It’s that time of year again – time to create your Individual Development Plan or IDP. Staring down at the “official” corporate IDP form, one is reminded how limiting management theory has become (see Gary Hamel’s new book and website for more). So here’s a thought, for yourself and your key talent, do some management 3.0 pre-work before you fill in the blanks.

IDP 3.0 Structure

Before you get too SMART, get out your MAPS – Mastery, Autonomy, Purpose, and Strengths. Blending Dan Pink’s Motivation 3.0 with Gallup’s StrengthFinder gives you something to write corporate about.

Mastery – “Solving complex problems requires an inquiring mind and the willingness to experiment one’s way to a fresh solution. …Only engagement can produce Mastery [which is] essential in today’s economy.” Dan Pink

Autonomy – “…no one can plan effectively for someone else. It is better to plan for oneself, no matter how badly, than to be planned for by others, no matter how well.” Russell Ackhoff

Purpose – “Ultimately, each person has a significant degree of control over how many challenges she deals with. Even the simplest task, if carried out with care and attention [Purpose], can reveal layers and layers of opportunity to hone one’s skills.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Strength – “Building on your strengths isn’t necessarily about ego. It is about responsibility. …It is your opportunity to take your natural talents and transform them through focus and practice and learning into near perfect performance.” Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton

IDP – The Prequel

Start with Purpose. For the foreseeable future, and these days 12-months is a long time horizon, what is your calling? How do you fit into the organization’s “grand design”? In the position you currently occupy, what is the source of your power and how will you use that to accomplish something significant? Becoming aware of your Purpose, you can design an IDP that generates conscious competence.

Layer in Strengths. This ensures your performance plan is both excellent and personally fulfilling. To do this you have to, first, know your strengths. But don’t just read the results…really digest them, embed them into your leadership IDP. How can you naturally combine these five elements to create a synergism that supersedes what they accomplish singularly (conscious competence)? Is there a shift in emphasis that, combined with the context of your current role, can catapult you to a new level of performance? Can this year provide you the challenges to polish one (or more) themes to produce real growth – growth of Phoenix proportions? Looking at your profile what complimentary strengths are essential to your work and WHO in your network has them? How do you enroll these folks to your cause this year?

Mastery generates the Plan. Into this fertile ground ask:

• What available challenges excite me? Be curious.
• What work leaves me deeply satisfied? Be engaged.
• What performance goals led to learning? Be mindful.
• What fuels me and gives me energy? Be joyful.

Autonomy delivers the Plan. Every day for as long as the plan is relevant, autonomy adapts the plan to change over the course of the year. What choices do you make, daily or hourly, to keep your plan in play? How will you achieve both autonomy and interdependence – the reality of working in a network organization? What boundaries exist and must be worked within? Are they negotiable? Shifting focus from “what” you must do to “how” you can do it places you squarely in Intrinsic Motivation, a learning mindset, and a positive attitude.

So there you have it, the MAPS of you – today, in this job – that will produce a SMART IDP and a successful, fulfilling year of work.

Carol Mase