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Leadership Development Plan Template

Four documents and three sheets where every goal names the record the business already produces and how often it refreshes.

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What you get

Pack of 7 files: 4 documents, 3 spreadsheets

Leadership Development Plan Template
  • How an Indicator Is AdmittedDocument
  • Development PlanDocument
  • Practice AssignmentsDocument
  • Manager Involvement NoteDocument
  • Goal RegisterSpreadsheet
  • Progress LogSpreadsheet
  • Stakeholder Check-in ScheduleSpreadsheet
RiverLeadership Development Plan Template

Development Plan  ·  Bramwell Logistics  ·  Ivo Kessler, VP network operations  ·  20 Apr to a sponsor review on 19 Oct

Every goal names the record its progress gets read from

Goal, in Ivo's wordsRead from, and who writes itReadings by 19 OctBaseline
Stop being the escalation path for my four regional managersException queue in the transport system. Operations, weekly2631 escalations in the four weeks to 17 Apr, 22 inside standing authority
Decide lane changes in the meeting that raises themNetwork review minutes. Ops planner, fortnightly132 of 9 decided in the room, Jan to Apr
Hold the two performance conversations I inheritedHR case note. HR partner, on the day1, milestoneBoth open since November
Lead the customer review instead of handing it to salesReview deck cover. Account team, quarterly2Led 0 of 11, attended 5
Think like the owner of a network, not the manager of a regionIvo's own assessment at sessions four and eight. The coach0None exists
Own the network capital request end to endExec committee minutes. Company secretary, monthly6, once unblockedNever presented

Row five is struck and it stays struck. Its evidence was a record the coaching creates, so it cannot confirm the coaching. Row four kept a real record too slow to steer by: quarterly inside 26 weeks is two readings, so it gained a weekly proxy.

Search this and you get a plan with a metrics column. Every version asks for measurable success indicators, and every version fills them with feedback from the team, a self-reflection log, or a fresh assessment. All three are records the development programme creates. Take the programme away and the evidence goes with it, so nobody outside the room can check any of it and the plan cannot be wrong. A sponsor deciding whether to fund the next six months has nothing to read but the coach's account of the last six.

This pack admits an indicator only where it names a record the business already produces, on a cadence, written by somebody with no stake in the engagement reading well. Federal performance plans are held to the same test. Title 31 of the US Code requires an agency to identify the means used to verify and validate measured values and the sources for its data. Named inside the goal, not chosen once the results are in. A goal whose verification gets picked after the numbers land cannot be failed.

Then the readings get counted, which is arithmetic and fixed the day the two dates are set. A 182-day engagement gives 26 weekly readings and 2 quarterly ones, and two is a before and an after with nothing in between. Six goals in the worked example produced one struck indicator, one under-read goal that gained a weekly proxy, and three blocked on the sponsor. Set the goals from a structured assessment debrief, then run the engagement around them with the coaching engagement pack.

Six goals, the record behind each one, and the goal that could not be measured at all

The Goal Register, the Progress Log, the Manager Involvement Note, and the practice assignments.

Leadership Development Plan Template
RiverGoal Register

Goal Register

Six goals drafted. Five named a record that exists, one named the engagement itself.

RefIndicatorRecordCadenceReadingsVerdict
G-01Escalations a regional manager could already clearException queueWeekly26Admissible
G-02Lane changes decided in the review that raised themNetwork review minutesFortnightly13Admissible
G-03Both inherited conversations held and documentedHR case noteMilestone1Admissible
G-04Customer reviews led rather than attended, of elevenReview deck coverQuarterly2Under-read
G-04pAccounts where he owns the weekly commercial updateCommercial call agendaWeekly26Proxy for G-04
G-05His own assessment at sessions four and eightNone. The coaching would create itNone0Struck
G-05aLane changes he proposed crossing more than one regionNetwork review minutesFortnightly13Rewrite of G-05
G-06Presents the capital request and answers on itExec committee minutesMonthly6 if unblockedBlocked on M-03

The count was available the week the plan was signed. One goal could not be measured at all, one could not be measured often enough, and three could not produce a first reading until somebody senior acted. None of that needed five months of coaching to find.

RiverProgress Log

Progress Log, closing readings at 19 October

Nineteen readings across the engagement, each one taken from the record rather than from a summary of it.

GoalBaselineClosingWindow readStatus
G-0122 in-authority escalations, four weeks to 17 Apr3, four weeks to 16 Oct26 of 26 weeklyMet. An 86 percent reduction
G-022 of 9 decided in the room20 of 25 decided in the room13 of 13 fortnightlyMet. 22 percent to 80 percent
G-03Both open since NovemberHeld 19 May and 30 JunMilestoneMet
G-04Led 0 of 11Led 8 of 11 in the September cycle2 of 2 quarterlyMet. 0, then 3, then 8
G-04pNamed owner of 0 of 119 of 1125 of 26 weeklyCrossed 6 of 11 in week nine
G-05a0 cross-region changes proposed4 proposed, 2 adopted13 of 13 fortnightlyMet
G-06Never presentedNever presented0 of 6 monthlyBlocked. M-03 is 157 days overdue

The G-04p row is the whole argument for counting readings. The weekly proxy crossed six of eleven accounts in week nine, seventeen weeks before the review. The quarterly indicator that actually mattered could not have shown that until the end of September, by which point nothing could be done with it.

The G-06 row says blocked, not no progress. Zero of six possible readings, because the delegation the indicator depends on never issued. Written as no progress it is a sentence about Ivo. Written as blocked with a day count it is a fact about a delegation, and it is actionable in about ninety seconds.

One reading was lost: the 26 May commercial call was rescheduled, so the proxy reads 25 of a possible 26. The log says which one and why rather than quietly closing the gap.

RiverManager Involvement

Manager Involvement Note

To Deirdre Nunn, COO. Agreed in the three-way session on 20 April with Ivo in the room.

RefUnblocksThe actionCommittedStatus
M-01G-01Confirm the four regional managers' standing authority in writing, so an escalation can be refused with something to point at4 MayDone 6 May
M-02G-04Tell the CRO that Ivo leads the quarterly reviews for the eleven network-sensitive accounts11 MayDone 8 May
M-03G-06Delegate capital authority to Ivo's level and add him to the exec committee standing agenda15 MayNot done. 157 days overdue

M-03 was already 31 days overdue at the mid-point session in June. That was the cheap moment to either issue the delegation or re-date the goal. By October the only available move was to describe what had happened, which is why the status column gets read at every three-way session and not at the end.

Three rows, because three goals had a hard dependency. A fourth would have been an opinion about management style. Encouragement, making time and giving feedback more often are all real and none of them are dependencies, because the indicator can move without them.

G-02, G-03 and G-05a depend on Deirdre for nothing, and all three moved. Where the coachee owns it outright the log says so without qualification.

RiverPractice Assignments

Practice Assignments

Each rep bound to an event already on a calendar, so it can be missed, moved or cancelled rather than only done or not done.

RefGoalThe repBound toDateOutcome
P-01G-02Close every lane change before the meeting ends, or say out loud why it cannot closeNetwork review5 MayDone. 3 of 4 closed
P-02G-01Refuse one escalation and name the manager who owns itAny weekday, oncewk 11 MayDone. Four refused
P-03G-03The first inherited performance conversation1:1 with T. Aldiss19 MayHeld
P-04G-04pOwn the account update rather than handing it to the account directorWeekly commercial call26 MayMoved twice. Held 9 Jun
P-05G-05aBring one lane change that crosses two regionsNetwork review2 JunDone. Adopted
P-06G-06Present the network capital requestExec committee24 JunCancelled. Never rescheduled
P-07G-03The second inherited performance conversation1:1 with R. Pell30 JunHeld
P-08G-02Chair the review with the CRO in the roomNetwork review14 JulDone. 4 of 4 closed

Both of the two that did not run were on somebody else's calendar. P-04 moved for a customer escalation and then a quarter end. P-06 was cancelled because the committee slot never existed, since M-03 had not issued, and Ivo had already prepared the request.

A log that scores reps done or not done puts a fact about two other diaries into a column about one person's follow-through.

Edit with AI

What's in the pack

01

Goal Register

Every goal with the record its progress is read from, who writes that record, how often it refreshes, and how many readings that gives you before the review date.

02

Progress Log

One row per reading, taken from the record rather than from a summary of it, with the window each value covers and the readings a rescheduled meeting cost you.

03

Stakeholder Check-in Schedule

Who confirms which indicator and when, with each date set behind the three-reading floor, so nobody is asked to judge a record that has not moved yet.

04

Development Plan

The document the coachee reads, their words in the goal headings and the evidence line under each one. Themes arrive out of the debrief of the report.

05

Practice Assignments

Each rep bound to a meeting already in the diary, so the log can record moved and cancelled separately from missed and say whose calendar it was.

06

Manager Involvement Note

The actions without which an indicator reads zero no matter what the coachee does, each with a committed date and a status column read at every three-way session.

07

How an Indicator Is Admitted

The three tests and the four ways they get failed, worked through on a real plan. Run the sessions themselves off a commitment tracker, and once a cohort's plans close out, roll their business impact into one sponsor-facing return with the programme evaluation and ROI pack.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Open in River, or take it blank

    Open the pack in River and send the assessment with the role expectations, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets and fill them in yourself.

  2. 2

    Name the record, not the metric

    For every goal, name the log, queue, minute or agenda that already shows it, and who writes that record. Where the answer is the coach, strike the indicator.

  3. 3

    Count the readings before the review

    Divide the days between signature and review by each cadence. Anything under three readings gains a faster proxy, moves its review date, or gets agreed now as a single reading.

  4. 4

    Date the manager's half

    List the goals that cannot produce a first reading until the sponsor acts, put a committed date on each, and read that column at every three-way session.

Frequently asked questions

Is this template free?

Yes. The zip is Word documents and CSV sheets, no account and no card. Edit with AI is the optional half: the agent reads the assessment and the role expectations, then finds the record behind each goal and counts its readings. The rest sit in the template library.

What format are the downloaded files?

Four Word documents and three CSV sheets in one zip, no conversion needed. The sheets carry the columns that do the work: record, produced by, cadence, readings by review. Open them in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, and the plan itself is a .docx.

What does Edit with AI actually do?

It reads the assessment at item level with the rater counts, puts the old and new role descriptions side by side, then tests each drafted goal against the three admissibility questions. It comes back with which goals have a record, and how many times each one can be read before your review date.

All I have is a 360 and a self-assessment. Is that enough?

Enough for baselines, not for progress. A 360 item at 2.1 of 5 is a strong starting number, and re-running it in month five measures the instrument as much as the person. Use the assessment to set the baseline, then find the operational record that moves weekly and read that.

Why count readings rather than just booking quarterly check-ins?

Because the count is fixed on day one and a check-in is not. A quarterly record inside a six-month plan produces two readings whatever you book, and two cannot separate a move from a bounce. Knowing that in week one buys a faster proxy. Knowing it in October buys nothing.

My sponsor will not commit to dates. Is the plan still usable?

Yes, and the note is worth writing anyway. Goals blocked on an unmade decision read zero, so record which ones and why. Federal rules on unacceptable performance make the point: 5 CFR 432.104 requires the employer to afford a reasonable opportunity to improve and to offer assistance as part of it.

Sources

  1. Cornell Law School31 U.S. Code § 1115 — Federal Government and agency performance plans (opens in a new tab)
  2. eCFR5 CFR 432.104 — Addressing unacceptable performance (opens in a new tab)

Written by

Chandler Supple

Co-founder & CEO, River

Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.

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Reviewed by

Brian Joseff, Co-founder, River

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Count the readings in week one

Take the Word documents and CSV sheets blank, or send River the assessment and the role expectations and get back which goals have a record behind them.

Edit with AI