IDP: Future State

The second step in documenting an effective individual development plan is to define the end of your journey. What will you look like when you have made all of the changes that you hope to make as a result of this plan (or the final plan if this is just a preliminary step)? This is the goal that you are trying to achieve. Questions that will help you document and define that future state:

1. "The new habits that I will have include..."
2. "Around the water cooler people will say I am..."
3. "When my boss gets called for a character reference she will say..."
4. If you are basing your IDP on an assessment you might ask, "What are the opposites of the negatives that are documented on my assessment results?"
5. "The things that I do well today that I want to continue to do well include..."

The end state should read as a confirmation that the things you do well will not go away, just as it should read as the opposite of the problematic behaviors that you listed when documenting your current state. As much as is possible, define your end state in terms of measurable and/or observable behaviors. This will give you a much clearer objective to shoot for.