--- title: Development Plans - overview for employees description: "How to use your development plan in Career Bird: create a plan, build Development Cards, add mentors and learning resources, and track your progress." --- [Skip to content](https://support.careerbird.ai/development-plan-overview-for-employees#main-content) [mailto:support@careerbird.ai](https://support.careerbird.ai/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en-us) [![Career Bird](https://support.careerbird.ai/hubfs/Careerbird_logo_RGB.svg)](https://support.careerbird.ai/?hsLang=en-us) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [mailto:support@careerbird.ai](https://support.careerbird.ai/kb-tickets/new) - [Contact us](mailto:support@careerbird.ai) [Contact us](mailto:support@careerbird.ai) How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Career Bird knowledge base](https://support.careerbird.ai/?hsLang=en-us) 2. [Skill Development](https://support.careerbird.ai/skill-development?hsLang=en-us) # Development Plans - overview for employees ## Development Plans help you grow in your role and get ready for what's next — built around the skills your role requires, with targeted learning and projects to put them into practice. Development Plan is where the skills you need for your role turn into something you can work on this week. Instead of browsing a course catalog, you get a plan built around your own skill gaps, with a project to practice on, a mentor, learning resources, and a goal for each one. This article walks through what a development plan is and how to build and use yours. ![Development Plan - employee view](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/Development%20Plan%20-%20employee%20view.png?width=670&height=458&name=Development%20Plan%20-%20employee%20view.png) ### Before you begin - Completing your skill proficiency survey gives you a much better plan. Career Bird uses your self-rating and your manager's rating to find the gaps worth working on. - Navigate to "Development Plan" in the left navigation pane under "My Career" as show above. ### What a development plan is A development plan is the set of actions you'll take to grow in your role — the learning you'll do, the work you'll practice on, and the outcomes you're aiming for. Career Bird shapes yours around the skills your role calls for and your current proficiency in each. ### Where the skills in your plan come from Every role in Career Bird has a defined set of skills — role-based skills, core skills, and leadership skills. Your skill proficiency survey gives you and your manager a shared view of how far you've come in each one and where the biggest opportunities to grow are. Your plan starts there, so your development points at the skills that move your work — and your career — forward. ![Skill Survey-1](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/Skill%20Survey-1.png?width=670&height=497&name=Skill%20Survey-1.png) ### What's on a Development Card Development Cards are the building blocks of your plan. Each card covers one skill and brings together five things: - **The skills you will develop** — one or more skills identified for growth. - **Project description** — real work in your current role where you'll practice the skill. - **Mentor matching**— someone in your organization who already has the skill. - **Learning resources** — targeted materials for that skill, pulled from the Learning Resource Library. - **Personal goal** — the outcome you're aiming for, tied to  team and organizational goals. One skill per card keeps progress measurable. You'll see movement at the skill level rather than a list of finished courses. #### The skills ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-41-02-0159-PM.png?width=670&height=332&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-41-02-0159-PM.png) #### The project ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-39-20-6251-PM.png?width=670&height=204&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-39-20-6251-PM.png) Learning resources ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-42-41-8048-PM.png?width=670&height=408&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-42-41-8048-PM.png) #### Mentor matching ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-44-33-1614-PM.png?width=670&height=237&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-44-33-1614-PM.png) #### Goals ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-45-52-9423-PM.png?width=670&height=202&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-02-45-52-9423-PM.png) ### How to create a plan 1. Click on "Development plan"  in the "My Career" section of the left navigation 2. Click "Add a card+" to add Development Cards your default "My development plan" 3. You can also create a new Development Plan by clicking the "+" next to the "All Plans" drop down ![Screenshot 2026-08-11 at 9.57.19 AM](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshot%202026-08-11%20at%209.57.19%20AM.png?width=207&height=136&name=Screenshot%202026-08-11%20at%209.57.19%20AM.png) 4. Give the plan a name and a focus — for example, your current role or a role you're aiming for. 5. Set a time frame for the plan. 6. Save the plan. It appears in your list of active plans. You can have more than one plan at a time. Many people keep one focused on the role they're in and another on the role they want next. ![New Development Plan](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/New%20Development%20Plan.png?width=335&height=444&name=New%20Development%20Plan.png) ### Select a skill to create a Development Card Add a card for each skill you want to build. Career Bird suggests the skills where you have growth opportunities to improve your proficiency. ![Create Development Card - Pick Skill](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/Create%20Development%20Card%20-%20Pick%20Skill.png?width=670&height=415&name=Create%20Development%20Card%20-%20Pick%20Skill.png) ### Review the suggested project The project is a part of the card that puts the skill into real work. When you add a skill, Career Bird suggests a project to build it in — review the suggestion and edit it if something else fits better. Choose something already on your plate in your current role rather than an exercise on the side. Practicing a skill in work that counts is what makes it stick. ### ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-45-00-8912-PM.png?width=670&height=111&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-45-00-8912-PM.png) ### Set a goal The goal defines what success looks like for the Development Card, so you know when the gap is closed. The time frame gives the card a due date instead of leaving it open-ended. Both are yours to set — you can change them later as the work shifts. ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-45-48-5542-PM.png?width=670&height=137&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-45-48-5542-PM.png)`` ### Add a mentor A mentor is someone in your organization who already works at the proficiency you're building toward. Adding one to a card gives you someone to learn from, get feedback from, and turn to as you go. ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-55-45-9767-PM.png?width=670&height=136&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-55-45-9767-PM.png) ### Select learning resources Career Bird suggests resources for the skill on the card, drawn from a library of more than 100,000 skills-linked materials — courses, books, podcasts, and articles. You can bookmark a resource for later, or mark it in progress or complete as you work through it. Because each resource is tied to a specific skill, you see the learning that builds the skill you're working on — not the whole catalog. ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-59-15-8834-PM.png?width=670&height=425&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-10-59-15-8834-PM.png) ### Track the progress of your cards and goals Each card shows where you stand on that skill, and the plan rolls those cards up into overall progress. Check in as you finish resources, hit project milestones, and reach the goal on a card. ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-12-2026-01-27-05-9688-AM.png?width=2512&height=1182&name=image-png-Aug-12-2026-01-27-05-9688-AM.png) ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-11-2026-11-01-23-3396-PM.png?width=2514&height=934&name=image-png-Aug-11-2026-11-01-23-3396-PM.png) ### Growth Profile Your Growth Profile is the single view that pulls your development together: career goals, target role, skill proficiency results, personal goals, and your active plans. Start here when you want the whole picture rather than one card.  ![](https://support.careerbird.ai/hs-fs/hubfs/image-png-Aug-12-2026-01-28-45-7819-AM.png?width=1836&height=1304&name=image-png-Aug-12-2026-01-28-45-7819-AM.png)   [![Career Bird](https://support.careerbird.ai/hubfs/Careerbird_logo_RGB.svg "Career Bird")](http://careerbird.ai) [www.careerbird.ai](http://www.careerbird.ai) [mailto:support@careerbird.ai](mailto:support@careerbird.ai) Copyright © 2026, Career Bird