Individual Development Plan (IDP) Form

An Individual Development Plan (IDP) form is essential for organizations committed to employee growth and career progression. This template helps HR teams and managers guide employees through structured career development conversations, turning aspirations into actionable plans.

Whether you're a growing startup building a performance culture or an established company refining your talent development strategy, this IDP form template streamlines the career planning process. Employees can articulate their career goals, assess current competencies, identify skill gaps, and collaborate with managers on targeted training and development activities.

The form captures everything from short-term objectives to long-term career aspirations, making it perfect for annual reviews, quarterly check-ins, or ongoing career conversations. With sections for self-assessment, manager input, and specific action plans with timelines, this template ensures development discussions lead to concrete next steps.

Use this form alongside Paperform's conditional logic to customize development paths based on role type or career stage. Connect submissions to your HRIS via Stepper workflows to automatically trigger training enrollments, schedule follow-up meetings, or update employee development records. Integration with tools like BambooHR, Notion, or Google Sheets means your development plans stay organized and accessible.

For HR teams managing multiple employees, the built-in reporting helps identify common skill gaps across teams, track development progress, and measure the impact of training investments. This data-driven approach to career development helps reduce turnover, increase engagement, and build a stronger internal talent pipeline.