Note: From 28 August 2025, all development plans will be assigned to the employee’s Direct Manager instead of a separate Development Manager.
This guide outlines an upcoming change to how managers are assigned to development plans. From 28 August 2025, development plans will automatically use the employee’s Direct Manager according to your hierarchy instead of a separately assigned Development Manager.
This change is designed to simplify the development process and ensure a consistent experience across the platform.
What’s Changing
This update will be applied automatically on 28 August 2025. Here is a breakdown of what to expect:
Existing plans – The current Development Manager will be replaced with the employee’s Direct Manager (based on your organisation’s employee data).
New plans – The Development Manager setting will be removed. All new plans will automatically be assigned to the employee’s Direct Manager.
Manager changes – If an employee’s Direct Manager changes, the new manager will automatically gain access to all of the employee’s development plans. The previous manager will lose access.
Why We’re Making This Change
This update is part of our ongoing effort to make development planning easier, more consistent, and more effective.
Key benefits:
Consistency – Aligns the manager role in Develop with other Culture Amp features like Goals, 1:1s, and Perform.
Enhanced support – Direct Managers will automatically have visibility into their team members’ development plans, enabling timely and relevant guidance.
Future enhancements – Sets the groundwork for improved reporting and structured development cycles.
What to Expect After 28 August 2025
If your organisation uses different managers for development and direct reporting:
Direct Managers will see their team’s development plans, even if they weren’t previously the Development Manager.
Previous Development Managers will no longer have visibility unless they are also the employee’s Direct Manager.
FAQ's
Will the content of existing development plans be lost?
No. Only the assigned manager will change. All goals, action items, and other plan content will remain.
What if our process requires a mentor or a different leader as the Development Manager?
For now, employees can manually share their development plan with another leader or mentor. We may introduce product enhancements for this in the future.
What happens if an employee does not have a Direct Manager in our employee data?
If no Direct Manager is assigned, the plan will remain accessible only to the employee. Keep your employee data up to date to ensure managers are correctly assigned.
Will my old Development Manager still be able to see the plan?
No, unless they are also the employee’s Direct Manager. However, Development Goals will remain visible to them in cases where the two managers differ.
What will happen to Development Goals I had with my old Development Manager?
Goals created before this change will be visible to both the Development Manager and the Direct Manager. Goals created after the change will only be visible to the Direct Manager.
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