Free PDP Template

As a manager, your role is to support your employees’ work. To make the biggest difference, help them not just with daily tasks but also with their future goals.

Professional development does more than just help the individual; it's also good for the team and company at large, boosting retention and increasing employee engagement. That's why it's so important to create a professional development plan that is consistent and aligned with your company's values. In this article, you'll learn what a professional development plan template is, why you need one, what to include, and how to put it to work for your team.

What is a professional development plan template?

A professional development plan template is a tool you can use again and again to create consistent plans for every employee. It usually has sections for employee details, current skills, career goals, and action steps. This gives managers and HR a simple way to support growth across the company.

A professional development plan (PDP) is a document that lists an employee’s current skills, career goals, and the steps they need to take to reach those goals. It changes as employees grow, helping you spot skill gaps, set goals, and track progress.

Every employee has different professional goals, so their development plans will be different too. Using a template with clear steps helps you give everyone the same support. With specific action items, you can help team members move from where they are now to where they want to go.

Why do you need a professional development plan template?

Your professional development template is a company-wide tool that turns general ideas into clear actions. Without a template, development talks can be inconsistent and harder to track. Besides giving structure, your template offers other benefits, such as:

• Team-wide support. When you help individuals grow, you also strengthen your whole team and the company.

• Remove bias. Because you are following the same steps to assist your team regardless of individual differences, role, or your relationship, you are eliminating potential unconscious biases.

• Create consistency. Templates make performance reviews more consistent and easier to measure.

• Improve employee well-being. When employees see a clear career path, they feel more valued and engaged. Professional development shows your team that you're invested in their future, which can reduce burnout and increase job satisfaction.

• Save time and resources. Using a template lets you focus on the conversation, not the format, so everyone gets more out of each review.

What to include in a professional development plan template

Your professional development plan template should have sections for employee information, current skills, career goals, and action items to build missing skills.

Employee information

Begin by noting who the employee is and what their role is on your team. This section should cover:

• Basic details: Name, start date, and current role.

• Responsibilities: A summary of their day-to-day duties.

• Work history: List previous roles, which is especially useful if the employee has had a non-traditional career path.

Skills gap assessment

This is where you conduct a gap analysis between the individual's current skills (both hard and soft skills) and their professional development goals. The purpose is to outline a clear career path: where is the individual now, and where do they want to be?

To identify development opportunities through a needs assessment, ask:

• What skills does the employee need support with to reach their goals?

• What can they develop on their own?

• What action items should you, as the manager, own?

Action items

Turn the insights from the skills gap assessment into a concrete action plan. Create action items for both the employee and yourself as a manager.

For the employee:

• Take relevant courses or earn certifications

• Find a mentor if they're moving into leadership

• Join cross-functional projects to build new skills

For the manager:

• Connect the employee with leaders on other teams

• Assign challenging projects that match the employee’s growth goals

Professional development plan examples

Here are three common examples to show how a professional development plan template works in real situations.

Moving into a leadership role (Marketing IC)

• Goal: Become a team lead within 12 months

• Key skills gap: Strong technical skills, but limited people-management experience

• Action items:

  • Enroll in a management course

  • Shadow a team lead

  • Lead a small cross-functional project

Transitioning to a new department (Customer support specialist)

• Goal: Move into product management

• Key skills gap: Strong communication, but gaps in data analysis and product roadmapping

• Action items:

  • Complete a product management course

  • Meet with the product team monthly

  • Contribute to a feedback initiative

Deepening technical expertise (Junior developer)

• Goal: Become a senior engineer

• Key skills gap: Proficient in front-end development, but limited back-end experience

• Action items:

  • Pair with a senior back-end developer for three months

  • Earn a certification

  • Lead a small back-end project

How to use your professional development plan template

Your template will guide you through the professional development process for any team member. Here’s how to use it effectively:

• Use supporting software. Use a project management tool to coordinate professional development so team members can easily track long-term goals and short-term goals in real-time. You can then create action items based on the goals you set, all without ever leaving the tool.

• Reference your template. Use your professional development template as a baseline, then reference it for follow-up check-ins at key milestones. Edit and adjust the professional development plan if and when goals ultimately change by creating new copies of your template as needed.

• Make your professional development process actionable. Use the template to evaluate an employee's performance and create an individual professional development plan, with key action items and deadlines. This creates a set timeframe for when and how the individual will improve.

• Connect with Human Resources. Professional development plan templates can be used beyond your team. HR can use them to create key development programs for staff, helping to build new skills and strengthen your company’s culture.

Support employee growth with Asana

A professional development plan template works best when you have the right tools to manage it. Asana helps you turn your template into a live, trackable plan that keeps both managers and employees accountable.

Integrated features

• List View. See all tasks, due dates, and custom fields at a glance so your entire team knows who's doing what by when.

• Goals. Connect employee development goals directly to the work that supports them, giving team members real-time clarity on how their growth contributes to company success.

• Milestones. Set checkpoints throughout the development plan, so you and your employee can track progress and celebrate wins along the way.

• Custom fields. Tag, sort, and filter development tasks by priority, status, or skill area to keep plans organized and consistent across your organization.

Recommended apps

• Microsoft Teams. Connect your Teams conversations to actionable development tasks in Asana without switching tools.

• Slack. Turn Slack messages into Asana tasks so development action items don't get lost.

• Google Workplace. Attach Google Drive files directly to tasks in Asana with just a few clicks.

• OneDrive. Attach Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other files directly to development tasks in Asana.

Ready to build a professional development plan your team can actually follow through on? Get started with Asana and turn your template into a trackable, actionable plan today.

Frequently asked questions about professional development plan templates