How well-defined are your people’s personal development plans for this year?​

Our reader poll today asks:  How well-defined are your people’s personal development plans for this year?​

• Very: 17%
• Somewhat: 31%
• Not very: 35%
• Not at all: 17%

How can they grow without a plan? A leader’s primary job is to build the next generation of leaders. If your people lack clarity on their development plans (52% of you said they do), how can you expect them to focus on building their skills? If we’re going to run around saying “our people are our most important resource” then it’s worth the time living up to that. And the good news is you don’t have to do all the work. Your people should own their own development but you need to hold them accountable for doing so. Assign them the homework of writing a development plan. Sit down and review it with them. Offer them ideas on ways they can develop defined skills. Point out blind spots. Help them think through measurement and goal attainment. If you don’t focus on developing your people, their performance will never change.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.