Creating Development Plans – Turning Conversations Into Action

Great mentoring doesn’t stop at conversation—it moves into action. Once you’ve built trust and set expectations, the next step is helping your mentee translate their goals into a clear development plan. This isn’t just about creating a to-do list. A strong development plan provides structure, direction, and accountability that supports continuous growth.

In this blog, we’ll walk through how to co-create a development plan that is personalized, flexible, and effective. You'll learn how to use SMART goals, tailor strategies by experience level, and keep progress moving forward with ongoing support.

Step 1: Discover Strengths, Challenges & Aspirations

Before you can guide someone’s journey, you need to understand where they’re starting from. This means exploring their strengths, growth areas, values, and future goals. Use tools like a personal SWOT analysis or interview worksheets from The Mentoring Blueprint to get a complete picture. Or if you prefer, you can search for these templates online as well.

Ask questions like:

• What are your proudest achievements?

• Where do you feel stuck or unsure?

• What would success look like one year from now?

Encourage journaling between sessions to help mentees clarify thoughts and self-reflect. What patterns do they see in their accomplishments? Where do they want to grow?

Step 2: Set SMART Goals

Setting goals is essential in mentoring, but not all goals are created equal. If goals are too vague, they can leave your mentee feeling unclear about where to focus or how to measure progress. That’s why using a structured method like SMART goals is so valuable. It helps break down big aspirations into clear, manageable steps that your mentee can confidently work toward. SMART goals provide direction, remove ambiguity, and give both mentor and mentee a shared framework to track success and adjust when needed.

Vague goals like “be a better communicator” don’t provide a clear path forward. SMART goals offer structure by being:

• S  pecific – Define exactly what the goal is. Example: “Improve presentation delivery in team meetings.”

• M  easurable – Identify how success will be tracked. “Present in 3 meetings with confidence and positive feedback.”

• A  chievable – Keep it realistic. “Practice weekly for 20 minutes and get feedback after each session.”

• R  elevant – Make sure it aligns with the mentee’s overall goals. “Better communication supports promotion goals.”

• T  ime-bound – Set deadlines. “Achieve by the end of Q2.”

Use SMART goals to build momentum, celebrate progress, and stay focused on outcomes that matter.

Step 3: Build a Personalized Development Plan

A development plan is more than just a checklist—it’s a living, breathing roadmap that evolves alongside your mentee’s growth. It gives structure to your mentoring sessions and ensures that the progress you're working toward is intentional, visible, and motivating. By organizing goals and tracking accomplishments, a development plan helps your mentee stay focused while also building confidence through measurable success.

Here’s what makes a strong, effective development plan:

• Short-Term Goals (30–90 Days): These are immediate areas of focus that help build momentum. Short-term goals should be specific and achievable within a few weeks or months. They often target habits, mindset shifts, or foundational skills that create quick wins and encourage consistency. For example, “Lead two team meetings this month” or “Complete a time management course by next check-in.”

• Long-Term Goals (6–12 Months): These goals reflect the bigger picture—like preparing for a promotion, strengthening leadership presence, or building cross-functional influence. They usually require multiple short-term steps and ongoing effort. Long-term goals serve as anchors for your mentee’s development and should align with both personal aspirations and professional objectives.

• Milestones:Think of milestones as markers along the path to success. These help track progress and create opportunities to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. Milestones can be tied to performance reviews, project completions, or skill demonstrations. They help both mentor and mentee stay aligned and celebrate important achievements along the way.

Action Steps: This is where intention meets execution. Action steps break goals down into manageable tasks—such as attending a leadership webinar, practicing a presentation with a peer, or seeking feedback after a client interaction. Each action should feel realistic and directly tied to a specific skill or result the mentee wants to achieve.

Tools and Resources: Growth doesn’t happen in isolation. Recommend resources that support your mentee’s learning—books, podcasts, training sessions, stretch assignments, or even shadowing a senior leader. Tools from The Mentoring Blueprint Toolbox can also be plugged in here to guide goal setting, reflection, and self-assessment.

Pro Tip: Encourage your mentee to bring the plan to every session. Use it to structure your discussions, review what’s been accomplished, and identify where additional support is needed. As their confidence and competence grow, help them revise the plan to reflect new priorities or challenges.

Step 4: Tailor Plans by Experience Level

Every mentee is different. Development plans should reflect not only their goals, but also their current skill level and confidence.

• Entry-Level Mentees – Focus on soft skills, time management, and confidence building. Use checklists, regular feedback, and journaling.

• Mid-Level Mentees – Shift toward strategic thinking, cross-functional work, and leadership opportunities. Encourage involvement in team projects and mentoring others.

• High-Potential Mentees – Use development plans to prepare for succession. Focus on influencing others, leading change, and building visibility across the organization.

Match your mentoring style to the level of challenge they’re ready for.

Just as no two mentees are alike, no single mentoring style fits every stage of growth. One of the most powerful things you can do as a mentor is adapt your approach to match where your mentee is on their development journey. New professionals often need encouragement, clarity, and hands-on guidance. Mid-level leaders might benefit more from structured challenges, real-time feedback, and space to think critically. High-potential employees, on the other hand, often need strategic stretch goals, visibility across departments, and greater autonomy.

The key is to strike a balance—challenge them just enough to spark growth without overwhelming them. Too little stretch, and they stay stagnant. Too much, and they may become discouraged. Pay attention to their confidence, communication, and response to feedback. Are they ready to lead a meeting? Handle a conflict? Present to senior leaders? Your ability to sense readiness and adjust your level of involvement accordingly is what makes your mentoring truly impactful.

When you tailor your style to meet them where they are, you build trust—and more importantly, you set them up for real, sustainable success.

Step 5: Keep the Plan Alive

Plans work best when they’re revisited consistently. Don’t just file it away. Use development templates and follow-up forms to keep track of wins, setbacks, and questions.

Use your sessions to:

• Check in on progress

• Celebrate achievements

• Troubleshoot roadblocks

• Adjust goals as circumstances evolve

Even small wins build momentum. When your mentee sees growth, their confidence rises—and so does their commitment.

What to Watch For

Creating a development plan isn’t a one-time activity—it’s an ongoing process of adjusting and responding to your mentee’s growth. To keep the plan meaningful and manageable, mentors need to be attuned to signs that the pace, structure, or focus of the plan may need refinement. These subtle signals often reveal what your mentee may not yet be able to say aloud. Addressing them early keeps motivation high and prevents derailment. As you move into goal setting and action planning, watch for these signals:

• Overwhelm – Break goals into smaller stepsWhen a mentee starts to feel overloaded, it’s often not the goal that’s the problem—it’s the size or pace of the steps. Signs of overwhelm may include missed check-ins, a drop in confidence, or statements like, “I’m not sure where to start.” Breaking large goals into smaller, more manageable actions helps your mentee regain a sense of control and momentum. It’s like helping someone scale a mountain one step at a time rather than expecting them to leap to the summit.

• Resistance – Revisit purpose and address fearsSometimes, a mentee stalls—not because they’re unmotivated, but because something doesn’t feel aligned. They may fear failure, doubt their ability, or question whether a particular goal fits with their values or priorities. Rather than pushing forward, pause and get curious. Ask: “Is this goal still meaningful to you?” or “What concerns do you have about taking the next step?” Revisiting the why behind the plan often uncovers hidden roadblocks and opens the door for honest, productive dialogue.

• Rapid Success – Raise the bar and introduce new challengesOn the flip side, if your mentee is meeting goals quickly and with ease, it’s a sign they’re ready for more. Sticking with goals that no longer stretch them can lead to boredom or complacency. Recognize and celebrate their progress, then introduce more complex challenges that expand their learning—like mentoring others, leading cross-functional teams, or navigating political dynamics at a higher level. This helps them continue developing and keeps the engagement high.

Case Study: Leah’s Development Journey

Leah was a new team leader with great potential but low confidence. After identifying her main challenge—communicating under pressure—we set one SMART goal: deliver weekly updates to her director with confidence.

Her plan included:

• Practicing weekly updates with her mentor

• Recording herself and reviewing playback

• Attending a communication workshop

After two months, Leah’s updates were praised as clear and concise. She requested additional leadership development and was selected to lead a cross-functional initiative.

Connect Plans to the Bigger Picture

Development plans work best when they don’t feel like just another checkbox or side project. Instead, they should be clearly linked to your mentee’s broader career vision and the organization’s strategic direction. When your mentee understands how each goal fits into the larger context, their motivation and sense of purpose significantly increase.

Helping your mentee “zoom out” creates a deeper level of engagement. It shows them that their efforts matter—not just to their own advancement, but to the success of their team, department, and even the company as a whole. It also encourages more thoughtful goal-setting that prioritizes impact over busyness.

Ask these three powerful questions to tie goals to the bigger picture:

• How does this goal align with team or company strategy?If your mentee is working on improving communication, link it to broader goals like team collaboration, customer satisfaction, or preparing for a leadership role. This perspective helps them see the value beyond their own to-do list and encourages them to think like a leader who contributes to shared success.

• What does success look like in terms of career growth?Tie each milestone to a potential step forward in their career—whether that’s taking on a new project, becoming a team lead, or preparing for a promotion. When they see how short-term actions support long-term aspirations, their goals become more meaningful—and more likely to be completed.

• Who else can support this development?Mentees grow faster when they’re surrounded by support. Identify peers, senior leaders, or other mentors who can provide insights, feedback, or opportunities related to specific goals. This also teaches your mentee to build a network of allies—an essential skill for career progression.

When development plans are anchored in purpose and aligned with bigger priorities, they become more than just personal growth tools—they become stepping stones to meaningful impact and career advancement.

Up Next: Making Feedback Work

In Blog #6, we’ll explore how to give and receive feedback in ways that build trust, sharpen skills, and create lasting accountability. Whether your mentee needs encouragement, redirection, or validation, you’ll learn how to use feedback as a tool for powerful mentoring.