Readers note / warning: This piece has quite a few Bain specific terms that I have not cleaned up yet. Reach out if you need clarification!

📄 How to create a personal development (PD) plan

  • The purpose of a PD plan is to (1) create a single spot to track all your PD and (2) have a ready-to-share asset to communicate your goals with anyone you work with
  • The core components of a PD plan are:
    1. Background (e.g. personal bio, previous case work, E10s)
    2. Goals / development areas (next 6 months, multi-year) and how others can help
    3. Strengths (including inspirational leadership rocks)
    4. Preferences (e.g. working styles, personal development, sustainability)
  • Great PD goals are focused, exciting, tactical and easy to communicate
    • Have 1-3 PD goals maximum (less is better)
    • Write as an objective (aspirational statement on what you want to learn that excites you) and underpin with tactics (specific actions linked to the objective to practice each day)
    • Tie to specific opportunities on the case (i.e. case team setup, topic) that allow you to demonstrate that skill (be flexible and lean into unique development opportunities!)
    • Translate to a skill tracker dimension to help you communicate your goal in a common Bain language
    • Get input from your supervisor / SMAP / mentor so they are bought in and able to support
  • The PD plan is a living document that stays current by tying it to the lifecycle of a case:
    • At the beginning of the case, confirm all the information in the PD plan is up to date and send to those you work with ahead of your first PD chat
    • During the case, update the PD plan with additional tactics you learn from your PD chats
    • At the end of the case, refresh the development areas and strengths based on the PDR and inspirational leadership feedback (if applicable)
  • To support your PD plan, set up an inspirational leadership session in every case you do that is >8 weeks long and track over time (strengths > weaknesses)
  • A review tracker to spot quantitative trends in your personal development reviews (6 month reviews) over time and inform potential PD goals is a helpful supporting asset to the PD plan

Note: Link to both of these coming soon, feel free to reach out for a copy!

📣 How to approach PD conversations (on the case team)

  • Set up recurring PD chats with everyone on your case team
    • Supervisor (~1-2 weeks): Tactics to do your job better than the week before
    • Senior Managers (~4 weeks): Opportunities from case setup, how you can help the team, may have advice if they’ve seen your work
    • Partners (~6-8 weeks): Almost always a vibe check; Sometimes cover long term plans at Bain; The most useful provide a framework to think about development / learning a new skill
    • Wider working team (Choose your own adventure): Low effort experience share and emotional support (go laugh and/or cry over ice cream together). **
  • The aim is to get your supervisor invested in your development via thoughtful preparation and follow through
    • Preparation: Before the chat, come prepared with reflections (e.g. against PD goals, in general), any upward feedback and the key topics to discuss.
    • Follow through: After you chat, send a short summary email of key takeaways and actions (ideally in a single email chain) and tell them when you
    • The rule of thumb is that your supervisor ( / SMAP / mentor) should feel scared if they don’t come as prepared as you are to your PD conversations (because if you don’t prepare, then most will wing it).