While your manager shares in your career development, it's up to you to ensure that you personally develop as an employee. Think of your development plan as a way to list your strengths, development needs and ways to identify how to increase your skills. These activities can include books, tapes, seminars and courses. Create a list that you feel fits your current job. Another part of your manager's role is to provide you with regular feedback.
Most organizations generally have their own performance appraisal process.
Once you have your work objectives listed and start to work toward them, keep a record of your accomplishments. You will be asked to review the appraisal and write in your comments. Your manager has the final say, however, in your overall performance rating. If you are concerned at any point about not achieving the objectives in your work plan, discuss them with your manager. The goal is to learn from what went wrong and to continuously improve.