An appraisal can feel useful in the room and still leave someone unsure what to do on Monday morning. The discussion was thoughtful. A challenge became clearer. Both people wanted to make progress. Then the working week arrived, and the next step remained a line in the notes.

Before the conversation ends, give the most useful idea a practical shape. Decide what the person will try, what support their manager will provide and when they will look at it together. That agreement should be small enough to begin within the work already ahead.

Choose a step that someone can actually take

An intention such as ‘be more confident in meetings’ leaves several questions unanswered. Which meetings? What would confidence allow the person to do? Is the difficulty preparing a contribution, finding an opening or feeling able to disagree? Explore that before choosing an action.

Imagine a colleague who has useful project knowledge but struggles to contribute when discussion moves quickly. A first step could be to prepare a short update for the next team meeting and agree a place for it on the agenda. That is specific enough to try and relevant enough to discuss afterwards.

The aim is to learn which approach helps. For complex work, CIPD suggests learning or open-ended goals may suit the task better than rigid targets. In the meeting example, the colleague can try an approach and reflect on what it enables. [1]

Make the support as clear as the action

A development plan should show what the manager has agreed to do. In this example, that might mean sharing the agenda early, making time for the contribution and offering feedback afterwards. ‘Support as needed’ gives neither person much to work with.

Check the conditions around the task too. Someone may need access to information, a demonstration or a decision about competing priorities. If these are missing, another reminder to complete the action will not resolve the difficulty. Record who will remove the obstacle and when.

Keep the commitment proportionate. One useful opportunity to practise can be a better starting point than a list of activities with no space to complete them. If new work is required, agree what will move to make room.

Agree what you will return to

Choose a review point that fits the opportunity. If the relevant meeting is next week, a brief conversation afterwards may be useful. If the activity depends on a project starting next month, an earlier progress deadline may tell you very little.

Decide what would make the follow-up informative. The colleague could bring their prepared update and describe where they felt able to contribute. Their manager could share an observation about how the discussion developed. These give both people something more specific than ‘How is the confidence going?’

At the review, ask what happened, what helped and what needs adjusting. The person may have made progress, discovered a different difficulty or found that the planned opportunity never happened. Each answer should influence the next step.

At Maps and Pathways, we want the record of a conversation to help people pick it up again. A short agreement that both people understand is a useful place to start. Before you close your next appraisal, ask: could we each explain what happens next without reopening the notes?

Source [1] CIPD Performance management An introduction (2026-01-29)

Explore our guidance for turning appraisal conversations into practical next steps.

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