How to develop an internal career plan

When we think about our team, about how to retain talent or how to improve it, we can make the mistake of not also thinking about their professional development. Sometimes, when we detect a new need, we immediately consider bringing in someone new instead of considering whether someone who is already on our team would be ready or would like to take on that role. That is what an internal career plan consists of, but let’s look at it in more detail.

What is an internal career plan?

An internal career plan is a process of professional evolution for our team and for our company. It is a useful exercise because it allows our team to grow professionally while providing us with extra value.

It is a training plan that aims to give our team the necessary tools and knowledge to develop their full potential. Furthermore, it is a way of motivating our team and creating a bond between the team and the company that reinforces the feeling of belonging and helps us to retain the talent we have.

Benefits of an internal career plan

Among the benefits of having a career plan or a training plan we find the motivation of our team. A person who can develop their full potential thanks to the help of their company, is a person who is more motivated in their day to day.

Feeling that there is no progress or evolution is one of the reasons that can make our team look for a different outlet, but giving them the chance to grow leads to the second benefit of the training plan: talent retention. A motivated team is a team committed to the company, so the feeling of belonging to the organization will grow along with the desire to continue with us.

Another of the benefits of an internal training plan is that it gives us the opportunity to prepare our team for situations in which we have to replace one person with another, for example, retirement. If we plan for it, when a member of our team retires, we will have another ready to take over that position.

How to plan an internal career plan?

The key to a good career plan is prior planning and establishing the steps to follow before carrying it out. This is a planning suggestion that can be adapted to the needs of any company.

Organizational needs

Establishing what we need as an organization and what our objectives are is the first step. If we don’t know what we need, we can’t redirect our efforts towards it. In addition, ordering them according to their importance will help us to prioritize.

Evaluation of our company profiles

Being clear about the profiles we have, where they come from, what they do and how far they can go is the key to success. To do this, we cannot limit ourselves to making a list of the people and the positions they occupy, we should carry out an analysis to find out how far they can go and even ask our team how they would like their development to be. Consulting with our team is a very useful tool in all aspects.

Develop individualized plans

Based on the results of the previous step, we can plan the growth of each staff member. Not all plans have to be focused on growing or promoting in the company. Perhaps there are people who cannot continue to grow because they have reached their ceiling and this plan will have to be focused on helping them carry out their tasks in a simpler and more efficient way. Others, on the contrary, will still have a long way to go and this career plan will have to be managed by adding approximate deadlines.

We can take advantage of this point to develop career plans that help us to see how to get from one position to another, that is, to prepare for retirement or the sudden departure of a member.

Situation monitoring

Any plan or strategy that is carried out in a company requires monitoring. In theory it may work perfectly, but practice is another story. That is why it is good to set deadlines to ensure the follow-up of these plans, see how the team is adapting to them and see if they are really effective or if modifications have to be made on the fly.

In summary, preparing our team to grow within our company helps us to keep the motivation of the workforce high, build trust between the company and the worker and improve the feeling of belonging, the experience as an employee and the work environment. In addition, we will be prepared for any possible restructuring that we may have to do. With a team that is motivated and involved with the company, everything works better and better results are obtained.