Development Plans
Development plans built
from a real gap
Most plans start with a blank page. Acorn turns gaps into goals, your people build a plan to close them, and managers coach them through.
From gap to goal to growth
Four things make the difference between a plan someone acts on and a plan that sits in a folder.
Made for you
Head of L&D
Know which development actually moved capability, and which was just activity.
HR Business Partner
Give every manager the same starting point for a development conversation.
Team Manager
Walk into the 1:1 with the plan already on the table, and know what’s changed since last time.
Department Head
See development progress across teams against the same role expectations.
OD Consultant
Run development programs you can evaluate rather than defend.
Employee
Know what your role requires, where you stand, and what you and your manager set out to work on.
Don’t just take our word for it.
See how others are setting the bar for every role and proving their people are meeting it.
Learn about our customers
FAQs
Who writes a development plan in Acorn?
The manager guides the plan in Acorn. They set the goal for the role, and they endorse the goals the learner sets for their own growth. Some organizations have the learner write the first draft, but the manager directs what goes in it.
What is a development plan?
A development plan is a record of what someone will work on to close the gap between their current capability and what their role requires. In Acorn, every plan opens with the capability the learner was assessed on and the level their role requires, so the goal is set against something measured.
What should a development plan include?
A development plan should include the people someone learns from, the work they take on, and the courses they complete. In Acorn that covers mentoring, coaching and job shadowing, projects, stretch assignments and secondments, and courses, reading and certifications. Each step is named for what it is.
How do development plans connect to learning content?
Learning content in Acorn is mapped to the same capability definitions the assessment uses, so what appears in a plan traces back to the gap that prompted it. Mapping can be done manually or with Acorn AI.
How do you measure whether a development plan worked?
Run the same assessment again, against the same standard. The difference between the two results shows whether the capability improved. A completed course shows activity, not improvement.
Do development plans replace performance reviews?
No. Development Plans in Acorn sit alongside your existing performance review cycle rather than replacing it, and give the review conversation something specific to be about.
Stop writing plans nobody opens again.
Tell us how development planning runs in your business today, and we’ll show you what changes when the plan starts from an assessed gap.