HUNEETY RESOURCES
Top 5 Mistakes Companies Make with IDPs
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Most companies talk about Individual Development Plans (IDPs) like they’re a silver bullet for employee growth. But if you ask employees or even managers what their IDP looks like, the answer is usually vague: “Oh, we filled out a form last year… I don’t really remember what’s in it” and that’s the problem.
An IDP is supposed to be a living tool that drives capability building, succession planning, and career growth. Yet in many organizations, it’s reduced to a tick-box exercise. HR spends hours designing frameworks, managers go through the motions, and employees walk away with little more than a document that sits in a drawer.
In this article, we’ll unpack the Top 5 Mistakes Companies Make with IDPs. More importantly, we’ll explore how HR can reframe IDPs into something managers and employees actually use.
Too often, IDPs are designed as a form-filling exercise. HR rolls out templates, managers sit with employees once a year, and everyone signs off. Then the document disappears until the next cycle.
When that happens, IDPs stop being about development and start being about compliance.
How HR can fix it:
- Position IDPs as ongoing conversations, not one-off tasks.
- Encourage managers to check in quarterly on IDP progress.
- Provide managers with practical coaching questions they can use, instead of a static form.
An IDP should feel like a GPS: it gives direction, but it only works if you keep looking at it while moving forward. You could start this Ideal IDP template instead.
Another common mistake? IDPs that read like a list of weaknesses. Managers focus on what employees are lacking, and development becomes a punishment instead of an opportunity.
Employees end up thinking, “This is just about fixing what I’m bad at, not about growing my career.” That kills motivation.
How HR can fix it:
- Balance IDPs between competency gaps and strength-based growth.
- Include stretch goals that leverage what employees already do well.
- Link development plans to future career pathways, not just current job performance.
For example, if an employee is great at influencing but struggles with data analysis, don’t just say “attend Excel training.” Frame it as: “Your influence skills are strong. Let’s combine that with sharper data insights so you can lead more impactful business cases.”
This is how IDPs start feeling like career accelerators, not performance correction tools.
Most managers are not trained to lead development conversations. They either default to giving generic advice (“take more ownership”) or they push employees toward mandatory courses.
That’s not development. That’s delegation.
How HR can fix it:
- Provide managers with simple frameworks like GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will).
- Train them on the difference between coaching, mentoring, and feedback, and when to use each.
- Give them scripts and real-life examples, not theory-heavy manuals.
When managers know how to coach rather than dictate, IDPs become employee-owned. That shift is critical if you want development to stick.
Sometimes IDPs become so employee-driven that they lose sight of organizational priorities. HR ends up with plans full of personal aspirations that have no link to business strategy.
This creates frustration: the company funds training programs that don’t build the capabilities it actually needs.
How HR can fix it:
- Anchor IDPs in both individual goals and business-critical competencies.
- Use your competency framework not as a buzzword, but as a practical guide for development.
- Encourage managers to connect IDP discussions to team objectives and organizational strategy.
Employees want to grow, but they also want to stay relevant. When IDPs bridge personal growth with business value, everyone wins.
This is the big one. Even when IDPs are well-written, they often die in execution. Managers forget to revisit them. Employees get no feedback. HR has no visibility.
Without follow-through, IDPs become just another broken promise.
How HR can fix it:
- Integrate IDPs into performance management and talent reviews.
- Track progress visibly through dashboards, check-ins, or quarterly reviews.
- Hold managers accountable by making IDP follow-up part of their leadership KPIs.
When employees see action, such as resources allocated, opportunities created, and recognition given, they start to believe IDPs are real.
So let’s recap the Top 5 Mistakes Companies Make with IDPs:
1. Treating them as paperwork instead of practice.
2. Focusing only on weaknesses.
3. Leaving managers unprepared.
4. Ignoring business needs.
5. Dropping follow-through and accountability.
For HR, the solution is not to scrap IDPs, but to make them practical. Train managers, balance strengths with gaps, link plans to strategy, and embed accountability.
If you can do that, IDPs become a tool for talent retention, succession planning, and long-term organizational capability.
Here’s the bottom line: an IDP is not just a document, it’s a conversation. A living, breathing plan that requires coaching, mentoring, feedback, and follow-through.
If your company keeps falling into the same traps, you’re not alone. Many organizations struggle to make IDPs work in practice. But with the right frameworks and manager training, you can turn IDPs into one of the most powerful tools in your HR strategy.
Are you looking for developing your managers so they can run meaningful IDP conversations? Contact us. We help HR teams equip managers with the skills, tools, and confidence to make IDPs a driver of real growth.
