Keep your leadership development visible
The Contribution Shift app is the practical companion to the book. The book explains the framework. The website introduces the ideas and tools. The app helps you apply the framework in your day-to-day leadership work.
Use the app to build your Development Plan, prepare for one-on-ones, capture follow-up, and keep the practical work of contributing through others visible.
Quick start
You do not need to fill in everything at once. Start lightly, then build the app around the leadership work that matters most.
1. Start with yourself
Open your Development Plan and add one or two honest priorities. This is the centrepiece of the app.
2. Add key people
Add the people, teams, and organisations that matter most to your current leadership work.
3. Review weekly
Use the app before and after leadership conversations so actions, promises, and follow-up do not disappear.
What the app is for
The Contribution Shift app helps you keep leadership development, relationships, one-on-ones, follow-up, and contribution through others in one practical place.
Use it to
- build and review your Development Plan
- keep track of people, teams, and organisations
- prepare for one-on-ones
- remember follow-up actions
- capture trust-building commitments
- reflect on leadership growth
Do not use it as
- a generic notes app
- a project management system
- a replacement for your calendar
- a performance management system
- a substitute for real conversations
- a replacement for personal judgement
The app works best when used regularly, lightly, and honestly. Its value comes from the quality of your review and follow-through, not from the volume of notes you enter.
Home screen
The Home screen gives you a simple entry point into your leadership work. It keeps the most important parts of the app easy to reach.
From Home you can open
- Development Plan
- My Network
- Organisations, Teams, and Members
- One-on-ones
- Parked items
- App Help and About
How to think about it
Home is not meant to be busy. It is a quick way back to the work that supports your leadership growth: development, relationships, one-on-ones, and follow-up.
When you tap Organisations, Teams, or Members, the app takes you into the My Network area where those relationships and structures are managed.
Development Plan
Your Development Plan is the centrepiece of the app. Leadership growth starts with your own development before it expands into teams, organisations, and wider contribution.
Use it to ask
- What am I trying to grow into?
- What am I still doing like an individual contributor?
- What do I need to contribute through others?
- What actions am I taking now?
- What should I stop doing?
- What needs review soon?
Keep it practical
A useful Development Plan is clear enough to review and simple enough to update. It should feel like a working document, not a complicated form.
Review it weekly, revise it monthly, and use it as a visible reminder of the leadership behaviours you are trying to strengthen.
Instead of: Improve communication.
Write: Ask clearer questions before giving advice.
Instead of: Develop team capability.
Write: Let team members lead the first draft before I step in.
When you change the plan, the app updates the revised date so you can see when it was last touched. If your plan has not been reviewed for a while, treat that as a signal to come back to it.
My Network
My Network helps you organise the people and structures connected to your leadership work. It includes Organisations, Teams, and Members.
Organisations
Use Organisations for larger groups, business units, volunteer organisations, schools, departments, or broader structures you are connected to.
Capture notes, observations, development priorities, follow-up items, and culture or maturity patterns.
Teams
Use Teams for groups of people working together. A team belongs to an organisation.
Capture team purpose, current focus, concerns, development needs, trust issues, or delivery risks.
Members
Use Members for individual people you work with, lead, support, mentor, or need to stay connected to.
Capture role, notes, development observations, follow-up commitments, and one-on-one settings.
Organisation, Team, and Member Development Plans can be used when a more formal development focus is helpful. Keep them simple and practical.
One-on-ones
One-on-ones are one of the most practical ways to contribute through others. The app includes a local one-on-one schedule to help you remember who you meet with, how often, and what needs to be discussed.
Add someone to the One-on-One schedule
- Go to My Network.
- Open the relevant Member.
- Find Include in One-on-Ones.
- Select Yes.
- Choose the cadence.
- Set the next one-on-one date.
- Save the change.
Use one-on-ones well
Before each one-on-one, review the member’s notes. Look for things to discuss, things to ask, previous commitments, development observations, and trust-building actions.
A good one-on-one is not just a status meeting. It is a leadership conversation: understand, support, challenge, clarify, and follow through.
After the conversation, update the member record. Capture what was agreed, what you promised, what they committed to, what needs follow-up, and what should be discussed next time. Then update the next one-on-one date.
Trust Tokens and follow-up
In The Contribution Shift, trust is built through repeated actions. Every interaction leaves something behind. You either deposit trust or withdraw it.
Use follow-up fields to capture anything you need to do before the next interaction. This is one of the simplest ways to strengthen trust because people do not only judge leaders by what they say. They judge them by what they remember, act on, and follow through.
Examples of follow-up items
- send an update
- check on a concern
- confirm a decision
- remove a blocker
- clarify expectations
- acknowledge good work
Things to discuss or ask
Use this field to keep upcoming conversations visible. Capture questions, concerns, development topics, or issues that deserve attention next time you meet.
Parked items
The Parked area lets you move organisations, teams, or members out of active view without deleting them.
Use parking when
- a team has paused
- a member has moved roles
- an organisation is not currently relevant
- you want to reduce clutter without losing history
Restoring parked items
When you restore a parked item, the app preserves the original relationships as much as possible.
Restoring a parked team can restore its organisation if needed. Restoring a parked member can restore the related team and organisation if needed.
Sync between iPhone and iPad
The app is designed to support use across iPhone and iPad so you can keep your leadership development work available on more than one device.
Before using sync
- make sure both devices use the same Apple ID
- make sure iCloud is enabled
- make sure iCloud Drive is enabled
- make sure the Contribution Shift app is allowed to use iCloud
- make sure both devices have network access
- open the app on both devices after installing or updating
Recommended approach
- Use one device as your main device first.
- Set up your Development Plan and key people there.
- Confirm the information is saved.
- Open the app on your second device.
- Allow time for iCloud to sync.
- Check that the information appears correctly.
Avoid making major changes on both devices at exactly the same time. That is a good practice for any local-first app using device sync.
Using the app weekly
A simple weekly rhythm keeps leadership development from disappearing under daily pressure.
Review each week
- Your Development Plan
- Upcoming one-on-ones
- Follow-up commitments
- Member notes
- Team concerns
- Organisation observations
Ask yourself
- What did I say I would do?
- Who needs support?
- Where am I still acting like the expert instead of the leader?
- What needs to be clarified?
- What trust commitment needs attention?
- What should I help someone else grow into?
Privacy and respectful notes
The app is a personal leadership development tool. Use it thoughtfully and professionally.
Good practice
- write notes you could stand behind
- keep entries professional and respectful
- focus on support, development, follow-up, and clarity
- avoid unnecessary sensitive personal information
Remember
Good leadership records should help you support people, not label them. Capture what helps you follow through, build trust, and contribute through others.
Troubleshooting
I cannot find someone in One-on-Ones
Go to the Member screen and check that:
- Include in One-on-Ones is set to Yes
- a cadence has been selected
- a next date has been entered
- the change has been saved
My data is not showing on another device
Check iCloud, network access, Apple ID, and app permission on both devices. Open the app on the device with the latest information first, then open the second device.
The app feels empty
That is normal at the start. Begin with your Development Plan, one organisation, one team, three to five key members, and one or two one-on-ones.
I am not sure what to write
Write practical observations: “Need to follow up on workload concern,” “Ask about development interest,” “Clarify decision rights,” or “Let them lead the next update.”
The core reminder
The Contribution Shift is about moving from personal output to contribution through others. The app helps you keep that work visible.
Elevate Your Impact.