Most IDP template examples on the internet are blank forms with field labels and a download button. They tell you what an individual development plan should contain, but not what one looks like when it's actually written for a real person with a real gap. This article shows three filled-in plans (a sales manager, a first-time manager, and an individual contributor), then gives you the blank template to adapt.
What is an IDP template? A structured document that captures an employee's development goals, the competency gaps to close, the actions planned (split across on-the-job, social, and formal learning), milestones, and review cadence. Used in tandem with individual development plans as the working format for the conversation between an employee and their manager.
Why most IDP templates fall short
A blank template hands the employee an empty grid and tells them to fill it. That's like handing someone a budget spreadsheet and asking them to be financially savvy. The structure is fine; the worked examples are missing.
In our experience, the IDPs that actually move skills forward share four traits, none of which a blank template alone provides.
- Specific to a real gap. "Improve communication" is not a goal. "Lead the next quarterly all-hands without notes" is.
- Sequenced across 70/20/10. Stretch assignment, peer coaching, and formal content (a course or book) all named, not implied.
- Time-bound with milestones. Quarterly checkpoints, not an annual review.
- Owned by the manager, supported by HR. The template is the artifact, not the program.
The three examples below show what each of these looks like in practice.
What every IDP template should contain
Before the worked examples, here is the four-part structure each one follows. Use it as the spine of your own template.
Identify
Name the gap, the role context, and the time horizon.
Plan
Split actions across 70% on-the-job, 20% social, 10% formal.
Discuss
Set the manager check-in cadence (quarterly minimum).
Track
Capture the evidence that the gap is closing.
If your team is starting from scratch and needs the program structure around the template, see how to launch IDPs for the operational playbook.
The full guide
IDP templates and examples (free download)
The Excel template we use with every Huneety project, an empty preview, a filled example, and field-by-field fill instructions. Free download.
See the template
Example 1: sales manager
Person: Priya, regional sales manager, 18 months in role. Strong individual seller, recently promoted to lead a team of six.
Identified gap: coaching her team through deal cycles instead of jumping in to close. Pipeline reviews currently devolve into Priya re-running the deals.
- Asks open questions in pipeline reviews instead of giving answers
- Lets the team own the close, joining only kickoff and final call
- Debriefs lost deals with the rep, not for the rep
Goal (6 months): two team members close at least one major deal end-to-end without Priya's direct intervention. Pipeline review meetings stay under 45 minutes and end with team commitments.
70%: on-the-job actions
- Q1: hand off Priya's two largest accounts to senior team members. Priya joins only the kickoff and the close call.
- Q1-Q2: rotate pipeline review facilitation. Each team member runs their own slice; Priya coaches questions instead of providing answers.
- Weekly: track "interventions" (every time Priya stepped into a deal). Target: under three per week by month four.
20%: social actions
- Bi-weekly 30-minute coaching with the VP of Sales (or a peer regional manager from another territory).
- Monthly anonymous pulse to the team: "On a scale of 1-5, how often did your manager give you space to handle the deal yourself?"
- Quarterly skip-level conversation between two of Priya's reports and the VP, focused on coaching quality.
10%: formal actions
- One short course on coaching frameworks (GROW or similar), 4 hours asynchronous.
- One book on coaching for sales leaders, completed in the first 30 days.
Action-plan structure here follows the 70-20-10 rule. Each 70% action is concrete and observable; each 20% action is calendared; each 10% action ties back to a 70% application.
Example 2: first-time manager
Person: Marcus, engineering tech lead, just promoted to engineering manager. First people-management role.
Identified gap: giving structured feedback. Comfortable in code reviews, uncomfortable in 1:1s. Defaults to "everything's good" when the team is in fact struggling.
Goal (6 months): runs weekly 1:1s with each of the four direct reports, with at least one specific developmental observation per session, captured in a shared running doc.
70%: on-the-job actions
- Q1: Marcus owns 1:1s with all four reports. Pre-session prep template: one observation, one question, one ask.
- Q2: lead the team through one performance review cycle end-to-end (calibration, draft, conversation, follow-up).
- Quarterly: deliver developmental feedback in a code review out loud (not just inline comments). Target: at least one per sprint.
20%: social actions
- Pair Marcus with a senior engineering manager for monthly 45-minute coaching. Topic varies; default is "what conversation are you avoiding right now."
- Quarterly: solicit upward feedback from the team via structured pulse (3 questions on clarity, support, growth).
- Join the company's engineering manager community of practice (monthly, 1 hour).
10%: formal actions
- One first-time manager program (12-week cohort if available, or self-paced equivalent).
- One book on management fundamentals, read in the first 60 days.
For a fuller treatment of how to write a manager's IDP (delegation, coaching, the wake-up-call moments), see IDP for managers. Marcus's plan above is a compressed version of that pattern.
Example 3: individual contributor
Person: Lin, senior data analyst, three years in role. Strong technical analyst. Career goal: principal analyst with cross-functional influence.
Identified gap: turning analyses into business decisions. Lin produces excellent dashboards that stakeholders read, nod at, and don't act on.
Goal (6 months): three analyses delivered with explicit "recommended decision" sections, each followed by a tracked outcome (decision taken, decision deferred, decision rejected with reason).
70%: on-the-job actions
- Q1: re-template every analysis with a mandatory "recommendation" section at the top, before the methodology.
- Q1-Q2: present at least one analysis to a non-data audience per month, in 10 minutes or less.
- Quarterly: shadow one product-decision meeting where data is consumed downstream, observe what changes vs what doesn't.
20%: social actions
- Bi-weekly 30-minute coaching with a senior PM who is known for clean decision frameworks.
- Monthly peer review: present an analysis-in-progress to two analyst peers and ask: "What would you do with this?"
- Join a cross-functional working group on metrics (quarterly cadence, 2 hours each).
10%: formal actions
- One short course on storytelling with data (Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic style, 6 hours asynchronous).
- One book on decision-making under uncertainty.
Notice that Lin's plan does not push her toward management. The IDP supports the path she actually wants. That's the discipline most templates miss: the goal must be the employee's, not the company's default career ladder.
Download the blank IDP template
The three examples above all follow the same blank structure. Use the template below as the starting frame for your own organization, then fill it in role by role.
If you'd rather not run this template by hand for every employee, Huneety can generate IDPs from assessment data with the 70/20/10 split pre-structured from competency-gap data.
Built for HR teams
Generate IDPs from assessment data on Huneety
Skip the blank-template stage. Huneety turns competency-gap data into pre-structured IDPs with 70/20/10 actions, then tracks stretch assignments and coaching cadence in one workspace.
See how it works
Frequently asked questions
Huneety helps HR teams build, track, and refresh IDPs across the workforce without rebuilding the template every cycle. See IDP examples you can reuse, or talk to our team about your own rollout.