Getting Started in Grad School: 3.7 Develop a Personalized Development Plan
Developing a Personalized Development Plan
On the previous page, you reflected on your skills and identified possible gaps. On this page, you will learn how to address these gaps. Many schools, including USask, have Personal/individual development Plans (PDP/IDP). While such plans are typically focused on career planning, here you will adapt such plans with an eye to developing skills needed for success in your courses and research. The USask IDP includes a grad school mapping plan, which you are recommended to complete.
A Personal Development Plan has at its heart a number of things including
- a set of well-articulated goals, and
- dates associated with those goals.
The Personal Development Plan was informed by Stanford's "Individual Development Plan" from their Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
Image by Mohamed Mahmoud on publicdomianpictures.net
SMART Goals
Before you get into planning, you should think about SMART Goals. In the following video, Justin gives you a perspective from a grad student.
Source: Smart Goals, University Library, Panopto
SMART is an acronym standing for
S: Specific (clear with particulars)
M: Measurable (one can test/see whether one has attained the goal)
A: Attainable (able to attain this as stated -- it is not impossible)
R: Relevant (relevant to one's overall goals), and
T: Time-Bound (set timeline or end date).
For instance, I have a goal that I would like to publish a paper. But just stating that I would like it published does not guide my actions or tell me how to reach my goal. However, if I said 'I will have a paper ready to submit to journals by September, based on my best-existing paper I have previously written for a class. I will address all feedback and then ask for further comments from the professor who graded it by the end of the winter term . . . etc."
This is specific because it includes a plan for how I will attain my goal. I do not have many questions left after asking, how? It is measurable because I will either know that I have done the work to achieve this goal or not. It is attainable because I spread it out over time and is within my skill set. It is relevant to my end goals because publishing is needed in many programs. And, it is time-bound, because it gives a timeline.
Are All Goals the Same?
It should be noted that goals should have hierarchies. For example, a goal of developing your skill set for graduate school is only really relevant because it serves to meet a larger goal of getting your degree. Your overarching goal may be a bit less specific than the goals that fall under it because those smaller, parasitic goals are meant to be the specifics of that overarching goal. Someone may ask "What will you do to achieve that overarching goal?" In response, you can share with them the smaller goals, all of which would have associated times and dates, that give you a map of how you will attain that bigger goal.
You may have the overarching goal of attaining your Ph.D. If you do not have a Master's degree, you would need to set the Master's as a goal as well unless applying to a direct entry program. In order to achieve the Master's you would need to set further goals, which may be to meet all the requirements to produce research, and build a relationship with your supervisor in order to get a good reference letter. These goals will need to have further goals under them such as taking classes, writing well, and building skills.
Watch the short video below by Angela Duckworth on Goal Hierarchies to learn more.