The direct supervisor has an important role in the creation and completion of the employee’s development plan. Because of the pivotal role of the direct supervisor in the employee development process, it is a good idea for the supervisor to have her own development plan as well. This will help the supervisor understand the process from the employee’s perspective, anticipate potential roadblocks and defensive attitudes, and create a plan in a collaborative fashion.

Let us discuss each of these functions. First, the supervisor needs to explain what would be required for the employee to achieve the desired performance level, including the steps that an employee must take to improve her performance. A good tool that supervisors can use to accomplish this goal is to use the feedforward interview (FFI). The goal of the FFI is to understand the types of behaviors and skills that individuals have that allow them to perform well, and to think about ways to use these same behaviors and skills in other contexts to make further improvements in the future.

As an outcome of the FFI, there may be resources that the employee may need to achieve his developmental goals. Thus, as a second important function, the supervisor has a primary role in referring to appropriate developmental activities that can assist the employee in achieving her goals. Third, the supervisor reviews and makes suggestions about the developmental objectives. Specifically, the supervisor helps assure the goals are achievable and specific.

Finally, in addition to regular check-ins, the supervisor needs to provide reinforcements so the employee will be motivated to achieve the developmental goals. Reinforcements can be extrinsic and include rewards such as bonuses and additional benefits, but reinforcements can also include the assignment of more challenging and interesting work that takes advantage of the new skills learned.