It may be laid and planned to encourage (3,2)
I believe the answer is:
egg on
'encourage' is the definition.
(to egg somebody on is to encourage them)
'it may be laid and planned' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is found within the answer.
'be' could be 'go' (going is a kind of being) and 'go' is found within the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'g' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for egg on that I've seen before include "this face is obvious embarrassment" , "Fire" , "Soldier may have this" , "Press" , "Prompt" .)