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Transitioning from Skills-Based to Competency-Based Development Plans

Support your transition to competency-based development planning, as Culture Amp retires skills-based plans by September 1st, 2025

Sterling Rayment avatar
Written by Sterling Rayment
Updated yesterday

Who can use this feature?

  • Users

Available on:

  • All Culture Amp subscriptions that include Develop.

We’re improving how development plans work in Culture Amp. From September 1st, 2025, we’ll complete the transition from skills-based to competency-based development planning. This change will help your people grow in more meaningful ways and give your organisation better insight into how development connects to business goals.

If your teams are still using the older skills-based system, this article will help you prepare.

Overview


We’re completing the move to competency-based development plans by deprecating all existing skills-based plans in Develop, closing them and making them read-only, by September 1st, 2025.

This change means we will no longer support skills-based plans in future product features or provide ongoing support for them.

Why We're Making This Change


Since launching competency-based development planning in early 2024, we’ve seen clear benefits based on customer feedback and our people science research:

Strategic Alignment

Competency-based plans link individual development directly to your organization’s behaviors, values, and capabilities—so development efforts drive business impact.


Clearer Career Paths

Competencies support visibility into future roles and internal mobility, helping employees understand what’s needed to progress.


Simplified and Unified Planning

Using one unified framework makes development easier to manage and understand. No more switching between different systems.


More Actionable Feedback

Because competencies are discipline-specific, feedback becomes more relevant and effective for each employee.


Richer Organizational Insights

Competencies enable a deeper understanding of development trends across departments, supporting more targeted initiatives.

To support continued innovation and provide a more impactful development experience, skills-based plans will be deprecated from September 1st, 2025.

🗓️ Transition Timeline


Phase

When?

What to expect

Announcement

Now

Updated support materials are available to help guide your teams.

Final transition

September 1st, 2025

All skills-based plans will be closed and become read-only. They can still be viewed, but not edited.

Next Steps


We recommend taking the following steps to prepare for the transition:

For Admins:

Review usage and communicate

  • Share this timeline with development managers and employees so they are aware and can prepare.

Support development manager and employee training

For Development Managers:

Review team development plans

  • Use the Development Report to identify team members with skills-based plans (look for focus areas or strengths marked as individual skills).

Close any completed plans

  • Encourage employees to close out any unused or completed skills-based plans ahead of the change.

Help guide the transition

  • Help team members start new competency-based plans and align with their career goals

For Employees:

Check your current plans

  • Visit the Development section in your Culture Amp account to view any active skills-based development plans.

Start a new competency-based plan

How to Export Old Plans


Administrators can export skills-based development plans at any time using the following steps:

  1. Go to Development Plan Reporting

  2. Click the Export plans button under the Employees tab

  3. Download the CSV file with plan details

  4. Save the file for your records


Support During Transition


We’re here to help ensure a smooth and successful transition.

🎓 Training Resources

🧰 Ready-Made Templates

🤝 Need Help?

Reply with “Ask a Person” in a support conversation to connect with our Product Support team.

FAQs


Can I delay the transition?

No, this transition applies to all customers. Moving to a single, competency-based framework ensures a more consistent and impactful development experience for everyone.


Can employees still edit skills-based plans?

Not after September 1st, 2025. From this date, all skills-based plans will be read-only. New plans and edits must be made within the competency-based framework.


What happens to goals in a skills-based plan?

Goals will remain visible as part of the archived plan. Employees will need to re-create goals under their new competency-based plans if needed, though it’s encouraged to use this as an opportunity to review the existing plan.

How do I know if I'm using a skills-based plan?

If your plan includes focus areas or strengths listed as individual skills rather than broader competencies, it’s skills-based. Employees will also be able to see a banner against the skills-based plan informing them of this change.


💬 Need help? Just reply with "Ask a Person" in a Support Conversation to speak with a Product Support Specialist.

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