Through the creation of an individual development plan, instructors can see that their college is interested in their professional growth, plus their teaching will be made more effective and efficient through improved instructional practice and enhanced classroom performance.  How does one effectivley co-create an individual development plan?  I'd like to share 3 tips to help you as you collaborate with your faculty to achieve their development goals. 

1. Partner with Faculty - Successful marriage of performance management and development plans requires an active partnership and continuous communication between the instructors, coaches/mentors and the management. Instructors are the primary stakeholders in this partnership. To ensure their buy-in and future success, let them take ownership in planning, creating and implementing their own individual development plans.  Your role is to provide them with a consistent format and assist them with the process.         

2. Connect the Plan with the Results - Remember that instructors have to see how the various components of their development plan will help them improve their teaching performance.  If they don’t, they will be reluctant to invest in the plan and will not put forth the effort to accomplish the plan’s goals and objectives.         

3. Let Faculty Vocalize their Goals - Prior to developing the individual development plans, sessions should be held with instructors so they can verbalize their goals.  Talking about the goals before committing them to paper helps instructors to clarify what they want to focus on and enables them to see how their goals fit within the mission of their department and college.

What challenges do you have when co-developing a development plan?  How have you overcome these challenges?