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | Open | Say what the conversation is for and what it is not. Let the person lead. | “This is your plan. My job today is to understand it and help with support. I am not rating anything.” |
| 3–10 | Listen | Ask the person to read the direction and the capabilities. Ask questions; do not rewrite them. | “Which of these matters most to you, and why?” “What would I see you doing when this is done?” |
| 10–17 | Real work | Look at the activity planner. Offer stretch tasks, projects or people to learn from that the person may not know about. | “Where in the next month could you practise this in your real work?” “Who does this well that you could watch?” |
| 17–24 | Support | Answer each support request with yes, no with a reason, or a date by which you will find out. | “Yes, from [date].” “Not this quarter, because [reason].” “I will find out by [date].” |
| 24–28 | Reviews | Put the review dates in both calendars now. Agree who books them. | “Shall we put the three reviews in now? I will send the invitations.” |
| 28–30 | Close | Read back what you agreed to do, and when. Write it on the support list. | “So from me: [what] by [date]. Anything I have missed?” |
What to keep out of a development conversation
A development plan works when the person can be honest about what they cannot do yet. Keep these topics out of the manager conversation.
| Keep out | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Ratings, scores or comparison with colleagues | This is a development plan, not an appraisal. Keep any rating in its own process. |
| Pay, promotion or grading decisions | Say plainly that the plan does not decide them. Do not hint that it might. |
| A concern about current performance | Raise it in a separate conversation, in your organisation’s own process. |
| Health, family or private matters | Only if the person raises them. Point to the right support; do not record them here. |
| Promises you cannot keep | Say “I will find out by [date]” instead of yes. |
Vague and usable capabilities
Fictional examples. A usable capability starts with a verb and could be watched at work.
| Vague | Usable capability | What you would see |
|---|---|---|
| Better communication | Explain a policy change to my team in a five-minute update that people can repeat | Two people can say the change back in their own words |
| Leadership | Run our weekly meeting so that every item ends with an owner and a date | The action list after four meetings |
| Get better at Excel | Build the monthly absence report from raw data without help | The report for March, built alone, checked by the finance lead |
| Confidence | Present a proposal of ten minutes to the department heads and answer their questions | The meeting happens; I note the questions I could not answer |
| Time management | Plan my week on Monday and protect two mornings for project work | My calendar for four weeks |
Pair check questions
Six questions for the pair check. The owner decides what to change.
| Question | Passes, or what to change |
|---|---|
| Can you picture each capability being done at work? | |
| Does “what I can do now” give one real example? | |
| Does each capability have at least one activity in real work? | |
| Does at least one activity involve another person? | |
| Does every support request name one person and a date? | |
| Are the three review dates in a calendar? |
What you'll leave with
In 60 minutes each participant drafts a plan with a direction, two or three capabilities, at least five activities of which most sit in real work, support requests that name one person and a date, and three review dates.
Before the session
- For trainers, coaches and team leads who help 2–16 people at work each write their own development plan, for example at the end of a programme. It is not an appraisal.
- Send the blank plan a few days before. Ask people to think about where they want their work to go in the next 12 months. Bring the filled example.
- Agree with the sponsor who sees the plans. The default here: the person keeps the plan and chooses what to share. Say so in the invitation.
- Send the sheets as plain text for screen readers and as an editable file. Accept typed plans, let people pass and keep cameras optional. Nobody has to share a capability.
How to fill it in with your team
Open: what the plan is and who sees it
Say: “Today you each draft your own development plan for the next three to six months. It is your plan. It is not an appraisal and nobody will rate it. You choose what to share with your partner and with your manager.” Show the filled example for one minute so that people can see the size of a finished plan. Say that the session ends with a draft, not a perfect plan.
Write a direction
Ask people to write one or two sentences in silence: where they want their work to go in the next 12 months. Give prompts: “What would you like to be trusted with? What do you want to do more of, or less of? What does your team need that you could grow into?” Allow five minutes for writing and two for anyone who wants to read theirs aloud. Passing is fine. A direction can be “stay in my role and do it better”.
Choose two or three capabilities
Spend four minutes listing possible capabilities, then choose two or three. Read the vague and usable examples aloud. Say: “A capability is something you can do at work, written with a verb. ‘Communication’ is a topic. ‘Explain a policy change in a five-minute update that people can repeat’ is a capability.” Spend six minutes on the columns: why it matters, what you can do now with one real example, what you will be able to do by the end date and how you and others will see it.
Plan the activities with the 70-20-10 planner
Spend three minutes on the activity types table. Say: “70-20-10 is a rule of thumb, commonly attributed to Lombardo and Eichinger and the Center for Creative Leadership. It is not a target. It reminds us that most learning at work happens in real work, some with other people and a little in courses.” Spend nine minutes writing two to four activities for each capability. Each activity starts with a verb and has a type, an hours estimate, a start date and a done-by date. In the last three minutes, add up the hours by type in the mix check line. If structured learning takes most of the hours, ask: “Where will you use this in real work in the week after?”
Name the support you need
Ask each person to write up to six support requests. Each request names what is needed, one person to ask and a date by which to ask. Say: “Support is specific: time, access, a person to watch you or a task you are allowed to try. ‘My manager’s support’ is not specific enough.” Mark each request as asked or agreed later, after the conversation.
Pair check
In pairs, or a trio, each person has four minutes. The partner reads the plan, or listens to the parts the owner chooses to share, and asks the six pair check questions. The partner asks; the owner decides what to change. Use the last two minutes for both people to make changes in silence. Online, use breakout rooms of two, or let people check their own plan against the questions in writing.
Set the review dates and close
Ask each person to write three review dates: one after four to six weeks, one in the middle and one at the end date, each with the name of the person they will review with. Ask them to put the dates in a calendar now, or write when they will. Say: “At each review you look at what you can do now, what got in the way and whether to keep, adapt or stop each capability.” Close with one line from each person, aloud or in the chat: the first activity they will start, and when. Passing is fine.
Participant worksheet
Copy this table into a document, or print the worksheet from the bundle. Share only what you choose.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Direction | One or two sentences: where I want my work to go in the next 12 months |
| Capabilities | Two or three, each with why it matters, what I can do now with an example, what I will be able to do by the end date and how it will show |
| 70-20-10 activity planner | Activities in real work, with other people and in structured learning, each with hours, a start date and a done-by date |
| Support needed | What I need, from one named person, by when, and whether it is asked or agreed |
| Review dates | Three reviews, with whom, and a review sheet for keep, adapt or stop |
| Manager conversation guide | A 30-minute conversation in six parts, and what to keep out of it |
Debrief questions
- Which capability was hardest to write as something you can do, and what helped?
- Where did most of your planned hours land, and does that match where you learn best at work?
- Which support request will you make first, and to whom?
- What could stop your first review from happening, and what will you do about it now?
Adapt it for your group
- For a small group of two to four, skip the pairs and run the pair check as a round: each person reads one capability and one activity, and the group asks one check question each.
- For a 30-minute version, send the direction and the capabilities as homework. In the session, spend 15 minutes on the activity planner, 5 on support, 7 on the pair check and 3 on the review dates.
- Online, share the plan as an editable document for each person, use breakout rooms of two for the pair check and collect the closing line in the chat. Cameras are optional, and people can type instead of speaking.
- For quiet participants and people working in a second language, allow the whole plan in writing and a written pair check: the partner writes questions in the margin. Nobody has to read their plan aloud, and anyone can keep a capability private.
- For one-to-one use with a manager, the person drafts the plan alone first, then the two use the manager conversation guide. The manager does not fill in the plan for the person.
After the session
Each person sends the support requests within a week and books the three reviews. Before each review, they update the status of each activity and fill one column of the review sheet. At the end date, they copy any capability marked keep into a new plan. If you ran the session as part of a programme, ask in a follow-up message how many first reviews took place, without asking what the plans say.
Questions people ask
What should a personal development plan template include?
A direction for the next year, two or three capabilities with an example of where you are now and what you will be able to do by the end date, the activities that will get you there, the support you need from named people, and review dates. This template adds a 70-20-10 activity planner, a review sheet and a guide for the manager’s conversation.
What is the 70-20-10 model in a development plan?
It is a rule of thumb that most learning at work comes from experience (about 70%), some from other people (about 20%) and a little from courses and reading (about 10%). It is commonly attributed to Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, drawing on research at the Center for Creative Leadership in the 1990s. It is not a measured ratio. Use it to check that your plan does not rest on courses alone.
How is this different from the goal setting worksheet?
The goal setting worksheet plans one work goal with a measured baseline and finish line. This development plan covers two or three capabilities over three to six months and plans the learning activities, the support and the reviews. A capability in this plan can become a goal on the worksheet. For the skills a whole team needs, use the skills matrix template.
Is a personal development plan part of an appraisal?
Not in this kit. The person owns the plan and chooses what to share. The manager guide keeps ratings, pay, promotion and performance concerns out of the conversation. If your organisation links development plans to appraisals, follow its own process and say so to participants before they write.
How often should a development plan be reviewed?
This kit uses three reviews: one after four to six weeks, one in the middle and one at the end date, for a plan of three to six months. The first review comes early on purpose, so that a plan that has not started can be fixed. These are planning suggestions, not a rule.
What is included in the free and editable files?
The open PDF has the blank plan, the 70-20-10 activity planner, the support and review dates sheet, the review sheet, the pair check, the manager conversation guide, a filled example of each part and the 60-minute drafting session. Subscribers also receive the editable Word file, an Excel workbook with a plan sheet and an activity tracker that counts activities and hours by type and status and flags overdue activities, and a CSV of the example activity planner.
How to use the files
Print the PDF, edit the Word file in Word or Google Docs, or open the CSV or XLSX in a spreadsheet. Open files need no email.
Can I use this with paying clients?
Yes. Use and adapt this original Superglue kit in your own training, including paid client sessions. Please share this page rather than redistributing the unmodified kit. Read the full usage terms.