Professional Development Plan Template for Word (Free Download)

A professional development plan template that individuals or organizations use to outline a course of action for career growth and skill enhancement. It provides a structured framework for setting goals, identifying required actions and tracking progress. Download this free professional development plan template for Word to meet goals and grow your professional skills.

ProjectManager's free professional development plan for Word — *ProjectManager’s free professional development plan for Word*

Why You Need a Professional Development Plan Template

A professional development plan template serves as a roadmap for career growth by helping individuals set clear, defined goals. It allows them to identify what they want to achieve—whether it’s acquiring new skills or moving up in their careers—but also provides structure to break down those goals into actionable steps. This clarity ensures that the focus remains on what’s important and avoids getting sidetracked by tasks that don’t align with long-term objectives.

A professional development plan template also highlights skills or knowledge gaps. Through self-assessment and reflection, individuals can pinpoint areas where improvement is needed, ensuring they’re always working on the right things. The plan maps out specific actions, such as training programs or certifications, along with timelines and resources required. This makes it easier to track progress and stay accountable while providing a sense of accomplishment as smaller milestones are completed along the way.

Lastly, a well-structured professional development plan template boosts motivation, confidence and career advancement. As individuals make measurable progress, they gain a stronger sense of direction and purpose. For those in a workplace, the plan shows commitment to growth and aligns goals with organizational objectives, which can open up new opportunities for promotions or leadership roles. Ultimately, a professional development plan helps proactively shape career paths and achieve long-term success.

The operative word in a professional development plan template is plan. To ensure that the goals of that plan are met, we recommend using project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has features to help plan, manage and track professional development in real time. Use powerful Gantt charts to organize tasks and schedule resources and costs. Link all four types of task dependencies to avoid delays. Then set a baseline and track the planned effort against the actual effort in real time to stay on schedule. Get started with ProjectManager for free today.

Gantt chart in ProjectManager — ProjectManager’s Gantt charts schedule and track professional development plans. Learn more

Who Should Use Our Professional Development Plan Template?

Our professional development plan template is designed for anyone looking to take charge of their career growth and skill development. Whether you’re just starting or aiming for the next step in your profession, this template helps define goals and create a roadmap to achieve them. Here’s who can benefit from using it.

Employees looking to advance in their current role or explore new opportunities
Managers who want to develop their team’s skills and enhance performance
Job seekers aiming to focus on the skills required for their next position
Students or recent graduates planning their career trajectory and identifying growth areas
Freelancers and entrepreneurs wanting to expand their expertise and build their businesses
HR professionals working to implement career development programs to facilitate transition planning within their organization

When to Use This Free Professional Development Plan Template for Word

Knowing when to use a professional development plan template is key to making the most of it. This template is useful whenever you’re aiming to take your career to the next level or simply want to improve specific skills. It helps provide structure and clarity, making it easier to focus your efforts and track progress. Here are a few times to consider using this free template.

At the Start of a New Job: Set clear career goals from the beginning to guide your growth within the organization
During Performance Reviews: Align your development goals with performance reviews from your manager and track progress over time
When Changing Careers: Identify the skills and knowledge needed for a smooth transition into a new role or industry
After a Promotion: Establish new goals to help succeed and grow in your new position
When Seeking Skill Improvement: Focus on acquiring specific skills or certifications to advance your expertise
During Annual Goal Setting: Review and update your professional goals to stay on track with long-term career aspirations

What’s Included in Our Professional Development Plan Template?

Download our free professional development plan template and get a fully customized document. We’ve outlined the basics, but users can edit the template to mirror their professional development plan. Here’s a breakdown of the steps we include.

Personal Information

Basic details about the individual, such as name, job title, department, date of plan creation and manager (if applicable).

Current Skills Assessment

An evaluation of current abilities, strengths and areas for improvement. A brief overview of current skills and competencies and self-assessment and feedback from managers or colleagues.

Development Goals

Clear and measurable objectives for professional growth. Include short-term and long-term goals, specific skills or knowledge the individual aims to acquire and why those goals are important.

Action Plan

Detailed steps to achieve the development goals. Include specific actions the individual will take to improve or acquire skills, such as training, certifications, mentoring or work assignments.

Timeline

A schedule to track progress and ensure goals are met on time. Include deadlines or timeframes for completing each action item.

Resources Needed

Identifies the resources required to achieve the development goals. Can include training programs, books, online courses, software tools, or mentor guidance.

Performance Indicators

Metrics to track progress and determine if the development goals have been achieved, include key performance indicators (KPIs), such as completing a course, earning a certification or improving specific skills.

Evaluation and Reflection

Assess how well the development plan is working and adjust as needed. Write a self-reflection, with feedback from managers or peers, and any adjustments to the plan to stay on track.

Related Professional Development Plan Templates

The professional development plan template is but one of over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that can be downloaded from our site. They help manage projects across all phases and apply to multiple industries. Below are some templates that can be used when executing a professional development plan.

Performance Improvement Plan Template

Sometimes the need to develop professionally is external rather than internal. In cases when an employer wants to see their employees meet job requirements, they can use this free performance improvement plan template for Word to help them develop and enhance their role in the business.

Action Plan Template

An action plan is part of the larger professional development plan template. Use this free action plan template for Excel to list the steps outlined in the professional development plan, estimate the duration of each and identify the requirements needed and their associated costs.

Timeline Template

The professional development plan template has a timeline element and this free timeline template for Excel allows users to map those activities over a period. It can decide who will execute the work, list all the activities and show the duration in a color-coded bar chart.

How ProjectManager Helps Achieve Professional Development Goals

Templates have their uses. For example, a professional development plan template is fine for outlining the goals and strategies to achieve those goals. However, a static template isn’t the best tool to manage the execution of that plan. It’s cumbersome, slow and requires too much manual input that takes one away from the task at hand to deal with the shortcomings of the template. Better to use project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that has the tools to plan, manage and track professional development in real time.

Use Multiple Project Views

We’ve already discussed the usefulness of Gantt charts in scheduling professional development plans, but not everyone needs its extensive features. Maybe tasks, resources and costs can be scheduled on the Gantt chart, but one of our other project views could prove superior for executing it. For example, the visual workflow of kanban boards helps one manage their backlog and see if any bottlenecks are coming up so they can be resolved before impacting progress. Or use a robust task list that can set priority, add attachments, comments and more. For the long view, try the calendar. It shows the project from a monthly overview.

Monitor Progress on Real-Time Dashboards and Reports

To ensure that actual progress is aligned with the planned effort, first set a baseline on the Gantt chart. This captures the schedule and updates actual progress to compare the two and see if things are moving forward as planned. The real-time dashboard provides a high-level overview of not only progress but also cost, workload and more. These metrics are illustrated with easy-to-read graphs and charts. There are also reports that can be filtered to zero in on the data users are interested in knowing. Reports can also be shared with superiors if management is overseeing the professional development plan.

Professional Development Plan