Leadership Development Plan Template + Filled Example

A leadership development plan template is a one to three page document that turns feedback about a leader into two or three development goals, the on-the-job stretch work and relationships that will build them, and the check-ins and evidence that show whether anything changed. The free template below is written for leadership and executive coaches and the managers they coach. It has eight sections: the role and context, the competencies to grow, 360 or stakeholder input, the development goals, the activities, support and sponsors, the check-in rhythm, and the success measures, with a sign-off at the end.

Copy it into a document today, or run it inside Coachful, where the plan's questions can be sent before the first call, the coaching agreement is signed by e-signature, and the goals, habits and check-ins sit on the client record next to session notes. We make Coachful, so we will show you exactly where it fits and where a plain document is enough.

If you need the wider version for any employee, read our guide to the individual development plan. This article stays with leaders: people whose development is judged by what their team and peers experience, not only by what they learn.

What is in the leadership development plan template?

The template has eight numbered sections and a sign-off block. Copy everything from "Leadership Development Plan" down to the signatures, replace the [bracketed] text, and delete any prompt you do not need for this client.

Leadership Development Plan

Leader: [Full name] · Role: [Title, team size, reporting line] · Coach: [Your name] · Sponsor: [Manager or HR partner, or "self-funded"] · Plan period: [Start date] to [End date, usually 6 months] · Version: [1.0, date]

1. Role and context

• What changed in this role in the last 12 months, or is about to change? [Promotion, reorganisation, new market, new manager, merger, first time leading leaders]
• What does the business need from this leader in the next 6 to 12 months? [For example: "deliver the platform migration with the same team and lower attrition"]
• Who are the five to eight people whose experience of this leader matters most? [Manager, two or three direct reports, two peers, one key cross-functional partner]
• What is outside the scope of this plan? [For example: technical skills, compensation, a live performance process]

2. Competencies to grow

• Which framework are we using? [The organisation's leadership competency model, or a short list we agree here]
• Strengths to keep using deliberately (two at most): [For example: "sets clear direction under pressure", "trusted by customers"]
• Competencies to grow (two or three at most), each written as an observable behaviour: [For example: "delegates outcomes, not tasks", "disagrees with peers in the room, not afterwards"]
• Why these, and why now? Link each one to the business need in section 1. [One sentence each]

3. 360 or stakeholder input

• Method: [Formal 360 survey / 6 to 8 stakeholder interviews by the coach / manager conversation only]
• Who gave input, by group only: [Manager 1, direct reports 3, peers 2, cross-functional 1]
• Three themes heard most often, in the leader's own summary: [Theme 1], [Theme 2], [Theme 3]
• One theme that surprised the leader: [Theme]
• Confidentiality agreed: [Raw comments stay with the coach and leader; only themes appear here]

4. Development goals (two or three)

• Goal 1: By [date], I will [observable behaviour] so that [effect on team or business], as noticed by [named stakeholders].
• Goal 2: By [date], I will [observable behaviour] so that [effect], as noticed by [stakeholders].
• Goal 3 (optional): [Same structure]
• Which goal matters most if time runs short? [Goal number]

5. Development activities

• On-the-job stretch work for each goal: [A real assignment, meeting or decision the leader will handle differently, with dates]
• Relationships for each goal: [Coaching sessions, a mentor, a peer feedback partner, a skip-level conversation, shadowing a respected leader]
• Courses, reading or programmes: [One item per goal at most, with a date and what the leader will try straight afterwards]
• Weekly practice or habit for each goal: [For example: "each Friday, write down one decision I handed over and what happened"]

6. Support, sponsors and obstacles

• What the leader's manager will do: [For example: "name this goal in the monthly 1:1 and give one piece of feedback on it"]
• What HR or the sponsor will provide: [Budget, time, access to a programme, nothing beyond coaching]
• Likely obstacles and the plan for each: [Quarter-end load, travel, a difficult peer, old habits under stress]
• Time protected for development: [For example: "two hours a fortnight in the calendar"]

7. Check-in rhythm

• Coaching sessions: [Frequency and length, for example "every two weeks, 60 minutes, for six months"]
• Leader's own weekly check-in: [Three questions, for example: "Where did I practise Goal 1? What happened? What will I try next week?"]
• Stakeholder pulse: [Who is asked, how, and when, for example "two direct reports and one peer, two questions, at month 3 and month 6"]
• Three-way review with the sponsor: [Dates for the start, midpoint and end meetings, and what will be shared]

8. Success measures

• Behaviour evidence for each goal: [What a stakeholder would see or hear, for example "decisions in the steering meeting are made by the workstream leads"]
• Stakeholder rating: [The same two questions asked at month 0, 3 and 6 on a 1 to 5 scale]
• Business signal (optional, treat with care): [For example: "fewer escalations to me", "engagement score for my team"]
• What "done" looks like in the leader's own words: [One or two sentences]

Sign-off

• Leader: [Name, date] · Coach: [Name, date] · Sponsor (if any): [Name, date]
• Next review date: [Date]. This plan is a development document, not a performance evaluation, and changes to it are agreed by the leader.

Why does each section of the plan matter?

Each section stops a specific failure that leadership plans fall into: goals too vague to notice, feedback nobody can trace, or a plan that lives in a drawer after the kickoff. The table explains what each one does and what to watch for while you fill it in with the leader.

Where does the 70-20-10 split come from?

Section 5 is ordered as stretch work, then relationships, then courses because of the 70-20-10 idea. According to the Wikipedia summary of the 70/20/10 model, the ratio comes from Morgan McCall, Michael M. Lombardo and Robert A. Eichinger, written up in The Career Architect Development Planner, and from executives self-reporting how they believed they learned: roughly 70% from challenging assignments, 20% from developmental relationships and 10% from coursework. The same page lists the criticisms: little supporting empirical evidence, suspiciously round numbers, and a sample of already successful managers looking back.

Treat the ratio as a heuristic, not a target. It is a useful prompt when a leader's plan is three online courses and nothing else. It is not a reason to refuse a programme that genuinely fits a goal, and nobody should be counting hours to hit 70%.

How do you get 360 input without a survey tool?

For most individual clients, six to eight short stakeholder interviews done by the coach are enough. Ask each person the same three questions: what this leader should keep doing, what one change would make the biggest difference to you, and what you would notice if that change happened. Report themes only. If the organisation already runs a formal 360, use its report and do not repeat the exercise. Our leadership 360 assessment template has a full question set and the process for running it.

What must leadership coaches add before using it?

Before you send the plan, add four things the template cannot know: your scope of practice, the confidentiality terms with the sponsor, how sensitive data is handled, and anything local employment law or the employer's policies require. These are the parts that cause real trouble when they are missing.

Scope of practice

Leadership coaching is not therapy, and it is not HR. Add one line saying that if stress, burnout, anxiety, low mood or substance use comes up in a way that goes beyond coaching, you will suggest the leader speaks to a qualified health professional or the employer's assistance programme, and the plan pauses or adjusts. Know in advance who you would refer to.

Confidentiality and the three-way relationship

When a company pays, write down what the sponsor sees. A common split is: the sponsor sees the goals, the check-in dates and the leader's own summary at midpoint and end; the sponsor does not see session notes, raw 360 comments or anything the leader shares in confidence. Put this in your coaching agreement as well as the plan. Our coaching contracts page covers what agreements usually include.

Sensitive data

Stakeholder comments about named colleagues are personal data. Under GDPR and similar laws, collect only what you need, tell people how their input is used, keep raw notes secure and delete them when the engagement ends. Never paste raw 360 comments into the plan the sponsor will receive.

Local law and employer policy

Keep the plan clearly separate from any performance improvement process. If a leader is already on a formal performance plan, check with the employer's HR team and, where needed, an employment lawyer before your plan's goals appear anywhere near it. Employment rules differ by country and state, and a development plan that reads like a warning can be used in ways nobody intended.

What does a filled leadership development plan look like?

Here is an example for a fictional client. The names, company and dates are invented to show the level of detail that makes a plan usable.

Example only: Leadership Development Plan for Priya Raman (fictional)

Leader: Priya Raman · Role: Director of Operations, promoted from senior manager in March; now leads four managers and 38 people; reports to the COO · Coach: [Coach name] · Sponsor: COO and HR business partner · Plan period: 1 November to 30 April · Version: 1.0

1. Role and context. First time leading leaders. The business needs the new warehouse system live by March with no rise in overtime. Key stakeholders: the COO, four direct reports, the finance director, the head of customer service. Out of scope: system technical training, salary review.
2. Competencies. Strengths to keep: calm in a crisis; deep knowledge of the floor. To grow: (a) delegating outcomes to her managers instead of solving problems for them; (b) raising disagreements with peers directly in leadership meetings.
3. Stakeholder input. Seven interviews by the coach (COO 1, direct reports 4, peers 2). Themes: "steps in before we have finished explaining", "brilliant in the detail, hard to reach for bigger questions", "agrees in the meeting, pushes back by email afterwards". Surprise: two managers said they no longer bring problems early because Priya takes them over.
4. Goals. Goal 1: By 31 January, Priya will hand each of her four managers one migration workstream with a written outcome and decision rights, so that she spends under a quarter of her week on floor problems, as noticed by her managers and the COO. Goal 2: By 30 April, Priya will raise disagreements in the weekly leadership meeting itself, so that decisions do not reopen by email, as noticed by the finance director and head of customer service. Priority: Goal 1.
5. Activities. Stretch: the migration workstreams themselves; Priya chairs the steering meeting but only asks questions for the first 20 minutes. Relationships: fortnightly coaching; a monthly conversation with a peer director at another site who has led a migration; the COO gives one piece of feedback on Goal 2 in each monthly 1:1. Course: one short internal workshop on difficult conversations in December, with a planned disagreement to raise the following week. Habit: each Friday, a two-line note on one decision she handed over.
6. Support and obstacles. The COO commits to not routing floor issues to Priya directly. Obstacle: peak season in December. Plan: Goal 2 practice continues, Goal 1 targets pause for two weeks. Two hours a fortnight are blocked for development.
7. Check-ins. Coaching every two weeks for 60 minutes. Priya's Friday check-in: three questions. Stakeholder pulse at month 3 and month 6 with two questions. Three-way reviews on 1 November, 1 February and 30 April.
8. Success measures. Managers report bringing issues earlier (pulse question 1). Peers rate "raises concerns in the room" (pulse question 2). Weekly hours on floor problems tracked by Priya. Priya's words for done: "My managers run their workstreams and I can spend Thursday on next year."

Notice what is not here: no raw quotes linked to names, no comment on Priya's personal life, and no line the COO could read as a performance rating. Goals are specific enough that a stakeholder would recognise them. If you want to track Priya's Friday note as a structured exercise, the action plan tool turns goals like these into dated steps you can copy into the plan.

How should you send and store the plan?

You can run this template in a document, a form, an e-signature tool or a coaching platform. The right choice depends on whether you want the plan to stay a static file or to become the goals, habits and check-ins the leader works through every week. Vendor prices below are as listed in October 2026.

A Word file works fine for a single leader you see once a month. The trouble starts when you coach eight leaders across three companies: the plans, signed agreements, Friday check-ins and session notes end up in four places, and the midpoint review means digging through email. Coaching platforms keep those together. Among the dedicated tools, CoachAccountable documents action plans and worksheets, Simply.Coach and CoachVantage focus on contracts and engagements, and Paperbell covers packages and payments with a simple portal; as of September 2026, Paperbell did not list goal or habit tracking.

How do you run a leadership development plan in Coachful?

In Coachful the plan stops being a file and becomes the leader's journey: questions answered when they book, an agreement signed before the first call, goals and habits they work on between sessions, check-ins you can read before each call, and invoices sent from the same place. Here is the order we recommend.

Step 1: Ask the context questions when the leader books

Add sections 1 and 2 of the template as intake questions on your booking page: what changed in the role, what the business needs, and which competencies they think matter. The answers land on the client record, so your first session starts from what they wrote rather than a blank page. Booking pages handle availability rules, buffers and time zones, and sync two ways with Google, Apple or Outlook calendars.

Step 2: Get the agreement signed before the first call

Send your coaching agreement with e-signature before the kickoff. This is where the sponsor confidentiality terms from earlier belong. It is stored on the client record. If a company sends you its own signed contract, the Agreements tab takes a signed PDF.

Step 3: Turn the two or three goals into client goals

After the stakeholder interviews and the plan meeting, set each development goal from section 4 as a goal on the client's record. Goals show progress bars, and you can link daily tasks and habits to them. Priya's "Friday note on one decision I handed over" becomes a weekly task under Goal 1.

Habits are where the "weekly practice" line of section 5 lives. The leader sees streaks and progress counts in their branded app; you see completion on their record.

Step 4: Set the check-in rhythm

Section 7 maps onto coaching flows: a welcome flow at the start, and morning, evening or weekly check-ins with your three questions. Most leaders answer a short weekly reflection on their phone far more reliably than an email asking for an update.

Step 5: Package it as a program if you run cohorts

If you coach a group of new managers from one company, build the plan into a multi-week program with weekly goals, daily tasks and check-ins. Cohort groups are created automatically when people enroll, with a community feed and group calls. The 12 week coaching program template shows a week-by-week structure you can adapt.

What does the leader see?

The leader opens the client app under your branding and sees their next session, their programs, sessions, progress and documents in one hub, plus anything you have asked them to complete before the call. They do not need to log into a separate document, form and scheduler.

Step 6: Prepare for each session and the three-way reviews

Before a session, the client record shows goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers and a status of thriving, active, quiet or at risk. A leader marked quiet for two weeks in December is a conversation to have before the midpoint review, not after it.

Michelle, the AI assistant built into Coachful, works from that live practice data. She can brief you before a session, summarize recorded sessions and draft the email that confirms the midpoint review agenda. If you want it, she can also give private feedback on your own coaching against ICF Core Competencies 3 to 8. Questions and planning are included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits.

Step 7: Schedule sessions and invoice the sponsor

Fortnightly sessions go on your calendar with Zoom, Meet, Teams or built-in video links created automatically, plus reminders. Payments run through your own Stripe or Razorpay account, with an invoice per transaction and manual invoices for a company that pays by invoice. Coachful charges a 0% platform fee, so you only pay Stripe or Razorpay processing.

Coaching hours from these engagements also count toward ICF credential tracking, which shows hours and distinct clients against ACC, PCC and MCC thresholds and exports a client coaching log. See ICF hour tracking for how that works.

What is Coachful, and what does it not do?

Coachful is a coaching platform for coaches who deliver programs, not just sessions: booking, payments, contracts, programs with habits and check-ins, courses, community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for you and one branded app for your clients. It suits solo leadership coaches and small teams replacing four to six tools; team plans add coach seats (see Coachful for teams). It does not do everything. It is not HIPAA-certified and is not meant for clinical records. It has no PayPal, no Salesforce or HubSpot integration, and no multi-stage sales deal board for large teams. The client app runs inside the Coachful app with your branding, not under your own App Store account. Plans are flat monthly, with client caps on lower plans and Pro unlimited (current plans: Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients). You can start with a free trial. Our page for executive coaches shows the setup for this niche.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you" and describe what you need: a leadership development program, the intake form with these plan questions, a worksheet, an email sequence for the midpoint review, or your website. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as this template filled in your own wording. The Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours, and does not invent credentials, testimonials or prices; gaps are left for you. One recent build was for a leadership coach whose Squarespace renewal was days away: they got one clean homepage with a repeated "talk with me" button. Read more about the white-glove build service.

How long should a leadership development plan run?

Six months suits most individual leaders: long enough for stakeholders to notice a behaviour change, short enough to keep urgency. Three months can work for a single, narrow goal around a transition, such as a first 90 days. Twelve months fits senior executives or larger changes in how someone leads, with the goals refreshed at month six.

Whatever the length, put three dates in the plan from the start: kickoff, midpoint and end review. A plan with no end date drifts into general coaching, which may be fine for the leader but is hard to justify to a sponsor. For the structure of a full engagement, see our coaching plan template, and for turning goals into weekly steps, the coaching action plan template.

How do you measure whether the plan worked?

Ask the same small group of stakeholders the same two or three questions at the start, middle and end, and compare. That is the most reliable evidence of leadership change a coach can collect without a formal assessment. Pair it with the leader's own check-in record and one business signal if one fits.

• Pulse questions: write them from the goals. For Goal 1 in the example: "How often does Priya hand you decisions on your workstream and leave them with you?" on a 1 to 5 scale, plus "What is one example?"
• Behaviour log: the leader's weekly check-in answers show whether practice happened. Low practice with no stakeholder change is a different conversation from high practice with no change.
• Business signals: escalations, team engagement scores or attrition can support the story, but they move for many reasons. Say that in the end review.
• The leader's own words: compare their end-of-plan description with the "what done looks like" line written at the start.

If a leader's development touches how they see their role at a deeper level, the vertical leadership development stages article explains a framework some coaches use alongside behavioural goals. For leaders working across cultures, the IDI development plan article covers turning that assessment into practice.

What are the most common mistakes with leadership development plans?

Most plans fail for the same handful of reasons, and nearly all of them show up in the first meeting. Check your draft against this list before the leader signs it.

1. Too many goals. Five competencies in one plan means none get practised under pressure. Two is often right; three is the ceiling.
2. Goals written as traits. "Be more strategic" cannot be observed. "Spend Thursday mornings on next year's plan and present it to the COO in March" can.
3. No stakeholder input. A plan built only from the leader's self-assessment misses what others experience, which is where leadership is judged.
4. A course list instead of a plan. Courses without a stretch assignment and a feedback relationship rarely change behaviour back at work.
5. Confusing development with performance management. If the plan reads like a warning, the leader will treat coaching as a test and stop being candid.
6. Unclear sponsor access. Not agreeing what the sponsor sees until the midpoint review is how trust breaks in three-way coaching.
7. No check-in between sessions. Without a weekly prompt, practice happens the day before each session.
8. Measures decided at the end. If you only choose how to judge success at month six, you have no baseline.
9. Raw feedback in the shared document. Quotes that can be traced to a named peer damage relationships and may breach the confidentiality you promised.

Is this plan legal, HR or medical advice?

No. This template is a coaching document, not legal, HR, medical or financial advice. If the plan will be used by an employer as part of employment decisions, or the leader is in a formal performance or disciplinary process, ask an employment lawyer or the employer's HR and legal team to review how it is used. If health or wellbeing concerns come up beyond the scope of coaching, refer the leader to a doctor or qualified mental health professional. Data protection rules differ by country, so check your obligations for stakeholder feedback where you and your clients work.

Leadership development plan template FAQ

What is the difference between a leadership development plan and an individual development plan?

An individual development plan can cover any employee's skills and career goals. A leadership development plan focuses on how a leader affects other people, so it leans on stakeholder input and measures change by what the team and peers notice. The individual development plan guide covers the general version.

How many goals should a leadership development plan have?

Two or three. Each goal needs stretch work, a feedback relationship and a weekly practice, and leaders rarely sustain more than three of those at once alongside a full job. Ask the leader which goal matters most if time runs short.

Is the 70-20-10 model proven?

No. It comes from executives self-reporting how they believed they learned, and critics point to the lack of empirical evidence and the round numbers. Use it as a heuristic to make sure a plan includes real work and relationships, not as a quota.

Who should see the leadership development plan?

The leader and the coach see all of it. A sponsor usually sees the goals, the dates and the leader's own progress summary, but not session notes or raw stakeholder comments. Write the split into the coaching agreement before the first session.

Can a manager use this template without a coach?

Yes. A manager can use it with a direct report, replacing the coach's stakeholder interviews with their own conversations and a short pulse survey. Keep it separate from performance ratings so the report feels safe naming real gaps.

How often should the plan be reviewed?

Review progress in every coaching session, read the leader's weekly check-ins, and hold a formal review with the sponsor at the start, the midpoint and the end. Update goals at midpoint if the role or business need has changed.

Is the template free to use?

Yes. Copy it, adapt the wording to your clients and use it in your practice. You do not need any particular software to run it.

What is Coachful's white-glove build service?

It is a free service on every plan: you describe what you want built, such as a leadership program, an intake form with these plan questions or a website, attach references, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include recording videos, logo design or ongoing marketing.

Is Coachful suitable for storing 360 feedback?

You can keep notes, intake answers and form responses on the client record, and export everything as a ZIP. Coachful is GDPR-ready but not HIPAA-certified, so clinical or health records belong in a clinical system. Store themes rather than raw comments wherever you can.

Where can I learn more about starting a leadership coaching practice?

Our guide on how to start a leadership coaching business sets out a 90-day plan, from defining your offer to your first corporate clients.