the moment he or she is planning future action. It should be fully
integrated into the ongoing development effort, as opposed to
being a separate activity or resource. Books on shelves and notes in
binders are too easily forgotten.
Virtually all leadership development programs require partici-
pants to set goals to apply what they have learned, but goals are not
sufficient. Thirty years ago, Peter Drucker observed that “unless
objectives are converted to action, they are not objectives; they are
dreams.”^6 The most effective leadership development programs
maximize the value of goal setting by having participants translate
their objectives into concrete plans for action. Books of develop-
ment suggestions are useful in this context; participants can con-
sult them while preparing their development plans. However, the
physical limitations of books (constraints on length, organization,
indexing, and reprinting) limit their effectiveness in supporting an
iterative process of planning and action.
Guidance regarding steps to take to improve skills should be
available throughout the development process. It ought to be
integrated into a follow-through process that periodically asks indi-
viduals to reflect on their progress and plan their continued devel-
opment. Computer-based systems offer significant advantages over
books for this purpose:
- Computer-based suggestions can be integrated into an online
follow-through system so that reporting, planning, and seek-
ing guidance are all part of one activity. - Computer-based suggestions can be tailored to the specific
objectives of the program and individual, rather than being
static “one size fits all” answers. - In a computer-based system, a single activity can be indexed
to any number of the competencies to which it applies. This
is difficult to achieve in books.
By way of example, we have created a development support sys-
tem called GuideMe for use in conjunction with follow-through
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