Home Growth Path Individual Development Plan (IDP) – Help Guide

Individual Development Plan (IDP) – Help Guide

Last updated on Nov 24, 2025

1. Understanding the IDP Structure

An Individual Development Plan follows a clear hierarchy. Each plan is built in the following order:

  1. Plan Type – Select the plan category.

  2. Plan Details – Provide contextual information about the plan.

  3. Development Areas – Define the areas where growth or improvement is needed.

  4. Action Items – Add specific items under each development area that the user needs to work on.

  5. Action Item Type – Each action item is assigned a type that determines how its progress is calculated.

This hierarchy ensures consistency and allows accurate tracking of development progress.

Rules for Editing the Plan Type

A plan type can be edited only under specific conditions. It remains editable only if all of the following are true:

  1. The plan is still in draft. Once the plan is shared, the plan type becomes locked permanently.

  2. No development areas currently exist

  3. If development areas were previously added, they must be deleted first

In summary: The plan type can be changed only in draft, and only when the plan contains zero development areas.

Rules for Minimum Required Structure

To ensure a valid IDP:

  1. Every IDP must have at least one development area.
    A plan cannot exist without a development area.

  2. Every development area must have at least one active action item.

    • An action item can have any status except Discard.

    • If a development area’s only remaining action item is discarded, that development area becomes invalid.

In summary: A development area must contain at least one action item that is not discarded.

2. Action Item Types

Users can create several types of action items within a development area:

  • Task

  • Course

  • Certification

  • Project Work

  • Mentorship

  • Time-bound Program

  • Training

Important:

  • All action item types except Task require a target value (e.g., number of modules, hours, steps, etc.).

  • Tasks are binary:

    • 1 (Done) = 100% progress

    • 0 (Not Done) = 0% progress

    • Any value ≥1 is treated as fully completed.

  • Tasks do not use unit-based targets.

3. Action Item Statuses

Each action item can be labeled with one of the following statuses:

  • Not Started

  • On Track

  • Behind

  • At Risk

  • Achieved

  • Discard

Status behavior:

  • All statuses are set manually by users—none update automatically.

  • When an item is marked Discarded, it becomes permanently disabled and cannot be restored.

4. Development Area Progress Pie Chart

This visual summarizes the state of all development areas within a plan:

  • Not Started – 0% progress

  • In Progress – greater than 0% but less than 100%

  • Completed – 100% progress

The pie chart counts the total number of development areas in each category.

5. How Development Area Progress Is Calculated

Development Area progress is determined by normalizing each action item into a percentage and then averaging them.

Step 1: Normalize Each Action Item

Action Item Types & Calculations

1. Task

  • Progress is either 0% (not done) or 100% (done)

2. Unit-based items (course, certification, mentorship, etc.)

  • Progress = (Current Progress ÷ Target Units) × 100

  • Capped at 100%

Step 2: Average the Normalized Values

Development Area Progress (%) =
Sum of normalized progress for all action items ÷ Number of action items

Note: Each action item contributes equally, regardless of type.

Example

You have 4 action items:

  1. Task → Done → 100%

  2. Task → Not Done → 0%

  3. Course → 2 of 5 modules → 40%

  4. Certification → 3 of 3 steps → 100%

Overall Progress = (100 + 0 + 40 + 100) ÷ 4 = 60%

6. Action Item Status Breakdown

This chart displays status distribution across all action items in the entire plan.

Segments Include:

  • Not Started

  • On Track

  • Behind

  • At Risk

  • Achieved

  • Discard

Behavior:

  • Shows percentage distribution for each status.

  • Hovering reveals counts (e.g., “1 Action Items - Achieved”).

  • A legend displays status colors.

Formula:
Percentage = (Number of action items in a status ÷ Total action items) × 100

Example (20 action items):

  • Not Started → 10 items → 50%

  • On Track → 2 items → 10%

  • Behind → 2 items → 10%

  • At Risk → 3 items → 15%

  • Completed → 3 items → 15%

7. Why You May Not Be Able to View or Create an IDP

In the Teams Plan section, managers can view or assign IDPs to their direct reports. Users may occasionally see messages such as:

  • “IDP can’t be viewed as {{employee}} may currently be creating their plan.”

  • Or similarly, a direct report may see a message indicating that they cannot create or view the IDP.

Why this happens:

  • An IDP exists in a draft state until it is Saved & Shared with the next party.

  • Only one draft can exist at a time.

  • If either the manager or the direct report is currently editing the draft, the other person is locked out and will see this message.

  • The plan becomes viewable only after the active editor completes the draft and shares it.

Key rule:

Only one person can edit an IDP at a time. Until it is saved and shared, the plan remains locked to the editor.