Guidance: Approve or Reject a Competency Development Plan

After an employee has built a competency development plan and submitted it for approval, his supervisor is responsible for reviewing and either approving or rejecting the plan. 

Supervisors may consider the following when determining whether to approve or reject: 

• Whether the CU selected is a priority, relative to organizational and functional priorities
• Whether the training selected by the employee is appropriate for closing the gap
• Whether the training selected is within budget
• Whether the training selected will be sufficient for the employee to close the gap

Further, the supervisor may modify any aspect of the submitted plan.  This does not include selecting a different CU -- that may only be done by the employee.  Best practice when modifying a plan is to include comments for the employee about what was changed.   

CMS Online provides two reasons for rejecting the competency development plan an employee built and submitted for approval:  Select a different CU and Rework Build.  In all cases where a supervisor rejects a plan, the supervisor must also include comments to explain why the plan was rejected.

Select a Different CU

Select a Different CU is used when a CU the employee selected is not appropriate. Reasons for this may include: employee may have gaps in higher priority CUs, appropriate resources to support closing the gap are not available, or the CU is supplemental to the employee’s role.

In this case, the employee should select a new CU, build a plan, and submit it for approval.

Rework Build

Rework Build is used when the supervisor agrees with the employee’s selection of a particular CU, but requests changes in another aspect of the plan.  Reasons for this may include: the method the employee selected to close the gap, timing of training, training option, or any other aspect of the plan. 

In this case, the employee should update the plan and resubmit it for approval.